Poker IQ Test

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How to Play
In each scenario you’re playing Texas Hold’em against a single opponent (“heads up”) and with one card to be dealt, (on the “turn”) your opponent goes “ALL IN” so there can be no more betting. You have more chips than your opponent (you have them “covered”). To make the game easier, we’ve allowed you see your opponent’s cards.
This gives you all the information you need to work out your odds of winning the hand, when the final “river” card is dealt. Of the 52 cards in the deck, there are 8 on screen, so any of the 44 unseen cards could be dealt as the final “river” card.
You can also see how much it will cost you to “CALL” your opponent, and how much you could win in return (this is known as the “Pot Odds”).
The aim of the game is simply to decide whether the odds you’re being offered by the pot are better than your odds of making the winning hand. If the pot is offering you better odds than the odds of hitting your hand, the correct decision is to CALL. If not, you should FOLD. You’ll score one point for each correct decision and you have three lives; make three incorrect decisions and it’s game over!

Game chronology
The game starts off with fairly easy, clear cut decisions and to help newcomers shows both the odds of winning and the odds offered by the pot, plus the “Sheriff” is on hand to give you some coaching tips. As the game progresses, you must calculate your own odds and the decisions become more difficult and time pressured.
So it’s up to you….do you “CALL” or “FOLD”?

Odds of winning
As you have the benefit of seeing your opponent’s hand it’s easy to work out which of the 44 cards remaining in the deck will allow you to make the best poker hand and win.
For example:
You have: 7c 8h
Your opponent has: Ks Kd
The “board” cards are: 5c 6d 2d Jc
You are one card off getting a “straight” which will win you the hand. Eight cards left in the deck will allow you to make the winning hand (a “straight” – beating your opponent’s pair). These cards are:
4 x Fours
4 x Nines
In poker speak, you’re said to have 8 “outs”. 8 of the remaining 44 cards will help you and 36 or the remaining 44 cards will not. So you chances of winning, expressed as betting odds are 36/8 or 9/2.

Pot Odds
To work out your pot odds, you simply need to divide the money you could win (the pot plus your opponent’s all-in bet) by the amount you’re required to CALL.
For example:
The pot stands at £2,000
Your opponent bets £500
You need to put £500 in the pot to CALL
Your “pots odds” are therefore 2500/500 or 5/1.
In poker and in all forms of gambling and speculation, you’re making a good bet if your chances of winning are better than the payout you can expect to receive. So in this situation, if your chances of hitting your hand were (for example) 4/1 you’d be right to CALL. If there were 6/1 you should FOLD – put down your cards and wait for a better opportunity!