Poker Shark
Do you have the odds to call a pocket pair hoping to hit a set?
A pocket pair has 2 outs to make a set, about 8% equity on the flop and 4% on the turn.
Hitting your set is a long shot on any single street, so direct pot odds almost never justify the call. Set mining is an implied-odds play: you call a small price preflop or on the flop hoping to win a big pot the times you do flop the set. The rule of thumb is you want the bet to be small relative to the stacks behind.
On direct pot odds, 2 outs lets you profitably call a flop bet up to about 10% of the pot. Deeper stacks and implied odds push that higher.
Quick tip: Set mining is about implied odds, not pot odds. Two outs is only about 8% on the flop.
See this draw on real boards
The flop equity tables show what every starting hand is worth on these textures, precomputed against a random hand.
- K 7 2 rainbow : the dry board where a flopped set stacks top pair
- Q 7 2 rainbow : same story one card down, sets get paid here
- 7 7 7 : the board that turns every pocket pair into a full house
Now play the spots where it counts.
Practice against opponents who make you prove your math, hand after hand.