I went over the concept of pot odds in my first post, and today it would be a good idea to introduce a related subject and teach you implied odds. We showed in the "pot odds" entry that bankroll management is so critical when it comes to the game of poker because there will be times where you will need to call a bet when you're on a draw. Our poker odds table helped show that you will obviously lose a few of these pots, and at times it's tough to get away from these spots despite selecting solely strong Texas Hold Em hands before the flop. Regarding implied odds, you will see a theme that's similar in the fact that we're also putting our money in with a worse hand. With pot odds we do it because it's mathematically correct. With implied odds we do it because of future expectation.

To see what I mean, let's go back to the example of flopping a flush draw from the last entry. We were playing a tournament on a Full Tilt Poker download and we flopped a flush draw. However, in this example pretend that our opponent just raises 600 more rather than all his chips. Considering just pot odds, this 600 raise is too many chips because, as we saw last time, only raises less than 500 allow us to call. A little extra information, though, might turn this into a winning situation. Imagine that he has 1,000 chips behind and we know that he will call the rest on the river no matter what. To retain the premise that you'll see both the turn and river if you call, let's also assume that he checks the turn 100% of the time. This sets up a situation in which it becomes correct to calculate implied odds rather than pot odds. Because we know that he isn't ever folding, you can put his remaining 1,000 chips into your calculations, making the pot 2,000 chips instead of 1,000. 600 to call divided by 2,000 in the implied pot gives you 0.30, and since you'll hit your flush around 33% of the time, the call is profitable here.

It should be clear that a poker odds chart combined with pot odds and implied odds can give you a huge edge at the table. An inexperienced individual has a lot of potential to lose money at the wrong time with his draws. The first way is he might call an all-in with incorrect pot odds while on a draw, and without any implied odds, this is a losing play in the long run. The other way he could lose money in the long run is by folding his draw because he doesn't realize he has the correct implied odds to call, and this is also unprofitable. In both cash games and MTT poker, you must understand both pot odds and implied odds to determine whether or not to continue with a hand when you have a draw.

Before I finish off, I'd just like to advise you to be a bit careful with this new knowledge. Occasionally those new to the game will think that it's okay to call in all situations when they discover implied odds because they start to believe that they always have the correct odds. When you're counting future bets, you must be absolutely sure that you are actually going to get them. For example, imagine that you're getting dealt poker hands in one of the US poker rooms and you turn a set, but you also believe it wasn't the best card because it also gave your opponent a flush. He raises and you need to decide whether or not you have the implied odds to try to hit your boat on the river. Some players won't go all the way with a flush on a paired board, and you must consider this when you're calculating your implied odds. If you are overly optimistic and you think that he's going to call a bet when he actually won't, you won't have the correct odds to call after all, and you'll be in a losing situation.