How strong is your draw?

Monday, November 21st., 2005 (By the PokerStrategyKing)

Have you ever just lost a big hand after hitting your draw? Have you ever immediately just shook your head and thought to yourself, “How did I get myself in this position? Of course you have. We all have. The basic fundamental reason for this happening is that you shouldn’t have been in the hand to begin with. You either played cards you should have folded pre-flop or you paid to much to hit your draw when you didn’t have the outs you thought you did. It’s happened to everyone and everyone has lost money as a result, even the pros. The key is to avoid it happening to you again. To illustrate what I man, today I will give a variety of hands and show you just how strong your draws really are.

Your hand 6h-7h
Preflop Action – There was a small raise to $10 and 3 callers including yourself.
Flop – 8d-9d-2s
How strong is your draw?
Well you have an open-ended straight draw which seems like you have a good number of outs. However you must be aware of two things. For one, your open-ended straight draw is at the bottom end of it which leaves you open to higher straights. That’s the basic principle. When you look closer, you must realize that 4 of your outs, any 5 or 10 of diamonds can give someone a flush. This simply means that it is possible for you to hit your draw and still be crushed. Because of your shrinking number of outs, you should proceed with caution and be prepared to get out of the way. There are better ways to spend your chips.

Your hand Pocket – 9’s
Preflop Action – An early position player raises to $10 and the button player re-raises to $20, you call.
Flop – 8s-2d-4h
How strong is your hand?
Well, you have an overpair to the board with no possible flushes on board. But that’s about all you have going for you. You could throw out a small bet here to see where you are but there is a very good chance that you are facing one, if not 2 or more bigger pairs. You called the raise to see if you could spoke a set, but you missed and now you have a mixed bag. Don’t become emotionally attached to this hand. You didn’t get what you were looking for so be prepared to get out of the way.

Your hand Q-Q
Preflop Action – You raise and are called by 3 players.
Flop Ad-kh-2h
How strong is your hand?
I would have to say that given the fact that 3 callers called your raise, your hand is probably beaten. At least one if not more of your opponents likely has an Ace or King. If you bet and get raised, this should be an easy fold for you. Don’t be fooled into believing you’re ahead if it gets checked around. Again, like the example above, you may throw out a feeler bet to see where you are. If someone raises you, beware.

Your hand Jc-Qh
Preflop Action – There was no raising in this hand, just 5 limpers.
Flop - 9s-10s-4d
How strong is your draw?
I would say you have a fairly strong draw. Not only are you open-ended, but you are drawing to the nut straight as well. You can fire out a semi-bluff just to see if anyone may be on a flush draw. You may win the pot outright or if you are called, you may very well make your hand.

We’ll go through some more examples next month.

What do you think about these examples? I want to hear from you. Send your comments/questions to info@pokerstrategyking.com

Until next time, may the chips fall your way.

(For more poker strategy and tips, please visit the PokerStrategyKing’s website at www.pokerstrategyking.com )