Outs

The cards still in the deck that would turn your hand into a winner. An open-ended straight draw has eight outs; a flush draw has nine. Roughly, outs × 4 on the flop and outs × 2 on the turn gives your percentage chance of hitting.

Related terms

Full glossary

Draw

A hand that is not yet made but can become strong if the right card comes: four cards to a flush (a flush draw…

Equity

Your share of the pot in the long run, expressed as a percentage: how often your hand wins (or ties) against y…

Pot odds

The price the pot is offering you on a call, compared with your chance of winning. Facing a 50 bet into a 100 …

Alpha (bluff break-even)

The percentage of the time a bluff needs to work to break even: bet ÷ (bet + pot). It is the mirror image of m…

Balance

Having a mix of strong hands and bluffs in the same line so that an opponent cannot tell which one you hold an…

Bankroll management

The discipline of only playing stakes your bankroll can survive. Rules of thumb: 20–50 buy-ins for cash games,…

Blind steal

A late-position raise with a weak hand whose main purpose is to win the blinds and antes uncontested. Steals f…

Block bet

A small bet made out of position, often on the river, with a medium-strength hand to set a cheap price and dis…