Summary

In this chapter we have explained how to use pot odds to determine whether to call or fold with a likely second-best hand. When all the cards are out, your hand is worth a call if you think your chances of winning are better than your pot odds. Before the draw in draw poker and with exactly one card to come in stud games, your decision to call with a hand that needs to improve depends upon these factors:
1 Your chances of improving, taking into account the needed cards already out against you (in stud) and any extra outs you might have.
2 Your chances of winning if you do improve.
3 The odds you are getting on this next-to-last round of betting, taking into account the possibility of a raise behind you if you are not the last to act.
4. Your expected extra profits on the last round of betting if you do make your hand.
This last factor is what I call implied odds. It is the money you expect to win by betting or raising on the last round (or rounds) when you do make your hand. I will discuss implied odds in full in Chapter Seven. First we must consider how pot odds are affected when you are deciding whether to call in stud games when there is more than one card to come and you must anticipate having to call more than one round of betting. This question is the subject of the next chapter.