Definition of Pot Odds
Pot odds is a strategy used in poker whereby the player uses the likelihood (odds) of winning while playing a drawing hand to decide whether he or she should call or raise a bet or not. As such, pot odds are the player’s chances of making a hand in comparison to the amount in the prize pot and what it will cost to get the pot.

Example of Pot Odds
There is $30 in the poker game pot.
A player needs to call $6 in order to stay active in the game.
Pot odds are therefore $30/$6.
This is translated to 5/1 or 5:1.
The pot odds are therefore 5:1.
Bottom line: Player should call the bet if his or her hand has a greater than 5:1 chance of winning.

Pot Odds Read as Percentage Values
While some players feel comfortable playing pot odds that are expressed in ratio terms (such as 5:1), others understand the concept more when the ratio is expressed as a percentage.

First we need to remember that the ratio is made up of the size of the pot: cost of the call.

To calculate the percentage value, we add the size of the pot to the cost of the call; then we divide the cost of the call by the total that was received.

Example of Pot Odds Read as Percentage Values
The pot in a game of poker is $30.
The cost for the player to make the call is $10.
The pot odds in ratio form can be read 30:10 or 3:1 (3 being the size of the pot and 1 being the cost of the call).
Using the calculation method above, we add the size of the pot (3) to the cost of the call (1) = 3 + 1 = 4.
We then divide the cost of the call (1) by the total (4) = .25
The pot odds in percentage value are thus expressed as 25%.

Implied Pot Odds
Implied pot odds, also known as simply implied odds, estimate how much money a player can win from a bet by hitting one of the outs. These are calculated in much the same way as above, however they also take into consideration future betting in the game.

Reverse Implied Odds
Also known as reverse odds, are applied to a game where the player could win the minimum should he or she have the best hand, but lose the maximum if he or she should not.