Common Draws and Outs

• When we have a drawing hand to a flush or a straight, we have a certain

number of outs to hit our draw.
• Our outs are the number of cards that will allow us to make our draw.
• Being able to quickly identify our draws is an essential aspect of the game that
all competent poker players should be able to utilize effectively.
• This is a very important concept because knowing our outs gives us the ability
to know our equity in the hand.
• Using the simple Rule of 2 and 4, which we’ll be discussing next, gives us the
ability to know when we can profitably call a bet.
 Outs You Should Memorize
• Below are some common draws you’ll often see. You should memorize their
corresponding outs:
– Flush Draw: 9 Outs
– Open-Ended Straight Draw (OESD): 8 Outs
– Over Cards Pair Draw: 6 Outs
– Gut-Shot Straight Draw: 4 Outs
– Flush + OESD: 15 Outs
 Discounting Outs
• Sometimes certain outs that complete our draw also complete our opponent’s
draw to a better made hand.
• Furthermore, sometimes our opponents will have some of our potential outs
in their possible range of hands.
• When this occurs, we should discount those outs, meaning we should not
include them in our outs calculation.
• Whenever we think our outs to a draw are already taken by one of our
opponents, or if we don’t expect to win the hand if we hit our out, we should
discount them.
 Counting Outs Practice Hand #1
We have Q♦ J♠ and the flop is 4♥ 7♠ 4♦.

Our Draws
• On this flop board texture, our only draw is a pair of queens or jacks on the
turn or the river with our over cards. We don’t have any other draws.

Our Outs
• We don’t have to worry about discounting any of our outs with our over card
pair draw. We have a total of 6 combined outs:
– 3 Queens
– 3 Jacks
 Counting Outs Exercise Hand #2
We have A♠ T♣ and the flop is Q♠ J♣ 6♣.

Our Draws
• On this flop board texture, we have a gutshot straight draw to the nut straight and an over-card draw to a pair of aces.

Our Outs
• Since there’s a flush draw on this flop board texture, we should consider eliminating clubs from our potential outs,
because if a club hits, it may complete a flush that will beat our straight or pair of aces.

So, how many outs do we have to make our straight or pair of aces?
• Straight Draw: K♦, K♥, K♠
• Pair of Aces: A♦, A♥
• Discounted (Eliminated Outs): K♣, A♣
• Total Outs: 5 Outs