A lot of situations in limit holdem involve you needing one more card to complete a strong hand. These are drawing situations, and in order to have a solid holdem game, you need to be able to make informed decisions at these times.

What is an Out?
To start at the start, an out is the a card that will help you complete your hand. If you have 4 spades, and need another to complete the flush, you have 9 outs. Each of the remaining 9 spades in the deck are an out.

If you have an open-ended straight draw, say you hold 4,5,6,7, you have 8 outs. All 4 threes in the deck, and all 4 eights in the deck will complete your straight.

Being able to accurately count your outs is a necessary skill. There are both common situations like these:
- flush draw . . . 9 outs
- open-ended straight draw . . . 8 outs
- two overcards . . . 6 outs
- gutshot straight draw . . . 4 outs

and there are less common situations, like a straight and flush draw combined, or you may need the board to pair to complete your full house against your opponent's probable flush.

Just remember that each of the cards that would make your hand better than your opponents is an out. And knowing your outs is the first step to making a good decision in a drawing situation.

Drawing Odds:
If you know your outs, you can gauge the odds of landing your out on the next card. You can quickly use something called the 2/4 rules of holdem.

It's simple, if not completely accurate. If you have one card coming, take your number of outs and multiply it by 2 to get the percentage chance of hitting your draw. Flush draw at the river? Nine outs times 2 = 18% chance of hitting it. Roughly.

If you have 2 cards to come, multiply your outs by 4. Putting your opponent all-in after the flop? You have an open-ended straight draw. Eight outs times 4 = 32% chance of hitting your draw on either the turn or the river.

For a chart with exact percentages, see the Drawing Odds Chart at TurningRiver.com.

Pot Odds:
This is the important one! And, it's simple as pie if you have a chart. So, go to Online-Poker-Rules.net and get the chart. And Print It Out!

The chart works like this:
> take the number of outs you have
> choose the appropriate column (turn, river, turn or river)
> take the number you see there, and multiply your bet by it

If the pot is bigger than what you get, you have good pot odds to call. If the number is larger than the pot, you don't have good pot odds to call.

For example, you have an open-ended straight draw, waiting for the river card. You must call a bet of $2 to see the river. The pot is $7.
> you have 8 outs
> you look at the river card column
> you find 4.75
> $2 to call times 4.75 is $9.50
> the pot is only $7, not $9.50
. . . . the pot is too small to make this bet worth calling

Pot Odds are an important part of your game at a limit holdem table. If you're playing online, feel free to print out those charts and use them while you're playing. It only takes a short while and you will have memorized all of the odds that routinely come into play.