Poker is all about the odds, implied odds and the probabilities of poker. Sure, it has a lot to do with reading people and having discipline and patients, but if you can get down the maths of the game, you will probably be a solid poker player. If you are reading this article right now, we are going to assume that you have already read about pot odds. Just as an overview or reminder however, we will explain a little bit about that before you start reading about implied odds.
Introduction to Implied Odds
There are two different kinds of odds you want to think about while making a decision to call or not call a bet. The first is pot odds and the next is implied odds. If you remember reading about pot odds, you will know that this depends on the amount of money in the pot. Implied odds is a little different, because it has nothing to do with anything you can calculate for sure.
Understanding Implied Odds
Implied odds is how much money you think you will get out of your opponent later on in the hand. Implied odds are normally used when a player is trying to decide if they should or should not chase some sort of draw.
For example, if you where on a flush draw you would want to think about two different things. First, think about the pot odds. So you could figure your pot odds and possibly make a decision right then and there. Once you do that you can move on to the implied odds.
All you have to think about with implied odds is how much money you could possibly win from your opponent. So if you are going for a flush and you know for whatever reason that you are likely to take all of your opponent’s money (which is a good amount of money) when you hit your flush, then this is good implied odds. If you are playing an opponent that only has a very small amount of money in front of them and you really do not stand to gain anything, you will have bad implied odds.
When to use Implied Odds
For the most part implied odds will not need to be used. The pot odds are much more important and will be used a lot more. Implied odds are just something that you want to have in mind during play. It is a very simple concept that does not take much thought. Just be aware of what is in front of your opponents, and be aware of how they play. If you know you stand to gain a lot more than you could lose during a hand, it will have more value in making a tough call.
