Outside straight draw
An outside straight draw refers to the draw a player makes when s/he requires a card to complete a sequence and the card is placed on the either edge of the straight. For e.g. when a player has the following hand, 4-5-6-7, then s/he can complete a straight with a 3 or an 8. In such a case, the player is said to have an outside straight draw.
An outside straight draw is also known as a two-sided straight draw because it offers the player two opportunities to complete the hand, one at either end. It is quite important to understand that outside straight draws are only called so if one of the end cards isn’t an Ace. Since an ace is either the highest or the lowest card that can be involved in a straight, if it already is part of a sequence that the player is drawing to, then there can be nothing below or above it in a low or high sequence above it.
For e.g. if a player has A-2-3-4 or J-Q-K-A, then in the first case, only a 5 can complete the straight and in the second, only a Ten can. Therefore, in each of these cases only one-side of the sequence is available for completion of the straight and therefore, these two combinations do not qualify as a candidate for an outside straight draw.
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