Rushmore Casino Blog

In all poker games, irrespective of which variation is being played, the concept of the pot is a universal one. By the term ‘pot’ the total amount of money that is being betted by the players and pooled together either during a single hand of play or during the entire game is referred and the pot size depends on the betting action rules applicable to the particular poker game being played. According to one interpretation of the word pot in connection to gambling games that it has been derived from the concept of jackpot. The pot is won by a single or several players either because other players have folded their hands and quitted or because the player had the winning hand. In tie games or split games, the spoils of the pot is shared.

Pot odds are calculated by the ratio of the ongoing pot size to the value of a player’s call which is in turn estimated by the probability factor of his winning the hand of play with a card he may be subsequently dealt. So, if in a poker game the pot size if $500 and the player has to make a call of $25 to continue playing the hand, ten the player’s pot odds stand at 500-to-25, that is 20-to-1. Poker players often convert pot odds to percentage values to make their own calculations of the game easier. This is done by adding the pot size to the player’s call value and dividing the size of the bet that the player called by the total amount. So, if the $300 pot size and call value of $10 are used as an example to illustrate percentage value of pot odds of a player, then the simplified pot odds stand at 3-to-1. Now the percentage is calculated by adding this two values and using it to divide the calling bet size, that is 1 divided by 4 (=3+1). So the player’s pot odds percentage is 25 percent.