Pot odds
The price the pot is offering you: what percentage of the time you need to win for calling a bet to be profitable. You compare it directly against your equity.
Pot odds turn a bet into a price. If the pot holds 100 and your opponent bets 25, you’re paying 25 to win 150: you need to win more than 25 / (100 + 25 + 25) = 16.7% of the time for the call to be profitable. No need to guess whether you’re ahead — you just need to know whether your win percentage clears that threshold.
The comparison that decides the call
With A♥5♥ on a K♥9♥2♣ flop you have the nut flush draw. Our engine, enumerating all 1,081 possible runouts, says you complete the flush 35.0% of the time from here to the river.
- Quarter-pot bet → you need 16.7%. Easy call.
- Full-pot bet → you need 33.3%. Still enough… barely, and only if your flush will actually win when it lands.
That’s the whole mechanic: equity against price. When the direct price falls short, implied odds come into play (what you expect to win on top if you get there) and fold equity if you raise instead of calling.
Quick shortcut
Threshold = bet ÷ (final pot). Half-pot bet → 25%. Pot-sized bet → 33%. 2x overbet → 40%. Those three anchors solve most hands at the table without a calculator — and for the rest, there’s ours.