Gambling terms, explained straight

Poker

Pot odds vs equity

Pot odds vs equity is the comparison between the price offered by a bet and a hand's chance of winning the pot, used to decide whether calling is mathematically justified.

Pot odds formula
Call / (pot + bet + call) as a ratio; percentage form is call divided by the sum of pot and call.12
Equity
A player's probability of winning or expected share of the pot.1
Decision rule
Call if your equity is at least as good as the pot odds being offered; otherwise fold.12

Key points

  • Pot odds are the price of a call, expressed as a ratio or percentage of the pot size to the call cost.12
  • Equity is your estimated chance of winning or splitting the pot at showdown.1
  • A call is favourable when your equity percentage exceeds the pot-odds percentage.12

Where this term is used

Poker Pot odds The ratio of the current pot size to the cost of a contemplated call. Poker Pot odds poker The same concept of pot odds applied specifically to poker betting decisions. Poker Pot odds vs implied odds Compares the immediate pot odds to the potential future winnings from later betting rounds. Poker Implied odds The expected additional money you can win on future streets if you hit your draw. Poker Poker equity A player's expected share of the pot based on their chance of winning at showdown. Poker Poker odds chart A reference table showing common hand probabilities and pot odds thresholds.

Sources

  1. Pot odds en.wikipedia.org Defines pot odds and the comparison with equity.
  2. PokerSkill: LLMs Can Play Expert-Level Poker without ... arxiv.org Gives the percentage formula for pot odds and the decision rule.

Sources are drawn from regulators, universities and published research, and each one is labelled with what it actually is — a preprint is not called a paper. Bookmaker and affiliate pages are never cited here, because a page that sells betting is not a neutral authority on it.

Written and maintained by Ellis Warrender, writer and maintainer.

Last updated 28 July 2026. Spotted an error? Tell me and it gets fixed and logged on the corrections page.