Is poker about skill or luck? This is a debate that seems to have no end. For players who are new and many free poker online games players who play for laughs it is, or at least, seems like luck and for them it is as they apply no logic to their game.

For players who play with logic and common sense it's a skill game and one core part of that skill game is some simple math that allows the player to essentially create their own luck. We're talking of course about pot odds, implied odds and rounding.

Pot Odds relate to the quantity of chips that sit on the middle of the board because of bets, call, raises etc. The sum of all those chips is the size of the current pot.

Suppose there are 400 chips in the pot and to continue you need to call with a 100 chip bet. You have Pot Odds of 4 to 1, i.e., the 400 chips that are already in the pot, versus the 100 chips that you would need to put into the pot.

Implied Odds
Is the total of the chips held by your competitors plus the number of chips in the table center post versus what you need to use in order to play on. For example, you and 2 other players are left in a hand.

Player a has 2000 chips, Player b, 3000 chips. The pot has 1,000 chips. If you need to call a 400 chip bet, you will get Implied Odds of 15 to 1. This results from the 6,000 chips total held by the 2 other players and the pot versus the 400 chips you would need to use.

Rounding - Making Life Simpler
You start a hand with 2 pocket cards so of course 50 cards are unknown to you, as such you use 50 as the base of calculations. You don't need to worry that this changes to 47 unseen post flop, 46 post turn etc. We'll stick with 50, it's near enough and makes the math so much more easy.

For example - You have a King Queen unsuited as your pockets, and the flop is 10, Jack, 4 rainbow (unsuited flop). This means there 8 'outs' to an open end straight draw; the four 9's and four Aces that we haven't seen.

So there is an 8 in 50 chance of catching an 'out' on the turn; and, 8 in 50 which equates to 16 in 100, a 16% chance of hitting our desired straight on the turn, basically 1 in 6 chance.

In this example, if you're not getting a minimum of 5 to 1 Pot Odds there is no sense chasing the 9's and Aces. But as this is only break even it's not worth it, in pot odds terms you should fold.

You should always be looking for an advantage with every bet. If 5 to 1 is dead even, then 7 to 1 is a 40% advantage, 9 to 1 a 80% advantage. So, if you have a Pot Odds advantage play the hand, for me a 50% advantage is acceptable but play a bit to settle on a level that is OK for you.

However, it's not Pot Odds that are going to result in ultimate success. For big success and to beta up on both good and bad players requires timely application of Implied Odds which, at the right time, can be a lot more powerful than simple Pot Odds.

In the situation above, 5-1 Pot Odds dictated we should fold. But, we might be playing against a 'raise with any pocket ace donk who may have a stack many times larger than the pot. With our open end draw, any 9 or Ace on the turn or river will allow us to eliminate this player.

Wise players will figure both Pot and Implied Odds in their hands while being sure not to take excessive risks. If the Pot Odds are 'respectable' meaning within 25% of ideal and Implied are good then go for it but be sure to practice on free poker games first! I hope this guide to implied odds was useful, see NoPayPOKER.com for more poker free online training lessons.