There are many times in hold'em poker variations where you can have more outs that are immediately obvious. This is especially common in a handful of situations where you have a pair against two pair, or when you hold just Ace-high against two pair when the opponent holds a low pocket pair. Here are two examples of hidden outs in action.

For our first example, imagine you hold pocket Aces on a flop of King-Four-Five against someone who holds Five-Four suited. It would seem like your only outs would be the two Aces left in the deck, which would improve you to three of a kind. However, if any King comes on the turn, your hand improves to two pair, Aces and Kings. Your opponent's hand will only improve to two pair, Kings and Fives, because his pair of Fours becomes counterfeited.

A similar example happens sometimes when you hold Ace high. Suppose you hold Ace-King as your pocket hand against someone with pocket Fours on a flop of Five-Five-Eight. At first glance, it appears that your only outs are the three Aces and three Kings left in the deck. However, any Eight on the turn will improve your hand to two pair, Eights and Fives, with an Ace kicker. If an Eight comes on the turn, your opponent's hand will improve to two pair, Eights and Fives, with only a Four kicker.

The key to this idea is that you can only play five cards in poker, so when you hold two small pair and the board pairs a higher card, the lowest of your two pairs are counterfeited and replaced by the higher pair in the community cards.