Poker Odds Using the 4-2 Rule

The rule of four two is an easier way to figure the odds for any situation where you know your outs. It is not completely accurate but it will give you a quick ballpark figure of your chances for making a hand.

Here is how it works.

With two cards to come after the flop you multiply your number of outs by four. With one card to come after the turn, you multiply your number of outs by two.
This will give you a quick figure to work with. If you have a four card flush after the flop you have nine outs. With two cards to come, you multiply the nine by four and you get 36 percent chance of making the flush.

The chart shows the true odds at 35 percent. With one card to come you multiply nine by two and get 18 percent. The chart shows that the true figure is 19.6. It is not completely accurate but it is pretty close, and it is an easy calculation to do in your head.
Just got this in my email and I forget who wrote it, but he copied it from someone else anyway.

Yes, that was the rule I learned also. But stated differently:
Take your outs and multiply by two.
Then multiply by the number of cards to come.
It works out exactly the same (2 and 4).
This way, you can also determine the odds for each card, since it doesn't do you any good to be 32% to catch by the river, if you are only 16% for each street, and not getting the right pot odds for each street.
(For those who actually like math, it makes sense when you think about it this way: a 52 card deck is close enough to 50. So each card is about 2% of the deck.

That's why take your outs and double them to get the percentage of catching any of them.)
It's a great shorthand for odds calculation. Now if only I could convince myself to fold when the numbers say to!