Poker Odds Outs and Percentages

Outs & Pot Odds

- An Introduction to "Outs"
- Recognizing the Percentages
- Outs + Pot Odds = Smart Poker

- An Introduction to "Outs"
Outs refer to the number of cards remaining in the deck that can
improve your hand. If you are holding Kc-Kd and are up against
Ac-Ad with a board showing 3h-8s-9c-5d, there are only 2 cards
remaining in the deck that could give you the winning hand - Kh &
Ks. Therefore you have 2 outs. If the board was showing
9c-10h-Jh-3d, then there would be 6 cards (6 outs) remaining in the
deck that could give you the winning hand, those being 2K's and
4Q's (Making a K high straight).

- Recognizing the Percentages
Knowing your available outs can help you determine your chances of
hitting your hand on either the turn or the river. Study the
following table to improve your chances of making the right decision:

% of Hitting On...
# of Outs Turn or River River
1 4.4 2.2
2 8.4 4.3
3 12.5 6.5
4 (Inside Straight Draw) 16.5 8.7
5 20.3 10.9
6 (Two Overs) 24.1 13
7 27.8 15.2
8 (Open Ended Straight Draw) 31.5 17.4
9 (Flush Draw) 35 19.6
10 38.4 21.7
11 41.7 23.9
12 (Flush Draw & Gut Shot) 45 26.1
13 48.1 28.3
14 51.2 30.4
15 (Straight Flush Draw) 54.1 32.6
16 57 34.8
17 59.8 37
18 62.4 39.1

- Outs + Pot Odds = Smart Poker
Pot odds are basically a ratio of reward to risk, with reward being
the amount of money you could win and risk being the additional
cost you would incur.

Example: Playing $5/$10 holdem, you call from middle position with
Js-10s. One limper and both blinds also call. The flop comes
Ad-3s-Ks giving you an inside straight draw & a flush draw (12
outs). You call a $5 bet along with everyone else, so the pot now
contains $40. The turn comes [Ad-3s-Ks] 6h and a bet of $10 forces
out the 2 players in front of you. You still have 12 outs from the
remaining 46 cards in the deck. That's 12 'good' cards to 34 'bad'
cards, or a bad to good ratio of 34-12 or 2.8-1. There is $50 in
the pot and it will cost you $10 more to see the river card. This
means the pot is laying you odds of $50-$10 or 5-1. Being less than
a 3-1 underdog to hit either the flush or gut shot straight, you
are being more than compensated to make the call.

Online Video Poker

This article is courtesy of Chip over at Free Gambling Articles This guy writes some good articles so pay him a visit and soak it all in.


Online Video Poker

Playing video poker isn't hard. Winning at video poker, though, is another story. If you want to master the rules and begin collecting the knowledge needed to win, you might want to try online video poker.

Online video poker is in many ways better than casino video poker. It is somewhat the same as home video games are compared to old arcades. Once, the big game machines were best, but now the home computer has caught up and in some ways surpass the machine experience. Online video poker on a home computer is often as colorful and exciting as the casino experience. The online video poker experience comes closest to capturing the casino experience of any online gambling versions on the internet.

Online video poker allows you to see a lot of hands from the comfort of your own home. The "own home" part may be most important. You are able to sit and relax at home, concentrate on the strategy of the game, away from the hustle and bustle of the casino. You can go at your own pace, while listening your favorite music and drinking a Pepsi...or whatever it is you drink these days. Whether you like deuces wild or jacks or better, whether you like to play one hand at a time or multihand, there is some kind of online casino offering the game you want to play.

Just like a casino, you must pay per hand in online video poker. You get the same payouts, though sometimes there are bonus offers online. The competition for costumers is fierce, because it is a world full of potential casino affiliates, so you will find great deals at the online casinos. Almost all online casinos offer play money, free video poker games. These allow you to practice and (sometimes) win special prizes.

There are literally thousands of online video poker games these days, so you should not have any trouble finding the game suited for you. Shop around, have a look at the many options. I recommend any casino powere by Microgaming, Playtech, or Realtime Gaming software for online video poker. For the beginning simply wanting to look at hands, you can look at a thousand hands a week if you are willing to play online video poker just ten hours a week. And let's face it, most of us play that much poker in a week in our sleep.

You have permission to reprint this article on your website, but only if you use the article in its entirety, including this paragraph and the links contained within it. Please visit our site for more free gambling articles. And also visit us if you like poker and want to read a review of Absolute Poker.

The Sexuality of Poker

Well...I have to admit, this is the first time i have ever heard the game of poker being referred to as an aphrodisiac or even remotely sexual. This guy definitely has a good point though and I do see the reasoning behind the madness. I have played in poker games in the past where a particular female distracted my thoughts and i'm sure also my poker face and game. I have a hard time shooting down women or even being mean (which you have to be in order to be succesful in poker).

Poker not only involves strategy but also requires a mental toughness that can be distracted by members of the opposite sex. If you lose your concentration , you will lose the hand for sure. This brings me back to the subject of WHY more women aren't playing poker. They stand to make a killing until they piss everybody off in the poker world, but the money is there for the taking. The fish are in the pond and they are hungry for some action


By JAMES McMANUS
Published: August 13, 2005


Despite the fact that bluffing is very much like lying, there is a natural honesty to poker - something along the lines of honor among thieves - as well as a democratic fairness. All players remaining in the hand make equal contributions to the pot. Each betting decision is made freely and openly, and in turn. Except for their hole cards, all players have the same information. Noble birth, Ivy League education or a 6-foot-10-inch athlete's body confers no advantage. Misrepresenting the strength of your hand with a bluff is well within the letter and spirit of poker law.

In her 2003 memoir, "Poker Face," the poet Katy Lederer compares the ruthlessly analytical minds of her famous poker-playing siblings, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, to her own way of thinking. "I was able to 'read' people, but it proved problematic," she writes. "I would sit at my table, look around at my opponents, and try my best to assess them by their postures and expressions, but it would be strangely painful. Or, not painful. It would make me feel dirty. We would sit there, growing filthy together, handling our cards and the dirty plastic chips, trying not to bite our nails for fear of what had lodged itself beneath them."

Poker's "dirty" intimacy and fiduciary hazards aren't for everyone, certainly. Yet its grittiness and peril might help to explain why its outlaw cachet continues to linger, even when today's game is played mostly in state-sanctioned card rooms by well-scrubbed folks sipping mineral water. Crooked Nose McCall gunning down Wild Bill Hickok from behind? An ornery Marlboro Man raising you the ranch from behind mirrored shades? Mirrored shades maybe, but smoking is banned these days in virtually every card room and all major tournaments. So is loutish behavior.

The game's image has also improved because of players like Barry Greenstein, who with good reason is called the Robin Hood of Poker: he donates millions of dollars in tournament prize money to children's charities. He has also just published "Ace on the River: An Advanced Poker Guide."

In the chapter called "How to Behave in the Poker Society," he wonders to what extent character is exposed at the table. "Many players who act appropriately in most social situations behave badly when they are losing," he writes. "Maybe we don't see a person's true character at the poker table, but rather, we see him at his worst." Other people would argue that it's when the chips are down that character is most clearly revealed.

Greenstein admits that at least one ulterior motive for decent behavior is to keep the game "good" - that is, profitable. "A player who wins the pot should let his opponent win the argument," he suggests. "It is bad business to destroy people," this even though "crybabies deserve something to cry about." He goes on to annotate 25 traits of successful players, including being insensitive, manipulative and greedy. Yet it is much more important, in Greenstein's opinion, to be trustworthy, intelligent, honest (with yourself) and psychologically tough. His oversize paperback has hundreds of color photographs of card rooms, casinos and high-stakes players in action, all printed on expensive glossy paper, which gives it the look and feel of an art book - one that happens to dispense wisdom that could help you win large sums of money. Few people have had more success playing poker in the last 35 years, and Greenstein is known for the precision of his ideas on poker and other subjects, so it's not surprising that his book is tactically instructive.

More surprising, perhaps, are the illuminating chapters on brain chemistry, chaos theory, integrity, the hazards of sports betting and how playing poker affects your family and sexuality, and vice versa. "Casinos hire good-looking employees to attract and distract customers," he writes, tongue apparently not in cheek. "If you are sexually frustrated, you may have trouble concentrating on poker." Even winning can lead to problems, because "chips of large denomination can have an aphrodisiac effect." In what sense is this not a good thing? "Becoming a sugar daddy can have a devastating effect on one's gambling bankroll." Better to contribute some of your profits to charity.

The most enlightening passage for a non-sugar daddy like me comes right up front in the dedication, which goes to "the children of gamblers": "They were told everything was done so they could have toys and clothes and a nice place to live, but all they wanted was a little more of their parent's time. I apologize to my children," Greenstein writes before listing their names, "for when I have failed as a parent."

Poker Affiliates Earning More Than Lawyers

Poker affiliates are laughing all the way to the bank these days as online poker has exploded with the popularity of shows like the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour. The concensus on the net is an "affiliate program" isn't a real business but with so many people playing poker, there is a LOT of money to be made. Online poker rooms realized from the beginning that word of mouth just wasn't going to be enough to keep the players coming, but with thousands of affiliates things change in a hurry.


Some poker affiliates are now making well over 500,000 per year by promoting their favorite poker room. Now...not every affiliate is making this kind of money but you would probably be surprised at how many actually are. It's estimated that Party Poker has over 50,000 affiliates promoting their site ALL the time, 24 hours a day 365 days a year. You really don't need word of mouth when you have that kind of backup


The poker rooms pay either a percentage of the profits (25-40 %) or some will pay a bounty per player between $65-$150 depending on the poker room. Most affiliates prefer the percentage which is supposed to be based on the "life" of the player that signed up but recent controversy has popped up on poker forums across the net when partypoker changed their "affiliate agreement". Apparently, partypoker has decided that if your player doesn't play for 60 days he/she is no longer your player and your percentage is null and void. If this is true and I'm not saying it is, then the life of the player doesn't mean a hill of beans. I know that I dont always play at the same room every 60 days, sometimes I might go 3 or 4 months playing at pokerroom.com before i go back to play at party.


Needless to say, it has stirred up a growing hornets nest of angry affiliates. I'm sure PP has enough brand recognition now that it wouldn't matter if they lost a few good affiliates here and there but......If 30-40 % got pissed, it could change the whole swing of poker traffic on the net. They might not be the largest room on the net anymore. Let's throw some numbers around and see what would happen if 100 super affiliates that average 500 players a month all of a sudden redirected traffic. Thats 50,000 players gone to another poker room. This is the kind of power that affiliates have on the internet and personally....I think it's a good thing.


My affiliate manager personally told me he has guys making over 100k per MONTH! How's that for an annual salary, that's a cool 1.2 million dollars a year. With that much money on the line it's no wonder they employ full time managers just to take care of affiliates needs. It also goes to show just how much money these casino's and poker rooms are making. The power of the internet!