That’s right, reverse implied odds are ugly indeed. Just as the implied odds help you make money and win big pots, the reverse implied odds – you got it – do the exact opposite: they cost you pots and they cost you big pots.

In order to understand how reverse implied odds work, picture the following: you play your low pocket pair in hopes of hitting your trips. You do hit them on the flop and your opponent hits top pair or two pairs or whatever. You pot commit him and you get him all-in. The implied odds worked nicely for you, didn’t they? Now put yourself in the shoes of your opponent. How do you like those reverse implied odds now?

The fundamental theory behind good-old basic tight aggressive play says you should play very tight on the flop and act decisively on hands where you think you have a definite edge. In practice though, things are much more complicated than that. You will run into situations when you do have something on the flop, something that may well be a pot-winner, but in the same time that same hand may well be dominated.

If someone bets into you on the flop on such a hand and you decide to make the call, you’re staring down right into the ugly face of the reverse implied odds. If the hand were to be over with that call on the flop, you’d be OK, however, there are still two streets and two more opportunities for your opponent to bet and let those implied odds work for him. This whole situation may end up costing you a lot of money. The dilemma in the above described situation is the following: your hand may well be the best one, but – due to the reversed implied odds – it may cost you a lot to find out, and therefore, if you happen to lose, you’ll lose big.

The biggest problem in flopping a marginal hand is that – especially if he has position on you - your opponent may decide to bail out on a later street if he feels he is beat. In this case, you win a small pot only. It’s a lose-lose situation for you, because if you are right in your assumption that your hand is indeed the best one at the table you win small, and if you’re wrong, you lose big.

If your opponent is short-stacked and you only have to call his bet on the flop, you’re OK because you’re safe from the reverse implied odds, but if he can make you pay for seeing a showdown, you’re in trouble.

One of the most frustrating hands that can hit you comes about when you make a weak top pair on a flush-draw flop, and your opponent bets into you. Such moves often turn out to be semi-bluffs, but you will probably have to cough up your entire stack before you find out.

How can you fight off the reverse implied odds? You cannot avoid getting into reverse implied odds situations, but you can learn to spot such situations and you can pretty well make sure you do not let the pot escalate when you do run into it. Here’s an idea you should always remember about reverse implied odds: it always costs you more money to try to keep your opponent honest than the money you’ll make when you’re right and you do indeed have the better hand. After all, it works the same way implied odds do, only vice-versa.

Sign up for a rakeback deal as it’ll take the bite out of your losses in a pretty efficient manner. If you’re a marginal loser, chances are rakeback will even turn you into a winner.