Outs
The remaining cards that improve your hand
Definition
Outs are the unseen cards that improve your hand enough to likely win the pot. Counting your outs is poker's first mathematical reflex: it turns an intuition ("I have a draw") into a usable number for deciding whether to call, raise or fold. The classic counts: a flush draw on the flop has 9 outs (13 cards of the suit, minus your 2, minus those on the board), an open-ended straight draw has 8, a gutshot has 4, and improving a pair to a set offers only 2. Watch out for "dirty" outs: a card that completes your straight but also the opponent's flush isn't worth a full out. To convert outs into a probability, the rule of 4 and 2 gives an excellent approximation: multiply your outs by 4 with two cards to come (flop to river), by 2 for a single card. A flush draw on the flop is therefore worth about 9 × 4 = 36% (exact value: ~35%), and 9 × 2 = 18% for the turn alone (~19% exact). Combined with pot odds, this estimate is enough to make correct decisions in real time.
You hold 9♥8♥ on a 7♥6♠2♥ flop: flush draw (9 outs) + open-ended straight draw (8 outs, 2 of which are already counted in the flush) = 15 clean outs. Rule of 4: ~60% to get there by the river (~54% exact). Your "drawing" hand is actually a favorite against a pair of aces.