Poker Counting Odds And Outs
You have an open-ended straight draw. This means 8 outs. 8 outs gives you 16% chance with one card to come. 16% chance is the same as 5:1 odds. Your Implied Odds are 8:1 and your odds for improving is 5:1. This is a clear call. Discounted Outs. To complicate things a bit there is something called discounted outs. This is used for situations where you are uncertain if your hand will improve to be the best if these cards hit. Counting outs in poker consists of calculating all the unseen hands, the hands with winning potential and then comparing those groups between each other. So how does counting cards at poker work? Say you're on the turn with a flush draw and you wonder how likely it is for you to hit a flush on the river. The amount of money you would win from a pot compared to the amount of chips you would have to put into the pot for the bet is called the pot odds in poker, and we use both the pot odds and the number of outs (probability of winning the hand) to reach a decision.
Poker Outs to Odds
To find your chance of improving a drawing hand based on the number of outs, use the following table:| Outs | Turn Odds | River Odds | Turn+River Odds |
| 1 Out | 45.9-to-1 (2.13%) | 45.1-to-1 (2.17%) | 22.3-to-1 (4.26%) |
| 2 Outs | 22.5-to-1 (4.26%) | 22.0-to-1 (4.35%) | 10.9-to-1 (8.42%) |
| 3 Outs | 14.7-to-1 (6.38%) | 14.3-to-1 (6.52%) | 7.0-to-1 (12.49)% |
| 4 Outs | 10.8-to-1 (8.51%) | 10.5-to-1 (8.70%) | 5.1-to-1 (16.47%) |
| 5 Outs | 8.4-to-1 (10.64%) | 8.2-to-1 (10.87%) | 3.9-to-1 (20.35%) |
| 6 Outs | 6.8-to-1 (12.77%) | 6.7-to-1 (13.04%) | 3.2-to-1 (24.14%) |
| 7 Outs | 5.7-to-1 (14.89%) | 5.6-to-1 (15.22%) | 2.6-to-1 (27.84%) |
| 8 Outs | 4.9-to-1 (17.02%) | 4.8-to-1 (17.39%) | 2.2-to-1 (31.45%) |
| 9 Outs | 4.2-to-1 (19.15%) | 4.1-to-1 (19.57%) | 1.9-to-1 (34.97%) |
| 10 Outs | 3.7-to-1 (21.28%) | 3.6-to-1 (21.74%) | 1.6-to-1 (38.39%) |
| 11 Outs | 3.3-to-1 (23.40%) | 3.2-to-1 (23.91%) | 1.4-to-1 (41.72%) |
| 12 Outs | 2.9-to-1 (25.53%) | 2.8-to-1 (26.09%) | 1.2-to-1 (44.96%) |
| 13 Outs | 2.6-to-1 (27.66%) | 2.5-to-1 (28.26%) | 1.1-to-1 (48.10%) |
| 14 Outs | 2.4-to-1 (29.79%) | 2.3-to-1 (30.43%) | 0.95-to-1 (51.16%) |
| 15 Outs | 2.1-to-1 (31.91%) | 2.1-to-1 (32.61%) | 0.85-to-1 (54.12%) |
| 16 Outs | 1.9-to-1 (34.04%) | 1.9-to-1 (34.78%) | 0.75-to-1 (56.98%) |
| 17 Outs | 1.8-to-1 (36.17%) | 1.7-to-1 (36.96%) | 0.67-to-1 (59.76%) |
| 18 Outs | 1.6-to-1 (38.30%) | 1.6-to-1 (39.13%) | 0.60-to-1 (62.44%) |
| 19 Outs | 1.5-to-1 (40.43%) | 1.4-to-1 (41.30%) | 0.54-to-1 (65.03%) |
| 20 Outs | 1.3-to-1 (42.55%) | 1.3-to-1 (43.48%) | 0.48-to-1 (67.53%) |
| 21 Outs | 1.2-to-1 (44.68%) | 1.2-to-1 (45.65%) | 0.43-to-1 (69.94%) |
| 22 Outs | 1.1-to-1 (46.81%) | 1.1-to-1 (47.83%) | 0.38-to-1 (72.25%) |
| Accuracy | Turn | River | Turn+River | Comments |
| Excellent | Outs times 2.13% | Outs times 2.17% | *Turn odds plus River odds minus Turn odds times River odds | More accurate than you'll ever need |
| Very Good | Outs times 2-1/8% | Outs times 2-1/6% | **Outs times 4%, minus (Outs - 8) if 9 or more Outs | As accurate as you'll ever need |
| Good | Outs times 2%, plus 1% if 5+ Outs, plus 2% if 13+ Outs | Same as Turn | **Outs times 4%, minus (Outs - 8) if 9 or more Outs | The easiest reasonable approximation |
| Bad | Outs times 2% plus 1% | Same as Turn | Outs times 4% | Not good if low or high numbers of outs |
* For example, using the Good approximation, if you have 9 Outs, then you have a 19% chance on the turn, a 19% chance on the river, and a 38% minus 19% of 19% (close to 20% of 20%, which is 4%) equals a 34% chance on the turn and river combined.
Poker Counting Odds And Outs Game
Poker Counting Odds And Outs Games
** From David Solomon, mentioned in Harrington on Hold 'em: Volume 2.