RR,I am aware of implied odds but they don't figure prominently in my decisions. This is because it has been my experience that poker is NOT a slot machine due
to dozens of variables.It's easy to think you have the game figured out but sit down at a $300 max bet
cash game and then tell me how to win. RG On 2/18/2013 2:15 PM, Ron Ristad wrote:
RG, Just one comment. With a hand like you had you need to consider the implied odds, which is just not the odds of you hitting a full house but the amount of money you could win if you do. In this case most likely anybody who is betting or calling has a flush, quite possibly the nut flush, and they would never expect you to have a full house, meaning that hitting your full house would give you a hand that could break them. So even though your odds of making a full house was 22% the potential pay off is much greater. In other words it's not a 22% or 1-5 odds that you will make your hand, but betting $60 to win $600 or more, which changes the odds to 2-1 in your favor. This why a good poker player never thinks about winning or losing, but only how they play the game, because if you play well then no matter how bad your luck is, in the long run you will always win money. In this case you will only win that hand approximately 1 out of 5 times, but when you do win you more than make up for all the times you lost. -RR