This examples shows how you should use the odds tables

You are playing Texas Hold'em at a $1/$2-table fixed limit.

Let us pretend you have flopped a pair of 9's. Your pocket cards are A9. The game is loose and you are not certain if it is worth continuing with your present hand. You are on the other hand sure of winning if succeed in drawing to two pairs or three of a kind.

Are the odds correct?

You have 5 outs (two 9's and three Aces)

7 players joined in the first round and thus 7 small bets are in the pot. You are sitting at a late position and see that 5 players are joining the betting round after the flop. There are in total 12 small bets.

You need to bet 1 in order to see the turn card. Is it correct to call?

Have a look in the odds table ---> 5 outs give the odds 8.4:1 .

It costs you $1 to call and have the opportunity to win $12. The odds are in other words 12:1 .

This means you will win 12 times your bet if you are successful with your draw. You are right in drawing cards as long as the pot odds are bigger than the odds for your outs. Remember that small differences affect your bank roll. You might lose quite a lot before it evens out. Never mind marginal differences if your bank roll can not tolerate big fluctuations.

You only have to divide the value of the pot with what you need to bet.

An example:

Let us pretend that you are playing at a $2/$4-table.

You have 9 outs before the turn card. This gives the odds 4.22:1 against succeeding (this is a table value you will learn)

The value of the pot is $15 and it is your turn to act.

The pot odds are in other words 15:2. You bet $2 in order to win $15.

Mental calculation says the pot odds are 7.5: 1 and this makes it worth calling.

If you are not good at mental calculation you only use a calculator and divide 15 by 2 in order to get the format X:1. As far as pot odds calculations are concerned the procedure is the same for all calculations.

Example Two:

You have to bet $2 in order to call a pot of $15. In order for this to be worth while the pot has to be size of at least 4.22 times the bet (this is taken from the odds table).

This means that the size of the pot has to be at least 2 * 4.22 = 8.44 (the bet multiplied by the odds for a successful hand.

The size of the pot is $15 which means you should call (which here is very obvious).

In order to make a profit in the long run knowledge like this is necessary.