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Outs in Poker

Outs in poker refer to the cards still in deck (unseen) that could be dealt to improve ones hand. For instance, in the hand that you hold, you need any one of four aces in the deck to make you an ace high straight. You would therefore have potential 4 outs (potential as another player might already be holding an ace).

Outs are used in conjunction with the calculation of odds or the probability that you will hit your hand. The more outs that you have, the more chance you have of hitting your winning hand. Key factors in the calculation are the number of players in the hand (to know the number of cards left in the deck), the pot size and the number of cards left to come, as the few the cards left to come the lower the chance that you will be dealt one of your winning cards.

Related - See Calculating the odds of making your hand.