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Very often you
will conclude that you probably do not currently hold the best
hand. Sometimes you will have a small flush or straight draw,
so virtually any two cards have you beaten. Other times you may
have an over pair, but suspect that you are behind to an opponent's
two pair. Whenever you are behind, it is crucial to count your
outs accurately.
Counting outs is rarely that simple. Many times there will be
cards that improve your hand, but do not give you the nuts. Whenever
this is the case, your hand could improve, but still be second-best.
For example, suppose you hold Q#J2, and the board is 9,*gr4r2+
The four tens will give you a straight, but only three of them
make the nuts. The TV makes your straight, but it puts three hearts
on board, which could make someone a flush.
In addition to the tens, any queen or jack will give you top pair.
Top pair will win many pots, but lots of hands can beat you. If
a queen comes, someone may have jack-ten, completing a straight,
or queen-nine, making two pair. If the queen is the QW, someone
can again make a flush. In fact, someone may already have the
pair you hope to make beaten.
So, in this example you have three outs to a cinch (3 tens), one
out to a possibly strong hand (the TV), and six more outs to a
possible winner (3 queens and 3 jacks). Your next task is to reconcile
these outs of varying value into one number that you can use to
estimate your winning chances.
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