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Counting Outs in Poker - Ways to Improve Your Hand
What are outs? Outs are simply cards that will improve the strength of your hand.For
instance, let's say that you have KJ, and the flop is 4 10 Q. In this
case, a 9 or an Ace would give you a straight. This is known as an
"open ended straight draw." There are exactly 4 of each rank of cards
in a standard 52-card deck. So there are 4 nines that can make your
straight and also 4 aces that can complete your straight. 4 + 4 = 8. So
if you have an open ended straight draw, you have a total of 8 outs.Here's another example:This
time you have the King of Diamonds and the Jack of Diamonds. The flop
comes down 2 4 9, and two of those cards are diamonds. You now have a
"flush draw." If one more diamond comes on the turn or river, you will
have completed your flush. So how many outs do you have? Well, let's
figure this out. There are exactly 13 cards of each suit in a standard
52-card deck, which is to say there are a total of 13 diamonds. You
already have 2 diamonds in your hand. 13 - 2 = 11. There are also two
more diamonds on the board. 11 - 2 = 9. Therefore, if you have a flush
draw, you have 9 outs to complete your flush and improve your hand.Counting Extra OutsLet's
take the above example and add some extra outs to it. Say you've been
paying real close attention to your opponent, maybe he's a buddy of
yours who you've played with many times before. So you've got a pretty
good idea of what he's holding based on what you know about how he
plays and how he has played his hand thus far. You figure him for
having a medium pocket pair like 77 or 88, or maybe something like an
A4. So now you know that if any of your 9 remaining diamonds come
through, you'll beat him with the flush. But you could also catch one
of the three remaining Kings or one of the three remaining Jacks in the
deck to beat him with a higher pair. Now you outs are 9 diamonds + 3
Kings + 3 Jacks for a total of 15 outs.Hands and OutsHere's a handy little chart of some different draws you'll see and their corresponding number of outs:Share your own thoughts on Counting Outs on the Donkhard Poker Forum!
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