Pot odds

You're on the button with 9♣8♣ and the turn is K♣7♣2♦-4♥. The pot is $100 before your opponent bets $40. Calling $40 creates $180 total, so the price is 40 ÷ 180, roughly 22%. A bare flush draw has nine clubs left among 46 unseen cards, about 19.6%, just below the price. Add a clean gutshot and twelve outs rise above 26%, clearing it.

This turns a hunch into a number. Pot always means the chips in the middle before the bet; price is call ÷ (pot + bet + call). Then match equity to the street. Use outs × 2 for the next card. Use × 4 against the current price only when calling closes the action and guarantees both remaining cards. Otherwise a shortfall needs honest implied odds, future chips you can realistically win when the draw hits.

The usual mistake is calling because a draw feels alive without pricing it, or comparing by-river equity with a price that buys only one card. The other trap is counting outs that do not win: a flush card against a full house completes nothing. Count only clean outs, use the correct street, and do not invent future payoff.