Counting Outs In Poker

Playing good Limit Hold’em has a lot to do with accurately estimating which of the unexposed cards will give you the winning hand, when you are behind in the hand. If you can count the number of cards that will give you the winning hand, then you can identify your probability of winning the hand.

Counting Outs In Limit Hold’em

The first step in figuring out how far behind you are is to identify how many of the unexposed cards will improve your hand to the winning hand. These unexposed cards are called outs. Figuring out how many outs you have involves considering your opponents possible hands, the board, and your hand. Then count the number of unexposed cards that will beat your opponent’s hand. This is the first step in calculating Pot Odds. Counting them is the easy part, estimating how many cards will give you the winning hand is the difficult part.

When you are ahead in the hand, calculating the pot odds of your opponent isn’t as important in Limit Hold’em. This is because you can’t change your bet size, so it is difficult to manipulate the odds you give to your opponent. In No Limit Hold’em, you are able to bet any amount, including all of your chips so you can manipulate the odds you give your opponent to catch up to your hand.

In Limit Hold’em, pot odds are most often used when you are behind in the hand, to help you decide if you should call or fold. The majority of examples in this series will deal with situations where you are behind in the hand. However, it is still important to consider the odds when you are ahead. There are situations where a well timed, check-raise or in a pot with multiple opponents where you can manipulate pot odds. We will be discussing these advanced situations in future lessons.

Poker is a game of incomplete information, so coming up with an accurate count of the number of outs you have can be very difficult. However, estimating the number is very important. Counting outs involve two quick steps:

Step 1: Consider the board and your opponent’s hand. Use the available information to narrow down his range of possible hands. If you think you are behind in the hand, try to figure out what cards will give you the winning hand.

Step 2: Count the number of unexposed cards that you think will give you the winning hand.

Example 1:You have 2s 3s, the board is As Ks Td, 6d and your tight opponent has shown strength on every street. How many outs do you have?

Step 1: This is a situation where you can be very confident of what cards you need to improve your hand. There are no possible hands your opponent could have that you are ahead of. In fact, besides 2 3 off-suit, every single combination of starting cards is ahead of you right now. Since he is a tight player who has shown strength, we will give him credit for at least one pair.

Step 2: This is an obvious situation where you are definitely behind in the hand, but have a very good idea of how many of the unexposed cards will give you the winning hand. Since we have narrowed our opponents hand to at least a pair right now, a two or three on the river will not give you the winning hand. The only way you can win the hand is by drawing one of the remaining nine spades, which will give you a flush, and most likely the winning hand. That means you have nine outs, the 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, Ts, Js, and Qs.

Example 2:You have As Kd, and the board is 4c Qc 6h, a tight, opponent who never bluffs, has just raised.

Step 1: It is extremely unlikely that your opponent has less than a pair, and most likely has one pair right now. There is also a chance that he has two pair or better.

Step 2: We are extremely confident that we are behind right now. Most likely the three remaining aces and three remaining kings will give us a higher pair. That means you have six outs, the Ac, Ad, Ah, Kc, Ks, and Kh.

Counting Outs To A Draw

The two most common draws that you should remember are:

Flush Draw = 9 outs
Open Ended Straight Draw= 8 outs
Gutshot Straight Draw = 4 outs

This saves time, when you have strong draws, for example a flush draw plus a gutshot is 9 + 4 =13 outs. After some practice, it will become second nature and you will be able to know how many

There are other factors to consider when attempting to accurately estimate your number of outs. In future lessons we will discuss discounting your outs and other advanced strategies relating to counting outs.