How to play flush draws

Updated November 2026

Call with a flush draw when the price is right: it hits on the next card 19.1% of the time and by the river 35.0%, so a small bet is close to fair and a big one usually isn't. Raise when your opponent can fold, and fold when the bet is big and you won't get paid after you hit.

A flush draw is four cards of one suit after the flop, with one more needed. There are 13 cards in a suit, you can see 4, and the other 9 are your outs.

Before you call

Divide what you pay by the final pot.
Compare it with 19.1% for one card.
Use 35.0% only if you're all-in.
Short? Work out what you'd win later.
Can they fold? Think about a raise.

How often does a flush draw hit?

From the flop, 9 of the 47 unseen cards hit you on the turn: 19.1%. If that misses, 9 of the 46 left hit on the river: 19.6%. Seeing both cards, you get there 1 minus (38 × 37) / (47 × 46), which is 35.0%.

The table shortcut is outs times 2 for one card and outs times 4 for two. That gives 18% and 36%, close enough to use while you're playing.

A flush draw hits

Next card19.1%

Turn to river19.6%

Both cards35.0%

How do you tell if the price is right?

Take what you have to pay and divide it by the whole pot once you've paid. Say the pot is $100 and they bet $50. You pay $50, the final pot is $200, and you need to win 25% of the time.

Use 19.1% unless you're all-in. The 35.0% assumes you see both cards for one price, and if they can bet again on the turn, you don't.

$50 bet into $100

You pay$50

Final pot$200

You need25%

Next card gives19.1%

What each bet asks you to win

Green is a price the next card pays for on its own, 19.1%. The rest need more money later.

What if the price is short?

Most bets ask for more than 19.1%, and you can still call if you'll win enough in later betting when you hit. Those future winnings are called implied odds.

In that $50 into $100 spot you miss 38 cards and hit 9, so each hit has to earn $50 × 38 / 9, or $211. The pot already gives you $150, which leaves $61 you must win later. With deep stacks and a player who pays off, that's easy. Against someone who'll stop betting when the flush card lands, it isn't.

Extra needed when you hit

Each hit must earn$211

Already in the pot$150

Still to win$61

Should you call, raise or fold?

CallThe price is close and stacks are deepYou don't need the raise to make money, and you get to see the next card cheaply.
RaiseThey can foldYou can win right now, or make your flush later. It works best with the highest flush draw.
FoldThe bet is big and nobody pays laterAn all-in on the flop with only a low flush draw is the classic way to lose a stack.

A raise can earn more than a call. Take a $20 pot and a $10 bet. You raise to $35, and they fold 30% of the time.

When they fold, you win the $30 in the middle. When they call, you see both cards with $90 in the pot and win 35.0% of it. Just calling is worth about $3.99. Raising comes out ahead once they fold more than 22% of the time.

Raising to $35

They fold, 30%+$9.00

They call, 70%−$2.47

Raise averages+$6.53

A call averages+$3.99

That sum stops the betting after the raise or call, with both cards still to come. Real hands have more betting.

What does a flush draw really hit?

Hitting your flush doesn't always win, and missing it doesn't always lose. The chart deals seven-six of hearts on a king-nine-two flop with two hearts, against four different hands.

Seven-six of hearts on K-9-2

Your share with two cards to come, every turn and river counted

Against a set, which is three of a kind made with a pocket pair, you win 26 times in 100 instead of 35. Your flush cards still come, but the set fills up to a full house when the board pairs, and a full house beats a flush.

The other risk is a bigger flush. Against one random hand, 30 of the 1,081 possible hands hold two hearts with one above your seven. It's rare against a random hand and less rare against someone raising you. The ace-high draw avoids it, and against top pair it wins 46 times in 100 because an ace on the turn or river helps too.

Ace-queen of hearts on K-9-2

Against top pair46%

Against a set of nines26%

What does a flush draw look like, added up?

A $1/$2 game, with the pot shown after each round of betting. You pay two fair prices and get paid once.

The cutoff raises to $6 and you call. Both blinds fold, leaving $1 and $2 in the pot.

The cutoff bets $5. You'd pay $5 to win $20, so you need 5 / 25, or 20%. The next card gives you 19.1% and you can win more later, so you call.

The cutoff bets $18. You'd pay $18 to win $43, so you need 18 / 61, or 29.5%, and the river gives you 19.6%. You'd have to win about $31 more if you hit, and you have $171 left. You call.

You make the flush. The cutoff checks, you bet $40 and they call with ace-king.

You take the $141 pot, and you put in $69 of it: $6, $5, $18 and $40.

Can you price a flush draw?

Twelve spots in three rounds: how often it hits, what the price asks, and whether to call, raise or fold.

Questions players ask about flush draws

How many outs does a flush draw have?

Nine. A suit has 13 cards and you can see 4 of them.

How often do you flop a flush draw?

With two suited cards, you flop exactly a flush draw 10.9% of the time and a made flush 0.8% of the time.

Should you always call with a flush draw?

No. Compare the price with 19.1%, and only call a worse price when you can win more later.

Can you beat a flush draw by betting big?

You can make it pay too much. A bet of two-thirds of the pot asks it to win 29% of the time, and it hits the next card 19.1%.

What is a semi-bluff with a flush draw?

A bet or raise with a hand that isn't ahead yet but has outs. It can win when they fold, or when you hit.

How the numbers on this page were worked out

Next card chance is 9 / 47 on the flop and 9 / 46 on the turn. Both cards is 1 minus (38 × 37) / (47 × 46). The chart and the side table count every turn and river card with the two hands fixed. A call needs bet / (pot + 2 × bet).

The extra amount you must win is (cards that miss / outs) × call, minus the pot after their bet. Thirty hands is every way to hold two of the 9 unseen hearts, 36, minus the 6 that use only the two, three, four and five.

Know someone who calls every flush draw?

Send them this page, or save the cheat sheet as an image.