Calculating Outs in Poker
In poker, an "out" refers to any card that could appear on the turn or river to improve your hand. An example would be a card that would complete your straight or flush draw. It is important to understand outs because it is a very important aspect of the game when you are deciding whether to try to draw to a big hand when you know you are currently behind. This article will give examples of how to calculate outs in different situations and how to use this information to make the correct decisions at the poker tables.
#1 Accepts US Credit Cards! Sportsbook Poker Promo Code
- $1000 Sportsbook Bonus
- Hugh 500k Cash Race
- Great SNG Tournaments
- Tons of FISH
- Special WSOP Satellites
- US Credit Cards Accepted
- 95% US Credit Cards Acceptance
- Casino and Sportsbook included
Finding Your Outs
First off we will look at how you can calculate your outs in some very common poker situations. In order to calculate your outs you have to look at how many cards are left in the deck that would improve your hand to what you feel would win pot. For example, if you have 4 to a flush, and there are a total of 13 cards of each suit in the deck, then there are 9 cards that could come from the cards to improve your hand.
Another example would be an open-ended straight draw. Let's say you have a (7,8) in your hand and the flop comes (K,5,6). If you put your opponent on a king then you need to figure out how many outs you have to making the best hand. In this case you have the four 4's that are left in the deck and the four 9's, for a total of 8 outs.
Common Mistakes
A common mistake that is made when calculating outs is double counting the same card twice when there are combinations of draws on the flop or turn. For example, say that you have both a flush draw and a straight draw after the turn. In this case you will have 9 outs to hit the flush and 8 outs to hit the straight. This would give you a total of 17 outs to make the best hand right? Wrong! You have to remember that you are using 2 of the same cards to hit both the flush and the straight, so you need to subtract 2 from the total outs to find the correct total which in this case is 15.
Here is an example of this situation. Say you have (8D,9D) in your hand and flop is (7C,2D,10S) and the turn is (KD). At this point in the hand you have both an open-ended straight draw and 4 to a flush. You have 9 outs to make a flush and 8 outs to make a straight. However, the 6D and the JD would make you both the straight and the flush. For this reason you have to subtract these two cards from one of the draws in order to find the correct amount of outs.
Calculating your Odds to Win
Once you know how many outs you have to making the best hand you can start calculating your odds of winning the hand. To do this you have to divide your number of outs by the number of unseen cards to find the chances that one of your outs will appear. After the flop there are 47 unseen cards and after the turn there are 46. If we look at the example above where you had 15 outs to win the hand after the turn we can see what your chances are of hitting one of these outs. To do this we must divide 15 by 46 to see that you have a 32.6% chance of hitting one of your 15 outs on the river.
A Final Thought On Calculating Outs In Poker
An out is a card that could still be in the deck that would likely make your hand the best at the table. The most common situations where you will need to calculate your outs would be when you are drawing to a flush or a straight on the turn or river. Once you know your outs you should calculate your chances of hitting one of the outs by dividing the amount of outs you have by the total number of cards remaining in the deck.
By being able to calculate the odds of improving your hand you will be able to better decide when to draw to your straight or flush, taking into account the pot odds in the hand. PKR Poker would be a great place to practice calculating your outs. Remember to use a PKR bonus code when signing up to ensure you get the initial deposit bonus that is right for you.
Absolute Poker Rakeback - #1 SNG Tournament Poker
- 30% Absolute Poker Rakeback
- 2025 Absolute Poker Bonus
- 150% Deposit Bonus to $500
- Special Bounty SNGs
- Special WSOP Satellites
- No Bonus Deductions
- Casino and BlackJack Games
- WSOP and WPT Satellites
- New Player Freeroll Entry