Practical help!

[lillumultipass]

Hi everyone!
First post in the forum!
As I am rather new to Hold'em, I was wondering how people use probability in their play. For instance, let's say after the flop you have an open straight draw, such that you have 8 outs, the odds of getting the straight is 1-(39/47*(38/46))...ok, I know that, but, even though I am not the World champion of mental calculus I don't think I calculate too badly, it is pretty to make these type of calculations on the fly...maybe with practice...anyway, my question is, what shortcuts (if any...) do you use to calculate probabilities???
Thanks!!!

[Lost Wages]

Just memorize the odds for common draws or if you play online use a cheatsheet.

Lost Wages

[chapstick]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi everyone!
First post in the forum!
As I am rather new to Hold'em, I was wondering how people use probability in their play. For instance, let's say after the flop you have an open straight draw, such that you have 8 outs, the odds of getting the straight is 1-(39/47*(38/46))...ok, I know that, but, even though I am not the World champion of mental calculus I don't think I calculate too badly, it is pretty to make these type of calculations on the fly...maybe with practice...anyway, my question is, what shortcuts (if any...) do you use to calculate probabilities???
Thanks!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a pretty obvious approach, but I think many times it is good enough to say: 39 is approximately 38 which is approximately 40. And 47 is approximately 46 which is approximately 50. 40/50 is like 80/100, so you're looking at 36%. The exact number for the formula you gave is 31.4%.

I guess the question then is, to what accuray does one need to know the probabilities in a game situation?