Reverse implied odds is basically a situation in poker where completing your draw is a bad thing.  That's the over-simplified definition of the term but it works.  Reverse implied odds come into effect when the hand you are drawing to is going to be a second best hand.

If you're holding 4s5s and are drawing to a flush, you would be getting reverse implied odds if your opponent was drawing to the same flush with AsQs.  The problem here is obvious: you stand to lose a good amount of money if you hit your draw.

That's why reverse implied odds are the opposite of implied odds.  With reverse implied odds the worst case scenario is to actually hit your draw.  This is why you want to be very careful in selecting your draws.

This is also why you should never chase draws on paired boards.  If your opponent doesn't already have a full house, one of your outs could give him one.  If he already does have the full house, you're drawing dead and the worst thing that can happen is you complete your draw.

And even if you do complete your draw and your opponent doesn't end up with a full house, you're still not going to win much money because the board is going to be quite ugly. Your opponent will be worried that you have either the full house or the draw on board that you were chasing.

Now you can't take this all overboard and start seeing monsters under the bed.  If the Rock of Gibraltar raises 5 times the big blind from under the gun and the flop comes 223, you can probably assume he hasn't hit the board.  In this case you can play your draw and feel pretty safe in doing so (assuming you're getting the right pot odds).

Reverse implied odds are nasty, so always be on the lookout for them.  The better you are at reading your opponents' hands, the easier it will be for you to know if you're getting reverse implied odds.

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out my pot odds and implied pot odds articles as well.  You can also check my poker odds chart for a detailed list of odds.

Good luck out there!