Implied odds in poker represent the money you expect to win on future streets if you hit your draw, factored in alongside the pot odds you are getting right now.

When pot odds alone do not justify a call, implied odds can shift that calculation, but only if your opponent is likely to pay you off in a big way when you improve.

I have seen implied odds used to justify almost every bad call at the table. “I had implied odds” is one of the most abused phrases in poker. What I find when reviewing students’ hands is that most players dramatically overestimate how much they will extract on the river, especially against opponents who can fold.

This guide will show you how to calculate what you actually need to win to make a call profitable, and when implied odds genuinely apply versus when they are wishful thinking.

What Are Implied Odds?

Implied odds in poker represent the amount of money you stand to win on further betting streets if you hit one of the outs you were chasing.

Good implied odds mean that you stand to win a lot of extra money on further betting streets if your hand improves, with draws like gutshot straight draws offering some of the best opportunities.

If there is a good chance you will win more money on future streets when you improve, your implied odds are favorable. 

On the other hand, if it looks like your opponent will get out of your way when you improve, your implied odds are not looking so great.

Of course, this is all just a simplification. We will discuss in more detail how to calculate implied odds in your poker games.

Calculating implied odds to an exact number would be impossible because there are too many variables at play and no exact poker math. You cannot predict exactly how your opponent will react to certain cards, bet sizes, etc.

However, we can calculate the minimum amount we need to win on future streets to make our play profitable, despite the pot odds presented at the moment.

When playing live poker, it is easy to get distracted, especially if you are playing in a fun, lively game! That said, being able to focus and calculate pot odds and implied odds is critical to success.

How to Calculate Implied Odds in Poker

The most useful thing about implied odds math is not a precise number. It is a sanity check.

What I want my students to do is not calculate implied odds to three decimal places at the table, but to quickly estimate whether the amount they need to extract on future streets is realistic given the hand, the opponent, and the stack depth.

More often than not, when players run this check honestly, the call they were about to make no longer looks as good.

For that reason, focus on calculating the minimum amount of money we need to win in the future to make our call profitable.

This is useful in situations when direct pot odds don’t allow us to proceed with our hand, as we don’t have enough equity with our draw.

Yet, if there is more money behind in our stack and our opponents’ stacks, making a call can still be profitable if there is a chance for more money to go into the pot.

Example – Calculating Implied Odds

So, let’s use an example scenario to explain the implied odds calculation. We will start with a hand from the $2/5 Texas Hold’em cash game.

Sitting on a $500 stack, you are dealt 9♠8♠ on the BB. UTG opens to $15, you make the call, and all other players get out of the way.

With $37 in the pot, you check the K♣7♠2♦ board, and your opponent decides to bet small for $10. You make the call with your backdoor draws, and the turn reveals the 6♦, giving you an open-ended straight draw.

You check again, and your opponent now bets $40 into the $57 pot. A quick pot odds calculation tells the following story:

$40 (needed to call) / ($40 bet + $57 pot + $40 call) = $40/$173 = 0.218

This means we need 21.8% equity to make this call profitable. A quick look at our odds against some possible hands, such as K♥10♥, shows we have about 15% equity against many of them. Our equity against our opponent’s entire range isn’t that great either, since we will almost surely lose if unimproved.

However, we do have an open-ended straight draw, giving us eight clean outs to the nuts, all of which means we win the hand.

With a slight equity deficit in this situation, we will need to make some extra money on the river to make our call profitable. But how much exactly?

To determine that, we will use the following implied odds formula:

Amount to Call / (Opponent’s Bet + Pot Size + Amount to Call + Money We Need to Win on River) = Equity

In this case, the calculation would look like this:

40 / (40 + 57 + 40 + X) = 0.15

40 / (137 + X) = 0.15

40 = 137 * 0.15 + X * 0.15

40 = 20.55 + X * 0.15

X * 0.15 = 40 – 20.55

X * 0.15 = 19.45

X = 129.6

Using this calculation, you can see that we need to win an extra $129.6 (let’s call it $130) to make our call on the turn profitable.

Considering the pot will be $137 when we make this call, we would need to extract a full pot-size bet on the river to make this call profitable.

With only one betting street left to go and our opponent unlikely to have a monster hand right now, making the call would probably not be justifiable in this situation.

However, if the bet was slightly smaller, we could probably argue for making the call, even if we still don’t quite have enough equity to make it in relation to pot odds.

For instance, if the bet were $30, you would need to win about $83 on the river to make the call profitable, which would be a more realistic number.

The key lesson from this example is one I repeat constantly to students: before you call a bet with a draw, ask yourself honestly whether your opponent is the type to make a large bet on the river when your draw gets there.

Against a passive player who checks the river when a straight card arrives, your implied odds are close to zero. Against an aggressive player who fires three streets on scary boards, they are real. The math above only works if the money you are counting on actually goes in.

In either case, this same formula can be applied in any situation in which pot odds alone are not enough to justify a call, but in which your hand could improve and get you paid on the remaining streets.

However, there may be a way to use this situation to your advantage. Let’s explore the alternative option.

Turning Hands into Bluffs with Implied Odds

Implied odds tell us how much money we need to win in the future to make a current bet profitable and can help us make calls that are not justified by pot odds alone.

However, implied odds can also help us make good bluffs with a number of drawing hands that don’t really justify a call regardless of implied odds.

In our previous example, we saw a situation in which a call was perhaps not a great idea, as the amount of money we needed to win on the river was pretty high, and our opponent’s range was not super strong.

In situations like this, it’s ideal to turn our hand into a bluff and represent having a monster hand.

For instance, if we raised it to $150 in our previous example instead of calling the $40, we would put our opponent in a very difficult situation.

They would be forced to fold hands like underpairs and strong A-highs that can’t handle the pressure on the board in question and would have a hard time even with hands like Kx.

What’s even more, we could apply further pressure by following our bluff with an all-in play on the river, and we could also make our straight 15% of the time.

What to Take into Consideration

Implied odds are only as good as your read on your opponent. I have seen players make mathematically sound implied odds calls against opponents who will never put another chip in the pot.

The math said call. The opponent said fold. Here are the factors that determine whether your implied odds are real or imaginary:

• Is Your Draw Obvious: One of the most important questions with drawing hands is how obvious your draw is. Hands like flush draws, for example, tend to be quite obvious, making it that much easier for your opponent to get away when the draw hits.
• How Strong Is Their Range: The strength of the opponent’s range will also inform your decision. Making implied odds calls against strong ranges is smart, as these ranges tend to pay you off on turns and rivers. A weak range, on the other hand, is better attacked with a raise.
• Positional Advantage: Having a position is very useful when making calls based on implied odds. Playing such spots out of position will also force you to make bets outside of the game flow, often tipping your opponents off when you make your hand.
• Opponent’s Aggression: Understanding how aggressive your opponent is can be a greatly helpful factor. You generally want to draw against aggressive opponents who will empty the clip when your hand gets there.
• Can You Bluff: Just because you hold a straight draw doesn’t mean you can’t also win the hand when the flush gets there. Board texture can be greatly helpful in these spots, as it may allow you to win on turns and rivers that don’t actually improve your hand.

Reverse Implied Odds

Implied odds tell you how much you might win on later streets. Reverse implied odds tell you how much you might lose. They are the other side of the same coin, and ignoring them is one of the most expensive mistakes a player can make with speculative hands.

Reverse implied odds apply when you have a hand that might improve into second-best.

The classic example is a small flush draw on a paired board. You call a bet on a draw to your flush. The flush gets there. Your opponent check-raises you on the river for a large amount. Now you have to figure out whether you are beat. If you are, you just paid a premium to make a losing hand.

In my experience, the hands with the worst reverse implied odds are dominated flush draws, weak straight draws that complete on cards that also improve your opponent’s range, and small pairs against opponents with ranges full of overpairs. When I review hands where students lost a large pot, I find that dominated draws with bad reverse implied odds are behind a significant percentage of them.

Before calling with any drawing hand, run both checks: how much do I need to win when I get there, and how much might I lose if I make my hand and am still beaten? If the reverse implied odds are serious, meaning the hands that beat me are credibly in my opponent’s range, then even good-looking implied odds become a losing proposition.

Final Words on Implied Odds

Implied odds are one of the most powerful concepts in poker when used correctly, and one of the most expensive when used as a rationalization.

The formula in this guide will help you put a real number on what you need to extract from your opponent to make a call profitable. What I want you to take away is the discipline to actually run that number before you call, rather than estimating loosely and hoping for the best.

Run the check. Add reverse implied odds to that check. Then decide.

Take all the considerations we mentioned into account and learn how to calculate implied odds in poker, and you will become a better poker player for it, guaranteed! If you are new to the concept, make sure to play with our poker odds calculator and get a grasp of the basic math behind it.