Implied odds
Implied odds are the extra money you expect to win on later streets when a drawing hand completes, added to the pot already in play when deciding whether a call is profitable.
Pot odds only look at the money on the table right now. Implied odds look ahead: the extra bets you expect to win on the turn and river once your drawing hand actually completes.
A draw that is a fold on raw pot odds can turn into a clear call once that future money is counted. You can put a number on exactly how much extra you need:
extra needed later = call / equity - final pot
Worked example. You face a 40 call into a pot that becomes 200 once you call, so pot odds alone require 20% equity. Your draw only has 15%:
extra needed later = 40 / 0.15 - 200 = 67
You need to expect an extra 67 on later streets to make this call break even. Deep stacks, a well hidden draw, and an opponent who pays off big hands all make that extra money real; short stacks and an obvious draw make it disappear.
There is a trap on the other side too, called reverse implied odds: making your hand but still losing a bigger pot to a better one. Weigh both before stretching a pot-odds fold into a call.
Put it to work with the Pot-odds calculator.