Hey guys I've been playing poker for about a year now and I am turning in a profit and am always trying to get better at my game but I struggle with some of the maths. I've tried to understand calculating pot odds but I'm finding it difficult. I'm not completely retarded and I did year 12 maths. Has it just been too long since I went to school and my brain has stopped working?

So someone bets the pot on the river (e.g., the pot is $100 and someone bets $100). Here we must either call $100 or fold (cause we only have 100 left let's say).

We are getting pot odds of 2:1.

So if we think we are going to win 33% of the time, then we are indifferent to calling or folding cause....

33% of the time we'll win $200 (value of $67)
and
67% of the time we'll lose $100 (cost of $67)

If you think you have better than a 33.3% chance to win, then call.

People think about such pot odds on earlier streets, but then you must consider implied odds. The example above was "express odds".

Rule of 4 is helpful re: pot odds: If you have 8 outs on the flop, then a nice rule of thumb is you have approximately 32% chance (8 x 4) to hit your 8 outs given the fact that you can hit it on the turn or river.

Rule of 2: if you have 8 outs on the turn, then you can multiple 2 x 8 and estimate a 16% chance of hitting your 8 outs on the river. In this example I think it's actually about 17%, but the rules get you pretty close.

An important consideration for such decisions are stack sizes -- when you do hit your draw for example you want to make sure you can win enough for those times you don't hit your draw.

Wow....your reply is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your effort in replying me.

Math is a lot easier if you stop doing drugs.

Make sure you always keep track of the pot size. Then when it is your turn to act the pot odds are just (pot size/bet size) to 1.

For example on the river you are heads up, there is $120 in the pot and your opponent bets $30, so there is now $150 in the pot. (pot size / bet size) to 1 = 150/30 to 1= 5 to 1.