Understanding what “outs” are, and how to use them to calculate your odds of forming a winning hand, will significantly enhance your Texas Hold’em strategy and results. With a little time and dedicated study, learning to calculate odds by identifying the outs will soon boost your level of game play from beginner to intermediate.
“Outs” are all of the unseen cards that stand to improve your hand if they are dealt to the board. For instance, there are 13 cards of each suit in the deck. If both of your starting cards are hearts, and the flop produces two more hearts, there are 9 hearts – that’s 9 outs – left somewhere in the 47 cards you haven’t seen yet. That gives you a 9 in 47 chance that the turn will give you the flush.
When counting outs, it is recommended to start with the outs that will give you the nut hand – the best possible hand that can be formed. Do this by examining the flop for potential flushes or straights. A royal flush is the highest hand that can be achieved in Texas Hold’em, but has very few outs. If you are holding A(h)-10(h), and the board shows J(h), K(h) and J(c), there is one out for the royal flush – Q(h) – and 8 other outs for the non-consecutive flush. You also have 3 outs for an off-suit straight. That is a total of 12 outs that will beat three of kind if someone is holding one of the two remaining Jacks.
Of course, things can shift very quickly, and it important to consider the best hand your opponents can have, too. What if the turn reveals the K(c)? Anyone with two clubs in the hole is looking at the same number of flush outs that you are, maybe even a straight or royal flush.
What’s worse, if you have an opponent holding one of the two hidden Jacks or Kings, you will have to beat a full house. In fact, it is possible that one of your opponents may hit four of a kind, if they haven’t already. There is only one out that will allow you to beat anything better than a non-consecutive flush in this situation, that Queen of hearts lurking somewhere in the 46 cards you haven’t seen. You would need to rely on your other poker beginner strategies – such as your position, your opponents’ betting patterns and the size of your chip stack – to determine the best way to proceed.
Keeping a few simple rules in mind will help you get started. Note that an open-ended straight draw (four consecutively ranked cards such as 6-7-8-9) will have 8 outs; four outs at each end of the potential straight. A gut-shot straight (one rank missing from anywhere in the middle of the straight) will have 4 outs. If you have 3-of-a-kind at the flop, you have 7 outs; 6 for the full house, and 1 for the four-of-a-kind.
Counting the outs will become easier the more you exercise the ability. You can train yourself with online Texas Hold’em practice games, or simply by sitting down at the kitchen table with a deck of cards. With a little effort, any beginner poker player can elevate their Texas Hold’em strategy with a good understanding of outs.