A Beginner’s Guide to Counting Outs in Texas Hold’Em Poker.

Posted by The Marksman at 20 April, at 11 : 34 AM Print

One of the concepts I struggled with when I first started playing poker was counting my outs.  I did not think it was important I used to only focus on what hand I had at the current time and what hand I was hoping to make.  I used to make my decisions based off of if I thought there was a good chance to make my hand which was some mythical calculation.

If you ever want to get a handle on Texas Hold’em poker odds, it’s imperative you learn how to count all your outs.  An out is any card that can come which will give you the best hand. Obviously, before you can begin to count outs, you have to know the poker hand rankings like the back of your hand, so start there if you don’t know them.

After you know the poker hand rankings, you need to be able to read the board. Are there possible straights or flushes? Is the board paired?  Also you need to pay attention to what is happening at the table, if someone flips over their cards or the dealer accidentally exposes a card you need to include that in your calculations.

All of these things may affect your outs. Here’s a simple outs cheat sheet covering the most common situations you’ll be in after the flop (definitions for the terms are below the list):

Open-Ended Straight Draw = 8 Outs

Gut-Shot Straight Draw = 4 Outs

Flush Draw = 9 Outs

Open-Ended & Flush Draw = 15 Outs

Three of a Kind to Make a Full House = 6 on the flop, 9 on the turn (add one out for quads)

Pocket Pair to Set After Flop = 2 Outs

Here are a few Examples:

• Open-ended straight draw – You have four cards in a row.
  • Hand:8♠ 9♥ | Board:6♥ 7♣ 2♠
• Gut-shot straight draw – You need one card in the middle of four.
  • Hand:8♠ 9♥ | Board:6♥ 10♣ 2♠
• Flush draw – You have four cards of the same suit.
  • Hand:8♠ 9♠ | Board:6♠ K♣ 2♠
• Open-ended & flush draw – You have both and open-ended straight draw and a flush draw.
  • Hand:8♠ 9♠ | Board:6♠ 7♠ 2♥
• Three of a kind to make a full house – You have three cards of the same rank.
  • Hand:8♠ 8♥ | Board:8♦ 7♠ 2♥
• Pocket pair to hit a set after the flop – You have a pair in your hand.
  • Hand:8♠ 8♥ | Board:6♠ 7♠ 2♥

The more time you spend practicing counting your outs, the simpler it will become.  Any information you can gather is going to help you make better decisions, and get closer to your goal of winning.  Any card that will bring you the best hand is considered an out. Be careful not to count outs that will potentially give your opponent a better hand.

For example, if you have an open-ended straight draw, but there’s two to a suit on the flop, you only have six outs, since two of your outs will bring a flush to anyone holding the flush draw.  Once you no longer have any difficulty counting your outs, you are ready to move on to the next step.

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