We count outs in poker to determine how many cards will help us improve our hands, or make our draws. This information is important to us in poker because we need to assess the likelihood of making a hand and compare it to the odds the pot is laying us. When we chase draws that have worse odds than the pot is giving, we play with a negative expected value. To identify when it is and is not profitable to continue chasing a draw, we must first learn to assess the likelihood of making our draws.

How to Calculate the Chance of Making a Draw

The first thing we do when calculating the odds at any of the best online poker sites of making our hand is to count our outs. Outs are the number of cards that will “get us there.” Supposing we hold an open-ended straight draw with a hand such as ten-eight on a board of nine – jack – three. We determine that any queen will help us, and any seven will help us, as both cards complete our open-ended draw. We add up the number of cards that are helpful, and determine we have eight helpful cards, which means we have eight outs to the straight draw.

If we had a flush draw instead, we would know that there are nine suited cards that we have not yet seen from the deck that can give us a flush. There are thirteen cards of each suit in the deck of fifty-two cards. We have two suited cards in our hand, and there are two suited cards on the board. As a result, thirteen cards less the four known cards gives us nine outs to a flush.

Turning outs into Odds

We are armed with the information of how many cards prove helpful that might be left in the deck. Now we put this information to good use. To determine the likelihood of completing our draws, we need two numbers. First, we need the number of outs we have. Additionally, we need to know how many cards are left unknown to us. To count the number of cards unknown, we subtract our two hold cards, and the number of cards currently displayed on the board from the number of cards in a deck (which is 52). On the flop, we know our hole cards and there are three poker cards on the board (totaling five cards). Fifty-two minus five is forty-seven. Of those forty-seven cards, eight cards are helpful in getting us to our open-ended straight draw. Divide the number of cards left and unknown by the number of cards that will help us and we get a decimal (which we multiply by 100 to get the chance of the next card helping us). If there are two cards to come, we double that number.

When learning to play poker, counting outs and calculating odds is a basic drill that all players must learn and commit to memory. To know our chances for success allows us to decide whether it is prudent to continue in the hand.