Every time someone bets, they are offering you a price. Pot odds are how you decide whether that price is worth paying. It is the single most useful number in no-limit hold'em, and it is just one comparison: the price you are being offered versus how often you need to win.

The price the pot is offering

Pot odds are the ratio of what you must call to the total you would win.

Say the pot is $80 and your opponent bets $20. You must call $20 to win the $100 that is now out there (the $80 pot plus their $20 bet). You are risking 20 to win 100, so you are getting 5-to-1. Turn that into a percentage — the share of the time you need to win to break even — like this:

break-even % = call ÷ (pot + call) = 20 ÷ 120 ≈ 17%

If you win more than 17% of the time, calling makes money. Less, and you are lighting chips on fire. That is the whole idea.

Comparing price to your chance of winning

The price only means something next to your actual chance of winning the hand — your equity (the subject of its own lesson). The rule is simple:

Equity greater than the break-even % → calling is profitable.
Equity less than the break-even % → folding is better.

Where people go wrong

Counting dirty outs. If a card that "improves" you also completes an obvious draw for your opponent, it is not a clean out. Discount it.
Forgetting position. Acting last lets you see a card cheaply or take the free option; acting first, you may face another bet. The price you are quoted is not always the price you end up paying.
Ignoring implied odds. Sometimes a call loses on raw pot odds but wins because of the money you will make later when you hit. That is a refinement — master the raw comparison first.

A reliable rule of thumb at the table: call ÷ (pot + call). If your honest read of your equity clears that number, the call is good.

How the pot-odds puzzle trains this

The pot-odds puzzle shows you a pot, a bet, and your hand, and asks for the price as a percentage. You type a number; we grade it against the exact break-even figure with a small tolerance band, and your rating moves with the result. A handful of reps a day and the comparison becomes automatic — you will see the price before you have finished doing the arithmetic.

Go deeper

Pot odds tell you the price; equity tells you whether your hand can pay it. Read those two together and most preflop and flop calls answer themselves.