Accurate Poker Pot Size Calculation

With either land based or online poker we have to think fast not only to decide quickly but to think ahead of the opponent. Poker, especially Texas Holdem variants, is largely a psychological game. Among the things we have to do fast is Poker pot size calculation.

Here's an example. For instance we hand is an unsuited J-10 and with $6 we call the big blind. Another player also decides to call it. After this the small blind decides to fold after which the big blind player checks. That's a lot of action and betting. Now, what's our poker pot size calculation so far? We have a total $21 so far - three $6 bets plus $3(the big blind, two calls, and the call of the check of the big blind).

Now, let's continue. With our offsuit J-10 the flop reveals Q-2-9 which gives us a potential straight, open ended at that if we hit a draw. We're hoping to get either a king for 9-10-J-Q-K or an 8 for 8-9-10-J-Q. Since we need either an 8 or a K and there are 4 types of each in the deck we have 8 poker outs - the number of cards we need to hit our draw. For an accurate poker pot size calculation we also need to know our unknown cards still in the deck of cards, which are 47 unknown cards - that's 52 cards less the 3 on the board and the 2 cards we hold.

Now, let's say we're second to act and the first player wagers $12. That $12 is the bet amount presently. If we sum it all up, our poker pot size calculation now is $21 plus the current $12 plus the amount of bet the player next to us will place, which we designate here as "unknown." Notice that we're playing here from a disadvantaged position - second to act. With such positioning we often get only this close with our poker pot size calculation because of the unknown bets of players after us. We supplement with calculated guess works.

When we have good positioning, however, like when we're playing the button or at least somewhere where we're last to act, we get accurate poker pot size calculation because we see most of the action and how the players bet.

Poker pot size calculation is important to see how much is already in the pot. This determines our pot odds - or whether the pot amount is worth the betting risks we plan to take.