Pot Odds

Also known as: pot odds, price to call

The price of a call expressed as the equity you need to break even, computed as the call divided by the final pot after you call.

Pot odds turn a bet you face into a single threshold number: the equity your hand needs to make calling break even. The formula is

\[ \text{pot odds} = \frac{\text{call}}{\text{pot}+\text{call}} \]

where pot already includes the opponent's bet. This is exactly your required equity to call; if your hand's equity exceeds it, calling is profitable in chips. Pot odds compare directly to outs via the Rule of 2 and 4: convert your outs to an equity percentage and check it against the price.

Two caveats keep pot odds honest. First, they measure only the immediate price. They ignore future streets, which is where implied odds and reverse implied odds take over. Second, against a polarised range you must weight your raw equity by how often you'll actually realise it; drawing hands rarely realise full equity out of position. In tournaments, the chip-EV price is not the whole story: a risk premium raises the effective equity you need.