Pre-flop odds

[bmvt420]

I have been playing a lot of hold'em for the last couple months and prefer to play a pretty mathmatical game. Along those lines, how do I go about calculating my odds pre-flop?

If that is too hard to explain; say im in a limit game in late position and there are 4 limpers in front of me, I have JQs, how do I go about calculating the "right" call?

Also, anyone have recomendations of good poker theory sites and/or books?

Thanks for any help...

[Adamm]

Is this sorta what your looking for (still not done)...
www.texasholdem-poker.com/calculator.php
?

[bmvt420]

yeah, but how do I make that calculation when im sitting at a table?

[Nut Flush]

paractice, practice, practice

[jwrussell]

Pretty cool little calculator there Adam. Good work.

Also, on topic: Why do you really want to know? I mean, truly it seems a little premature to be figuring out odds on the flop. You have no idea what the other players have (they all limped), seems to me you have an easy call/raise hand in this situation here.

I don't know, maybe I'm missing something, but involving odds pre-flop just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. You either have a calling/raising hand or you have a folding hand pre-flop. Once you hit the flop you can truly start calculation odds of hitting a hand that will win you the pot and can make a more informed decision. Just seems to me like you are trying to make a decision with too little information pre-flop when you are talking about odds.

[bmvt420]

Thanks, your probably right.

[boden12]

Just try and figure out what outs you have (and what outs don't work) compared to what the other person's hand may be and how he's playing.

IE--If you have pocket 9's and there's two hearts on the flop, if you don't have the 9 of hearts, you could be drawing dead.

If your key cards make other people's flushes and straights...watch out. Almost no flop that hits you is worth slow playing tho.

[vegasholdem]

To be honest...i can't see how players can calculate specific odds in real time...can you?

It's possible to calculate preflop odds and such...but not in real time!!

The alternative: Memorization! It's not as hard as you think. There are 5 basic starting hands: connectors/suited-connectors/pocket pairs/suited/gapped-offsuits.

With those basic starting hands in mind....u could memorize specific draw odds for each of them:

Preflop to Flop
connectors: 7-1 against flopping a 4straight.
suited-connectors: 2-1 against flopping a pair, 4straight or 4flush
pocket pairs: 7.7-1 against floppin a Set
gapped-offsuit: 5-1 against flopping a pair using only 1 of your holecards.
2.5-1 against flopping a pair using any 2 of your holecards.

The stats i've posted above is basically all i needed to memorize to play my starting holecards properly!!!
For instance, let's assume you hold AQoffsuit preflop: u have an Ace Face Connector
.....7 to 1 against flopping a 4straight draw with AQoffsuit
.....but you have backdoors...so it's 2.5 to 1 against flopping an Ace or Queen if your 4straight draw doesn't flop!
Conclusion: u should raise/reraise preflop since your AQoffsuit will win more often against a smaller field(about 3 other players)!!!

So that's a perfect example of how i personally play texas hold'em!!!

Trust me...i've been using this system for 9months now....and i haven't Ever had to redeposit yet!!! Those are the Only preflop odds i've memorized and i've been winning ever since. Of course, there are also a few Postflop odds to memorize....but you get my drift....
....memorize your draw odds beforehand.....and you can apply your memorized draw odds in Real Time without even having to think about it! After hundreds of hours of doin' this online....it comes naturally to me now. So the more stats you can memorize....the more correct your action will be at the Table!

Currently...i'm trying to memorize Allin Draw odds....
for instance...if you hold 22 preflop...when you go allin...it's 4.5 to 1 against catching another 2 by the River! Memorizing allin odds actually do make me play better in Sit n Gos!!!

[PokerStudent]

In addition to the number of players in the pot you should count other parameters (current pot, future contribution to the pot, etc.) The you may use any texas hold'em calculator to estimate your odds/probabilities.

For example in your case the results are

Numb. Of pl. | Prob. Odds Bet
4 | 35.6% or 1: 1.81 raise