Knowing how to play draws is such an important part of playing poker that even the most experienced players have trouble with it. Bad players making draws against the odds and hitting that miracle card are going to haunt you throughout your poker career. At the same time, you’re going to have trouble doing that same thing to your opponents. You need to play a potential draw with the odds on your favor, and make your opponents go against the odds to play their draws. You can manipulate the odds much easier in no-limit play, and you should eventually try to excel at no-limit cash games because you can make a lot more money in a much shorter period of time. More on that later.

Drawing to straights and flushes is very common in online play, and if you let your opponents do it cheaply, they’ll take every opportunity. If you let them stay with their draws for cheap enough, statistically they may be doing the right thing to stay in. If you let them draw for free, then God help you.

Firstly, let’s analyze the simple odds of making a draw when you have 4 of the 5 cards necessary to complete it. For example, if you have Ad-Qd and the flop is 8d-Jd-4c, then you need one more diamond to complete the flush. Statistically, you’re a little less than a 2:1 favorite to hit that last diamond. An open-ended straight draw has about the same odds. You would have this type of draw if you have a hand like J-10 and the flop was 9-Q-2. You would need one more card to make your straight.

What the odds mean is that you’ll hit your flush or straight about 33% of the time, or 1 time out of every 3 plays. “What? I’m only going to hit 33% of the time???” That’s right. A straight or flush draw is not a strong hand unless you choose to represent it as one to steal the pot. Unless you like to gamble, going all-in with a draw should usually be a well-calculated bluff. The reason is that if your opponent has any sort of hand, you’re going to lose more pots then you’ll win. That should be reason enough not to draw very often.

If you do draw, do it when you have position. A very weak and poor play when you’re out of position is to check to your opponent(s) and then call on the flop, hoping to hit your draw on the turn. If you don’t, you’ll have to check again and your move will be obvious to your opponent. If he’s any sort of a player, he’ll bet a substantial amount to make you pay for your drawn. At this point, you’re going to have to lay down your hand. If you only play to see one extra card with a draw, the odds are actually about 4:1 against you. Not good odds.

When you consider continuing on with a draw, you’ll need to be able to calculate basic pot odds. Considering pot odds means that you compare the actual odds of making your hand with the odds that you’re getting to play your hand. For example, in $1/2 no-limit game, suppose you need one more heart to make your flush draw. Suppose 4 players, including you, paid the minimum amount of $2 to see the flop. There would be $8 in the pot. Suppose the first player bets $4, the other two players fold, and action is on you. With your opponent’s latest $4 bet, the pot is at $12 and it costs you $4 to call. You’re getting 3:1 pot odds (you have to call $4 to potentially win $12, so 12/4 is 3). Since you remember that you’re getting about 2:1 odds to hit your draw, you would be correct to call in this situation.

Continue....

Back to Online Poker Guide Menu