Select a draw or set your outs to see exact odds of hitting on turn, river, or both.
Outs are the unseen cards that will improve your hand to a likely winner. If you hold four hearts after the flop, there are 9 remaining hearts in the deck — you have 9 outs to make a flush. Knowing your outs lets you calculate the exact probability of completing your draw and decide whether to call, raise, or fold.
A quick mental shortcut for estimating draw odds at the table:
A flush draw with 9 outs: 9 × 2 = ~18% on one card, 9 × 4 = ~36% on two cards. The actual math (19.1% and 35.0%) confirms this shortcut is accurate enough for in-game decisions.
Once you know your draw odds, compare them to your pot odds. If you have 9 outs on the flop (~35% chance by river) and only need 25% equity to call, it's a clear call. This combination of outs calculation and pot odds is the foundation of mathematically sound poker play.
Not all outs are clean. If you're drawing to a straight but one of your "outs" also completes an opponent's flush, that out is tainted — hitting it could cost you more money. Discount outs that might give your opponent a better hand. A common adjustment is subtracting 1-2 outs from flush-heavy boards.