POKER: Where Do I Learn..........?

Question

how to do percentages and find out what the "odds" are, and what the "outs" are, if anyone can explain to me how to find those terms, including the percentages, id be greatly thankful.

Answer 1

That's a lot of stuff to answer.  I've included an article in the link, but really to learn all that stuff, you're going to need to read a book.

But basically, an 'out' is a card that you could get that would improve your hand.

Let me give you an example.

Let's say you have AK of diamonds.  The flop comes out and there are two diamonds.  So you are drawing to the best possible flush.

So the deck contains 52 cards.  You have two in your hand, and there are three on the board.  So you have seen five of the 52 cards, which leaves 47 unseen cards.  There are 13 diamonds in the deck, and you have seen four of them.  This means that there are nine diamonds of the remaining 47 unseen cards that would give you your flush.

So you would say that you have nine outs, assuming that making an ace high flush would be the best hand, and ignoring the possibility for a moment that maybe pairing your ace or king would also give you the winning hand.

So the odds of making your hand by the river would be 9/47 = 19%.  But there are two cards to come, so it would be 9/47 + 9/46 = 38% (approx).

The link article has more detail and a shortcut method of calculating your percentages at the table, since most people can't divide numbers into 47 in their heads.

In another example if you have Jack Ten, and the flop is 892, you have an open ended straight draw.  You need a seven or a queen to make your straight.  So since there are four sevens and four queens unseen, it would be said that you had eight outs.

However if you had Jack Ten and the flop came 782, you need a nine to make your straight, so given that there are only four nines in the deck, you have half as many outs.

Those are the basics of outs and percentages.  Once you have figured out that, the next step is to apply this information to your pot odds.  For example if you are getting even money to call, but you know you are only likely to hit your hand one in three times, you may not be right to make a call.

Of course then you start to consider implied odds, which is another level again.

Poker is like an onion.  Every time you think you have it figured out, there is another layer you were previously unaware of.  It's a highly complex game, that you never stop learning, no matter how long you play.