How Counting Outs In Poker Is A Good Thing

Once you learn how to play poker, the next thing that you need to get your hands on is poker outs. It is a crucial skill that every poker player needs to master.

What exactly is poker outs?

It is the calculation of the total number of outs a player has to win a hand. Sounds complex, but if you practice the game regularly, you will get hold of poker outs.

It is true that playing with strong starting cards increases your possibility of winning the hand. But it is not possible to get the desired cards in every hand you play. Sometimes you receive poor or average cards and you put money into the pot with the expectation of completing the hand using the cards on the board. In such a situation, you can find out the possibility of making a hand that is better than your opponent, may be on turn or river, by calculating outs. Outs help you analyze whether your in-hand cards will help you create a winning hand.

Let’s take an example here:

You are playing Texas Hold’em poker. The dealer dealt A♣ K♣ to you and J♦ 9♦ to your opponent. The community cards on the flop are T♠ J♣ 3♣. Suppose your opponent shows you his hand, then how many outs do you have to win the hand. You have three aces and three kings - the outs to a higher pair, four queens for the nut straight, and nine clubs for the nut flush. So, you have 19 outs. Is the outs calculation right? NO; we double-counted one of the outs - the queen of clubs was counted twice. In total, you have 18 outs. An 18-out draw is very big as many cards are there to help you on the turn, and makes you a favorite against top pair on the flop.

Hand Range of Opponent

In any poker game, your opponent will never show you his hole cards. All you need to do is put your opponent on an approximate hand range to calculate your outs. No poker player can ever 100% analyze the hand of the opponent, so calculating outs will never be 100% accurate. Your outs calculations will be dependent on the hand range you put your opponent on.

Suppose in the above example you assume your opponent cards as J♠ J♥, then you would have fewer outs. Your three aces and kings would have given you the winning hand. You may have hit your hand on the turn but lose the hand on the river if the pair hit on board.  Always be prepared to hit the bad hand because sometimes a card that you think is an out may not give you the best hand.

Half Outs in Poker

There is a probability factor in the game of poker, because of which your assumed outs may sometimes count as half outs. To understand this, let's take a quick example:

You are deal 8♠ 9♠, and the board reads T♥ J♥ 3♦. You have eight poker outs - four sevens and four queens that will give you a straight. Correct? Sounds confusing! Actually, you have seven outs. In this case, you may hit the straight but that card can also make a flush for your opponent. You will have the second best hand on the table. Here, the Q♥ and the 7♥ are not full out and should only be counted as half outs. Meaning, in reality, you only have seven outs.

Hidden Outs in Poker

In this game of skill, players occasionally come across a hand that has hidden outs. These hidden outs may not immediately help your hand but they may affect your opponent's hand. Let’s take an example:

You are holding A♥ A♣ and your opponent is holding two pairs - 6♠ 5♥. The board reveals 5♠ 6♣ 9♦ K♥. On the river, you may hit the set by the A♦ or the A♠ or you may have the board pairing either with the nine or the king. This scenario would counterfeit two pair your opponent is holding and would give you an upper hand with higher winning two pair. It still improves your hand to a winning two pairs in case neither a nine nor a king hits your hole cards.

The golden rule - practice makes a man perfect - applies really well in online card games, and especially in a poker game. Once you learn how to calculate your outs, it will be easier for you to determine the pot odds and decide whether to continue with a hand or not. Once you master this key skill required in the game, the game gets simplified as you can play it two ways - investing your money in good cards or investing your money with good odds.

What All Things You Can Learn From Avengers Characters

What do the Avengers and Poker in common? Well, it’s much more than you can think of.

For the poker players, one of the most valuable movies, in case of learning, is Avengers. You can learn many things from its characters like Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, etc that you can apply in your day-to-day life. For many people, these characters are a huge inspiration. You can learn a lot of things about strategies and game-plan from this movie which you can implement in the game of poker.

But before we go through the learning which can be gathered from this highly entertaining and thoughtful characters, let’s begin with a brief explanation of the poker rules and how it developed over the years.

Poker, one of the most popular varieties of card games, was developed in the United States during the 19th century. Although the opinions regarding the nature of game have been highly divided, nowadays most people understand that poker is a game of skill and strategy. No player can achieve success without commitment towards learning and practicing the tactic to beat the opponent at the table.

Avengers is one of the most powerful superhero teams ever assembled. The story is simply about a team of superheroes who protect our world from evil. Each time they get into a problem, they come up with new strategies and game plan to beat the villain. That is how you should play poker. Of course, you need to follow the guidelines and tips from experienced players, but most of the skills should come from your experience.

The adverbs that perfectly describes poker is: easy to learn, hard to master”. The general rules of poker are not complicated, and you can get the gist of the basics to play with a group of friends. However, to play at a professional level, you have to put a good amount of time and efforts. To speed up the learning process, you can make use of these tips and lessons from the Avengers -

Learn from your mistakes :

You can increase your possibilities of winning the game by acknowledging and learning from your mistakes. You have to use your instinct and different strategies to find out ways to eliminate the weak spots in your game. You cannot be stubborn and blame others for your failure. Remember that nothing is permanent in the world of poker. Even if you mess up at first, don’t give up and continue trying to achieve your goals. When Hawkeye’s family turned into dust due to the snap, he made his best efforts to bring them back. Remember that it’s not over, till you believe it is.

Know Your Strengths :

Your game-plan must always be based on your hand strength at the game table. You need to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to make your move. It is essential to control emotions like anger, frustrations, and nervousness to ensure taking the right decisions at the right time. On Titan, the Avengers successfully managed to subdue Thanos but at the last moment, Star-Lord lost control of his emotions and act irrationally, which ultimately led to spoil their plan. Always be realistic with your skills and abilities and take a decision only after carefully considering the situation at the table.

Know your competitors:

You should know the way each competitor plays. Without a basic understanding of their strategy, there is no point in even trying to win. Avengers spent much time to analyze their strategies to find out a way to beat Thanos. You have to observe the moves of your opponent to predict his future moves and develop a strategy accordingly if you want to get the success in poker and minimize chances of losing to a minimum. Loki tried to stab Thanos without properly analyzing his abilities which resulted in him getting killed by the hands of the Mad Titan.

At present, the number of online websites and applications is so massive that you can find almost endless possibilities to practice, play, and learn how to play poker like a professional. When you start, remember about the rules and tips from Avengers.

Strategy and your intelligence will always help you to win big in poker.