Knowing how to count outs in poker is one of the first mathematical principles you must master when starting.
Fortunately, counting 9️⃣ poker outs is not too difficult, and there are some easy ways to figure out how many outs you have 9️⃣ in each situation.
But what exactly are outs in poker, and how can you use them to be a better poker 9️⃣ player?
We will explain all that and more. By the time you are done reading, you will know what outs are, 9️⃣ how to count them, and how to calculate your equity based on the number of outs you have.
What are Poker 9️⃣ Outs?
Outs in poker are cards that help improve your hand.
For example, if you are holding a pair of kings against 9️⃣ pocket aces, you have two outs to hit your set since only two kings are left in the deck.
Of course, 9️⃣ outs come into play much more once the flop is dealt and you are working with five cards. In this 9️⃣ case, you will often not have a made hand yet and will be looking to improve, so understanding this concept 9️⃣ is essential.
Any card that will improve your hand can be considered an out, although not all poker outs carry the 9️⃣ same weight, so let’s dive into that a bit deeper.
How to Counts Outs in Poker
Since you already know what poker 9️⃣ ours are, let’s discuss how to count it.
Simply put, you need to figure out which cards will help improve your 9️⃣ hand and then think about all the cards in the deck.
In the example of a flush draw, you currently hold 9️⃣ two hearts in your hand, and there are two hearts on the flop. Since we know there are 13 hearts 9️⃣ in the deck, you have nine outs to make your flush.
However, other cards may also help your hand. For example, 9️⃣ if your flush draw contains an ace, which is an over card to the board, any of the remaining aces 9️⃣ could make you the top pair.
Since you are holding the ace of hearts, three additional aces could land on the 9️⃣ turn or river, increasing your outs count by three.
Whatever your current hand is, you should try to think about all 9️⃣ cards that will improve it on the turn or river and count those cards to come up with your total 9️⃣ outs count.
As you get better at it, you will immediately know how many outs you have in some common situations.
Here 9️⃣ are a few frequent flop situations that arise in poker that you should know by heart:
Inside Straight Draw: 4 outs 9️⃣ to a straight
4 outs to a straight Set: 10 outs to a full house or four of a kind
10 outs 9️⃣ to a full house or four of a kind Open-Ended Straight Draw: 8 outs to a straight
8 outs to a 9️⃣ straight Flush Draw: 9 outs to a flush
9 outs to a flush Open-Ended Straight Flush Draw: 15 outs to a 9️⃣ straight or a flush
It is important to know that not all outs are “clean,” so it is important to separate 9️⃣ between cards that can turn our hand into nuts and ones that can only make it slightly stronger.
You have nine 9️⃣ outs to hit your flush if you have a flush draw
How to Use Poker Outs in Game
So now you know 9️⃣ how to count outs in poker, but you still don’t really know how this will help you be a better 9️⃣ poker player.
After all, knowing how many cards will help you is nice, but it won’t help make those cards appear 9️⃣ on the turn or river.
Since there is no way to know which cards are coming, all we can do is 9️⃣ calculate probability and use it to our advantage.
This probability is known as equity in poker, and it determines how likely 9️⃣ we are to improve our hand and ultimately win the pot by simply having the best hand by showdown.
Knowing the 9️⃣ number of outs we have is the first step to calculating equity in a poker hand. The next step is 9️⃣ to use maths to calculate what percentage of the time you will make your hand.
Let us assume we are holding 9️⃣ Ks Qs on a board of As 9s 4c. Our opponent is relatively tight and passive and is now betting 9️⃣ into us, which means they are likely holding at least a pair of aces.
In this case, we have nine outs 9️⃣ to make our flush, and any other outs we may have won’t really help us, as we will still probably 9️⃣ lose if a K or Q comes on the turn or river.
We know that there are 52 cards in the 9️⃣ deck, and we can see five of those cards, leaving us with a total of 47 cards left, nine of 9️⃣ which are spades.
A simple division of 47:9 tells us that we are looking at a ratio of 4.22:1, which translates 9️⃣ into 19.16%. However, it is also important to remember that there are still two cards left to come.
Since both turn 9️⃣ and river are going to be dealt out, we need to calculate for both those cards and realize that our 9️⃣ equity will slightly improve going to the last card if the turn is not a spade since there will be 9️⃣ one fewer card in the deck.
So for the turn, we have 46 cards left with still all of the 9 9️⃣ spades in the deck. Using the same logic and dividing 46:9, we get a 4.11:1 ratio which gives a 19.57% 9️⃣ chance of hitting your flush.
When all these calculations are considered, the equity we come up with is 38.73%.
This does not 9️⃣ include the runner-runner straight possibility when holding KQ, so the actual number is slightly different, but it is the best 9️⃣ way to illustrate this example. That being said, these calculations can take some time to do at the table and 9️⃣ are very impractical. Therefore, there is a much simpler solution to calculating your approximate equity based on your number of 9️⃣ poker outs.
Using the Rule of Two and Four
The equity calculations we did in the previous example are kind of complicated, 9️⃣ and it would be tedious to do them in the middle of a hand while facing the pressure of a 9️⃣ bet.
Instead, there is a much simpler way to calculate your equity without complicated math.
If you are on the flop, take 9️⃣ the number of outs and multiply it by four.
If you are on the turn, take the number of outs and 9️⃣ multiply it by two.
In the previous example, we looked at an example of a flush draw, and we calculated the 9️⃣ equity of 38.73% on the flop and 19.57% on the turn.
If we apply the rule of two and four to 9️⃣ this example, we will come up with 36% (9x4) on the flop and 18% (9x2) on the turn.
You can see 9️⃣ that these numbers are not perfect, but they are within 2% of the real equity, and they take only a 9️⃣ few seconds to calculate.
We also highly recommend remembering the equities of the most common scenarios, such as flush draws, straight 9️⃣ draws, and sets by heart, but using the rule of two and four in all other scenarios.
Q9 had 6 outs 9️⃣ on the flop, which would mean approximately 24% equity
Calculating Equity with More than Nine Outs
As the number of outs becomes 9️⃣ higher, using the rule of two and four will start to deviate from true equity more and more.
For that reason, 9️⃣ there is another formula you should remember and use when you have more than nine outs on the flop in 9️⃣ a poker hand.
The formula is:
Equity = (Number of outs x4) – (Number of Outs – 8)
Let us imagine we have 9️⃣ 15 outs and run the calculation:
Equity = (15*4) – (15-8)
Equity = 60 – 7
Equity = 53%
We would have got 60% 9️⃣ using the rule of two and four, while the new formula says 53%.
The true equity of this situation is 54.1%, 9️⃣ which means that this formula gets us closer to the exact result than the previous one.
Combo Draws and “Dirty Outs”
There 9️⃣ are many possible situations that can arise in a hand of Texas Hold’em, and our poker outs count can go 9️⃣ up and down with every new card that hits.
When counting outs, we should distinguish between outs that make us the 9️⃣ nuts and those that simply improve our hand.
For example, let us imagine a scenario in which we are holding Jc 9️⃣ Tc, and the flop comes out Ac 9c 8s. In this scenario, we have open-ended straight and flush draws.
Our open-ended 9️⃣ straight draw will give us the absolute nuts on both sides, while our flush draw will give us a strong 9️⃣ flush, also very likely to be the best hand.
Since this is the case, we can count all our outs in 9️⃣ full and consider this as a 15-out situation, a fairly rare occurrence in Texas Hold’em.
On the other hand, imagine holding 9️⃣ Ah 7h on a board of Kh 6h 4d. Here, nine outs to a flush give us the absolute nuts 9️⃣ and are considered “clean” outs.
We could also hit an ace which would give us top pair, but having top pair 9️⃣ in no way guarantees that we have the best hand. In fact, hitting that card could even cost us some 9️⃣ money.
Depending on factors such as the player we are playing against and the positional situation, we may still consider the 9️⃣ ace to some degree but definitely should not count it as a “clean” out to win this pot.
Outs can get 9️⃣ even dirtier than that, as hitting the second or third pair to the board can also win us the pot 9️⃣ sometimes, but such cards should never be counted as true poker outs.
When calculating your equity in a poker hand, you 9️⃣ should only seriously consider poker outs that guarantee you will have a very strong hand that's unlikely to be beaten 9️⃣ by your opponent's perceived hand.
What is Next?
Now that you know how to count outs in poker and turn the number 9️⃣ of outs into equity, you can start applying this knowledge at the tables.
We highly recommend looking into our guides on 9️⃣ pot odds and implied odds, which will help you further understand how to use equity and make better decisions.
After all, 9️⃣ knowing you will win a hand 36% of the time is not enough to beat good poker players in the 9️⃣ long run, so you should use this information as a starting point. Combine your understanding of counting outs, pot odds, 9️⃣ and implied odds, and you will be working with an arsenal that can help you defeat even proficient poker players.
Free 9️⃣ Account
If you’re not quite sure whether to take the plunge and join pokercode, why not sign up for a free 9️⃣ account?
By signing up for a free account you will benefit from:
Access to a list of curated study content, including one 9️⃣ of Fedor's study videos
Participate in our free public coaching
An inside look into how the Pokercode community studies
Sign up now and 9️⃣ don’t miss out! This will also give you a few days to see what the content is like here at 9️⃣ pokercode, before deciding if you want to take the step into our paid offering.
