We get to the river with a busted draw and we bet full-pot to bluff him off his hand. To determine if this is a profitable bet, we need to figure out how often he needs to fold. To accomplish this, we use the equation 0 = 100F – (size of bet)(1-F).
Determining How Often a Call Has to Work to be Profitable
We get to the river with top pair and villain bets full-pot into us. The pot is $50 and he bets $50. We think he’s bluffing some of the time, and so we call. In order to know if this is a profitable call, let’s do some quick math.
Memorizing Numbers
If you don’t know the answer to this right away, you’re going to be losing valuable time and energy doing it in the middle of a game (the answer is at least 30%).
These situations happen all the time in poker. Villain may bet half-pot or full-pot, or he might even over-bet the pot and you sit there trying to figure out the odds. Learn the math now, so that when these situations come up again, you can focus your attention on his hand range instead of the odds you need to make a profitable call.
I’ve already done all the hard work for you. I plugged all the numbers into the equations and organized the answers for you (on page 40). All you have to do now is memorize it.
Learning these charts is one of the easiest and fastest things you can do to immediately improve your poker game and win rate.
If I were to learn poker from the beginning again, this will certainly be one of my top priorities. Poker is all about having an edge over your opponents. Whether you know something they don’t or are capable of doing something and they’re not, you gain. Knowing these charts is certainly one of those edges.
Quick Poker Facts
(Memorizing these charts now will make your life much easier)
