Poker Odds and Outs

Poker Odds and Outs

 'Outs' are the number of cards that could potentially turn your hand into a winning hand. If you are trying to land a fifth heart to complete your flush on the river, there are 9 possible cards that will do the job.  While there are 13 hearts in any deck, once you subtract the 4 hearts from your hand or on the board, there are 9 remaining hearts.

The second piece of information you’ll need is the number of unseen cards.  With 52 cards in the deck, 4 cards on the board and two cards in your hand, there are 46 remaining cards.

All it takes is a little basic division to calculate the odds.  First take the number of cards that can make your hand and divide it by the number of unseen cards.  In the example above, simply divide 9 by 46 for the odds.  The result is 19.56%

Gutshot Straight

You have an 8.5% chance of catching your card on the turn and an 8.7% chance of catching your card on the river.  The collective odds of catching your card on the turn or the river are 16.5%.

Open-Ended Straight

The odds of catching your card on the turn are 17.0%. The odds of catching your card on the river are 17.4%.  The odds of catching your card on either the turn or the river are 31.5%.

Flush

If you hold a four-card flush, you have a 19.1% chance of catching it on the turn.  The odds of catching it on the river are 19.6%.  The combined odds of catching it on either the turn or the river are 35.0%.