General Concepts
The 2 concepts described below
are poker stratagems of a technical nature, which
interact with each other and are good to get your
head around. They are fairly easy to comprehend
but take some practice to become routine calculations,
yet the benefits of those concepts will show their
effect on your bankroll very soon.
Calculating Outs
What is an Out? It is a card
that will improve your hand to a winning hand
if it hits the board on the Turn or River. If
you need to improve your hand after the Flop to
win, you will need to calculate your Outs to see
what the odds are of getting that very card.
The table below will safe you
to calculate your Outs all the time. It shows
you the most common drawing hands, the associated
number of outs and the odds against improving
to the winning hand. The odds are rounded figures
for simplicity.
Have that chart open in an extra window on your
computer whenever playing online poker. A quick
look at it will give you a quick answer.
Hand
drawn to |
Number
of Outs |
|
Odds
against improving |
| Flush |
9 |
|
4 - 1 |
| Open-ended Straight |
8 |
|
5 - 1 |
| Inside Straight |
4 |
|
11 -
1 |
| Full House holding 2 Pair |
4 |
|
11 -
1 |
| Flush + Open-ended Straight |
15 |
|
2 - 1 |
| Flush + Inside
Straight |
12 |
|
3 - 1 |
| 2 Overcards needing to pair
with the board |
6 |
|
7 - 1 |
| Open-ended Straight + 1 Pair
to become Trips |
10 |
|
4 - 1 |
IMPORTANT:
When you hold a combination like Flush draw +
inside Straight draw, you have 12 Outs not 13,
because you can’t double-count the card
you need for the Straight and the Flush.
(For the interested among you, here
is an explanation on how Outs are actually calculated.)
Pot Odds
Pot Odds are a lot easier to
calculate. Simply compare the money (or amount
of chips) that is in the pot and the amount of
money (or chips) it would cost you to call. Here
is an example: There are $100 in the pot including
a $25 bet from the other player, so it costs you
$25 to stay in the hand. That means your Pot Odds
are $100:$25 or 4:1.
Now, how does that relate to
the Outs? If your odds against drawing to a winning
hand are 3:1 but the pot offers you odds of 4:1
then these are favourable odds and you should
call the bet. If it is the other way around then
it would be bad to call. Let’s clarify this
with a last example.
You hold 10c,9c and the Flop comes Kc, 8c, 6d.
The pot is $150. You are drawing to a Clubs-Flush
and have an inside Straight draw at the same time
waiting for a 7. Your total Outs are therefore
12: the 9 remaining clubs plus 3 sevens (don’t
count the 7 of clubs twice!) meaning your odds
against improving are 47:12 or around 3:1. Assuming
there is only one other player in the pot with
you and he now bets $50, he is offering you 4:1
Pot Odds: $150+$50=$200 and it would cost you
$50 to call his bet. Those Pot Odds are very favourable
and you should call. If he, however, bets $150
(instead of $50) he’s only offering you
2:1 Pot Odds and you shouldn’t call his
bet.
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