Posted by Junelli 5:47 PM
"Guidelines on playing multiway pots when a flush or straight draw is present."
Tip 27 from "52 Tips for Texas Hold 'Em" by Barry Shulman

The presence of some draws on the board somewhat complicates the reading of hands. When no legitimate draws are present, bets and raises signify made hands. With two to a straight or flush on the board, however, bets and raises occasionally are come bets, in which a player is pushing a drawing hand rather than a made one.

As in the examples given in the previous tips, you should bet if you hold top pair or an overpair to the board, both to help protect your hand and for value. If there is a bet to you, you should raise with top pair-top kicker or better. Just calling with top pair-lesser kicker is often best, unless a raise might narrow the field. You should have a good idea whether a raise will accomplish this objective based on your position relative to the bettor. If the bettor is to your immediate right, your raise forces all the other players in the pot to call double bets. However, if a player bets and several opponents have already called, all raising accomplishes is to build a bigger pot. You need a very strong hand to do this.

One hand you can raise with in this case is the nut flush draw. You have close to a 40 percent chance of completing your flush by the river, and if several players are “trapped” between the original bettor and you, you don’t mind building a larger pot with a quality draw such as this. A side benefit of raising here is that the other players are likely to check to the raiser (you, in this case) on the turn. This way, if the turn card does not provide improvement, you can check as well. So, you save half a big bet those times the turn card doesn’t help your hand, but you gain several small bets when it does.

For the most part, call with quality draws to flushes and open-ended straights. You won’t win the pot unless you hit the draw, and you don’t want to raise out any of your opponents. You gain nothing by narrowing the field down to you and the best hand. Your chances of winning the pot are virtually the same, but you won’t win as much money when you do.

There is one notable exception to this, however. Sometimes it is good to raise with a drawing hand when simply making a pair might win the pot for you. Here is an example:

EXAMPLE:
You hold: Qs Js
Board: 3s 5s 7d

It is a five-way pot, and the first player bets. Although you won’t raise out anyone holding a better flush draw, and your queen high is surely not the best hand right now, a raise might be the right play for another reason. Suppose your raise causes a player holding A-J or K-Q to fold. Now, you might win the pot not only if you make a flush, but also if you make a pair. In this case, you have created extra outs for yourself. However, don’t take this idea overboard. It is best to make this play with two cards in the T-Q range, as they are most likely to be in kicker trouble* should they pair up. That is, you want to drive anyone out of the pot who will have a higher kicker than yours if he pairs.

1 Comment(s):

Posted by  Anonymous, at 11:17 PM, May 04, 2005  

Clearly, this article is dedicated to limit hold'em, as opposed to pot limit or no limit.

As for limit hold'em, I will offer one observation - a 9 out flush draw hits 35% of the time with 2 cards to come. Therefore, whenever there is a bet and a call on the flop, and you are third to act, you should raise. The reason is that for every dollar that goes in the pot, you are contributing 33% of the money on that round (or less if someone cold calls your raise or you are 4th+ to act), and you should win 35% of the time. In addition, it may buy you a free card.

8 out straight draws are 32% to hit with 2 cards left, so you can raise a straight draw when it is clear 4+ players will see the turn. You are putting in 25% of the money on that betting round (or less), and will hit your hand 32% of the time.

In the long run, you make money for every extra dollar that goes in the pot on the flop.

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