High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The odds-algorithm is a mathematical method to compute optimal strategies for a class of problems which belong to the domain of optimal stopping. Its solution determines the odds-strategy, and the importance of the odds-strategy lies in its optimality, as explained below. The odds-algorithm applies to a class of problems called last-success- problems. Formally the objective is to maximize the probability of identifying in a sequence of sequentially observed independent events a last specific event. This identification must be done on-line, that is, at the time of observation. No recall on preceding observations is permitted. Usually a specific event is defined by the decision maker as an event which is of true interest to her/him in the view of "stopping" in order to take a well-defined action. Such problems are encountered in several real-world situations.