Poker out II
September 22nd, 2008In games like Texas hold ‘em, only the board cards are dealt face up and the players receive two hole cards each. So, while calculating a player’s chance to get outs to make his hand a winning one, he does not take into account the number of cards that are dealt, but calculation is done on the basis of total number of unseen cards, which after flop round would be 47, after turn would be 46 and the final estimate to be made after river round happens by taking 45.
If, for example, in one such game, the board after turn round consists of a 5 and jack of spades and a king and 7 of diamonds and one player has the ace and 10 of diamonds as his hole cards, then it is evident with only a high ace hand, his chance to win is slim unless he improves his hand. Now, this player has at least seven nut outs that would make his hand the strongest by giving him an ace flush if he draws 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 or queen of diamonds. Again, if he draws either the queen of clubs or hearts, he will have a straight hand with an ace high that is again the optimum and cannot be bettered. Moreover, a 5 and jack of diamonds can make his hand winning by improving it to ace high flush where as a queen of spades can make his hand a straight with ace high. It can also be calculated to beat his opponent who may have a pair with a hand of 7 and nine of clubs, the player’s winning outs can be either any of the three aces or three 10 cards. So, the player has a total number of 18 possible outs, of which seven assures him a winning hand and the other 11 gives him a fair chance of winning depending on his opponents’ hands.

