Table of content: What is card counting? How does card counting cards in poker work? Accelerating the Calculations Calculating the Pot Poker is a game of intelligence and street smartness. The need of the hour is to be one step ahead of your opponent as much as possible so that you can take home the pot money. Counting cards in poker is one skill that will help you on this path. So, here is a comprehensive guide on counting cards in poker.GetMega is an amazing platform that lets you play Hold'em Poker with friends & family with real money. Sounds fun, isn't it? Download the GetMega Hold 'em Poker now!What is card counting?Counting cards is a term given to determine the odds of the card game based on the cards dealt to a player. This term is also referred to as Card Reading. Counting cards is primarily done for blackjack but can also be done for other card games. With a good card counting technique, players can bet high and low after calculating their odds of winning a game. Counting cards also allow the players to change their decisions rapidly and on the go while playing the game. This is primarily done by tracking how many cards of a certain suit are left in the main deck and altering one’s decisions based on that information. Counting cards in poker and other card games are quite different. There are different techniques and ways to calculate the winning odds.Counting cards, poker, and other card games also have a bad name in gambling. A lot of platforms look down upon counting cards. Poker, blackjack and other card games have a lot of scope for counting cards. Poker, for example, has one of the easier ways of counting cards. Poker, as a game, is based on odds; to calculate winning odds, one should know counting cards. Poker, like blackjack, has many ways of counting cards. With its many variations, Poker gives birth to many ways to count cards, but sometimes it is not easy to practice counting cards. Poker has a lot of different draws. Many of them have good odds, and many of them have bad odds. With this article, learn about the umbrella holding counting cards, poker, blackjack, etc., and get ready to start counting cards poker player!How does card counting cards in poker work?Most card-counting techniques are designed for blackjack. In blackjack, we have to pay attention to the cards being dealt to the dealer and us so that we can keep a track of all the cards left in the deck and make our move accordingly. We have to use a similar approach in poker as well. To start counting cards in poker, the player must learn to track the number of cards left in the deck.Let’s take a poker table situation. Let’s say that there is a 6 of hearts, a 7 of hearts and an 8 of hearts open on the flop on the poker table. You have an Ace of diamonds and a 5 of hearts. The first thing to notice is that there are 4 hearts, two in your hand and two on the table. This means that we only need one more heart to have a flush. We can also combine a good hand with an Ace or a 9. This is what we wait for on the turn. There are 9 hearts left in the deck and a chance of a 9 or an Ace on the turn. These are pretty weak odds, and we cannot rely on them. With these calculations, we have 12 good outs.Accelerating the CalculationsOne of the main techniques to start counting poker cards is calculating the odds. With the first example, we took out time to calculate the odds. But, there will not be much time to do so in a game. By memorizing this table, you can easily calculate the odds by the type of hand dealt to you. Type of Hand Odds Flush Draw (FD) 9 Outs Open Ended Straight Draw (OESD) 8 Outs Gutshot Straight Draw 4 Outs 2 Overcards 6 Outs 1 Overcard 3 Outs Bottom Pair 5 Outs to 2 pairs OESD and FD 15 Outs · Flush Draw - A flush draw is a hand with 4 cards of the same suit. For example, Ace (a) of diamonds, King (K) of Diamonds, Three (3) of Diamonds and Eight (8) of Diamonds. With 9 Outs, a player with this hand combination in a game of Texas Hold’em has a 34.97 per cent chance to flush the hand provided 2 more cards come and a 19.56 per cent chance if only 1 card comes.· Open Ended Straight Draw - An Open-Ended Straight Draw is when two cards, one at either end, are needed to make a straight.· Gutshot Straight Draw - A Gutshot Straight Draw or an Inside Straight Draw is a hand in which, if we combine the 4 cards there are with a fifth card, it results in a straight. We get only 4 Outs with this draw.· Overcards - An overcard refers to a community card on a flop ranked higher than a pair in a player’s hand.· Bottom Pair - A bottom pair is when the lowest card to turn up on the flop is used to make a pair with a card in a player’s hand.These terms are important to know to start counting cards in poker.Also Read Top 10 Poker Books Every Beginner Should Read To Learn And WinHow To Play Poker Without Chips: Variations, Rules, Gameplay And MoreHow To Play And Rules Of Big O PokerCalculating the PotTo start counting cards in poker, calculating the pots is very important. With the odds that are on our side, we get the ability to calculate the pot, and how much we can make with the hand we are dealt. Knowing the Rule of 4 and 2 can help us calculate our odds of winning the pot. Two things to know before using this rule are:· If we are on the flop, we need to multiply 4 and our winning odds to calculate the pot· If we are on the turn, we need to multiply 2 and our winning odds to calculate the pot.Taking our hearts example, we can calculate pot by multiplying our winning odds, 12 by 4. This gives us a 48 per cent chance to get an Ace on the river. This rough estimate can help us make decisions on the table and in making our move. This rule only gives us an estimate to help us start counting cards in poker and make our decision.Another aspect of counting cards in poker is tainted outs. We also need to keep an eye out for tainted outs. Going back to our hearts example, we have a good number of outs, an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw. There is a good chance that we do not get the Ace or the 9 that we were hoping for, resulting in a tainted out. We will win the game and be declared winners with a clean-out.Counting cards is very complex. To understand how to start counting cards in poker, we need to understand how the game works and figure out the math in our head while the game is going on. We can use some techniques to figure out how to count cards in a game like a poker, but our chances of winning are not increased or decreased by much.With this, you have enough knowledge to start counting cards in poker in a way that can help you win big money. Download the GetMega App to play poker and win money. Title Slug What is the probability of getting a Non-Face Card in Poker? probability-of-getting-a-non-face-card-in-poker How To Play 5 Card Stud Poker? Setting, Rules, And Gameplay how-to-play-5-card-stud-poker Split Pot in poker split-pot-in-poker