Odds & outs

Knowledge about odds and outs gives you an insight to the game of poker. It helps you make correct decisions about when to fold or call. If you know the odds, you can also make a bet in a size that makes your opponent call incorrectly - from a mathematical perspective - if he chooses to.

The odds chart below shows the exact odds in different situations. Of course, it's over ambitious and not necessary, to memorize odds or percents with decimals. The column to the rights shows some common situations, study the odds and outs in these cases extra carefully.

Texas hold'em - probabilities

This table show odds for different situations in Texas hold'em according to outs. This is fundamental for your knowledge of odds and probabilities in poker.

Outs - the remaining cards that will improve your hand.
Odds - if the numbers for example are 7-1 it means that something happens once out of eight times.
Turn - showing the odds that exist before the turn.
Turn + river - showing the odds that exist after the flop when both turn and river remains.
Inside straight- a straight with a gap, e.g. 4-5-7-8.
Over cards - cards that are higher than the community cards.
Open-ended straight- a straight with open endings, e.g. 4-5-6-7.

Please observe! These tables can be hard to read on a mobile device.

Table 1. Odds for the turn
  Turn >  
Outs Odds Percent I got x and drawing to y
1 46-1 2.1% I got trips and drawing to four of a kind
2 22.5-1 4.3% I got a pair and drawing to trips
3 14.5-1 6.4% I got pair and drawing to two pairs
4 10.8-1 8.5% I got an inside straight and drawing to straight
5 8.4-1 10.6% I got a pair and drawing to two pairs or
6 6.8-1 12.8% I got over cards and drawing to a pair
7 5.7-1 14.9%  
8 4.9-1 17% I got open-ended straight and drawing to straight
9 4.2-1 19.1% I got a flush draw and drawing to a flush
10 3.7-1 21.3%  
11 3.3-1 23.4%  
12 2.9-1 25.5%  
13 2.6-1 27.7%  
14 2.4-1 29.8%  
15 2.1-1 31.9%  
16 1.9-1 34%  
17 1.8-1 36.2%  
18 1.6-1 38.3%  
19 1.5-1 40.4%  
20 1.4-1 42.6%  
Table 2. Odds for the turn and river together
Turn + river >  
Outs Odds Percent I got x and drawing to y
1 22.5-1 4.4% I got trips and drawing to four of a kind
2 10.9-1 8.4% I got a pair and drawing to trips
3 7-1 12.5% I got pair and drawing to two pairs
4 5.1-1 16.5% I got an inside straight and drawing to straight
5 3.9-1 20.3% I got a pair and drawing to two pairs or
6 3.1-1 24.1% I got over cards and drawing to a pair
7 2.6-1 27.8%  
8 2.2-1 31.5% I got open-ended straight and drawing to straight
9 1.9-1 35% I got a flush draw and drawing to a flush
10 1.6-1 38.4%  
11 1.4-1 41.7%  
12 1.2-1 45%  
13 1.1-1 48.1%  
14 0.95-1 51.2%  
15 0.85-1 54.1%  
16 0.75-1 57%  
17 0.67-1 59.8%  
18 0.60-1 62.4%  
19 0.53-1 65%  
20 0.48-1 67.5%  

Outs in different situations

A compilation of outs in Texas hold'em.

Single pair to two pairs - You have 3 outs
Pair to trips - You have 2 outs
Trips to four of a kind - You have 1 out
Inside straight draw to a straight - You have 4 outs.
Open-ended straight draw to a straight - You have 8 outs.
Flush draw draw to a flush - You have 9 outs.
Straight flush draw to a straight, a flush or a straight flush - You have 15 outs.

Use a poker program for odds calculating

Nowadays there are programs you can use for calculating odds when playing online. Such kind of softwares can with other things show odds for you in real time.

See also the pre flop calculator.