Texas holdem Tournament Poker and Pot Odds

“But oh well, I was getting the odds to call, I HAD to call.” Oh really? Who told you to call?? Your momma? Best Friend? Wait I know, it was a book written for limit hold ‘em cash games wasn’t it? Well if you’re repeating the opening line of this column, chances are you’re wiping away the tears of yet another tournament loss. Pot odds as they relate to Texas Hold 'em tournament poker are becoming one of the top-heard excuses for playing lazy, disengaged poker. It’s an easy way to lose a tournament quickly. Yes, I said lose, not take a bad beat or get sucked out on or have God personally flip you the bird, but lose!

Before I get into the meat of the subject, what is the notion of “pot odds?” In brief, it is the idea of taking favorable odds on a bet. For example, if with one card to come you’re a four-to-one underdog but the bet to see the river is only one-tenth of the pot, you would generally call. Thus you risk one bet to win ten more with odds only four-to-one against you. Still confused? Then stop here, mark the page, go read an article on pot odds written by someone else. But do keep in mind that in a cash game, pot odds are invaluable.

When used in a cash game, pot odds are a solid tool in a quality players’ arsenal to sweep up all the extra chips the tourists leave on the table for you. And in a cash game, when you’re on the unhappy side of a four-to-one dog and lose, you simply buy more chips and keep firing away, knowing that a week from now you’ll be better off than when you began because of these smart decisions. Yet so many players bring this concept into Texas Hold 'em poker tournaments when the situation simply is not the same.

I’ll put it bluntly for tournament play. Playing the odds in a pot is an easy way to get broke in the early or middle stages of a tournament. Why? Simple. As you progress through the blind levels and build that lovely chip stack of yours guess what other people are doing? Yes believe it or not some are actually doing the same thing! So what happens now when you take only pot odds into yet another confrontation with a stack of the same size? You eventually lose and get broke. In Texas Hold 'em tournament poker you have to play pots to win, but don’t make calls based solely on the math. Math needs time to be correct, a commodity you simply don’t have in a tourney. When you use psychology to make your opponent give you his chips, they’re yours 100% of the time. Now when you find yourself with (hopefully) a nice percentage chance to win a pot, even if they suck out you won’t be broke. If anything, you’ll just be sliding them back the same stack of chips you took from them originally! Oh they’ll pat themselves on the back for making the “odds-correct” CALL. Eventually though, they’ll be out and go back to all their books to figure out why their mathematical play didn’t win for them.

Now why is the word call showing up with such displeasure all the time? If you’re not laying the odds, you’re taking them. And anyone who has ever gambled at all on anything knows that when you take the odds, you’re the sucker. In a time-sensitive situation, getting the chips eventually just won’t cut it, you need those chips NOW, or yesterday if you know the right dealer! So if you figure your opponent to be on a flush draw, you have the opportunity to lay him terrible odds. The added bonus here is that he may just surrender those chips with no fight. But if you’re calling a bet with a flush draw because “the pot is laying you decent odds,” then YOU ARE AN UNDERDOG to win the pot. In short, rather than surrendering a small bet to the superior hand, you’re giving your opponent a great chance to take more chips from you. If you only give them a little by laying down the draw, then you have a lot more chips to do damage when you’re holding the nuts. In short, by not taking the odds for a draw, you get better value out of powerful plays and powerful hands later.

Yes, there are exceptions and times when you do have to play your hand for some reason. If you’ve invested a large amount of your stack already and folding would leave you helpless anyway, you’ll probably take the bet. By then though, you hope you draw out to cover for an earlier mistake in the hand. But in general, if your stack is healthy and you are thinking about calling off a large chunk of it on a draw, think again because more often than not they’re gone. Then you’re “just alright,” and living, but why give up the status of being a big force at the tables?

Another exception would be when drawing involves a guaranteed call if you make. If you can call a small bet with a strong draw and you’re sure your opponent is the kind of sucker who needs to see that his read was right, go for it. Here you’re not playing the odds, you play the player. You know he’s weak and can’t trust his own instincts enough when you make your straight or flush. Thus, you call a little, and win a bundle when you do hit. This is different from pot odds in that pot odds are normally used to gauge if calling off a large chunk of chips is mathematically correct. Here it’s all about playing on the weaknesses of opponents.

So what’s the bottom line through all of this? In a Texas Hold 'em poker tournament situation, pot odds are weak basis for making calls. You always want to be betting and laying odds for suckers to take, not be the sucker and hemorrhage chips by calling and calling and calling. Be the aggressor and make the power plays, and make sure you have plenty of chips to demolish other players with the nuts. Remember that above all else, poker is a game about playing people and making them do what you need them to. Numbers can’t be changed, people can. So beat the people and quit bitching about the numbers. You DON’T NEED the odds to win.

By Matt Favreau “Sweetness813”

 

Join the Shark Poker Forum and discuss Pot Odds & Texas Holdem Strategy.