Betting out your Draws
written by BeatTheFish.com
...Fishy says, "Sometimes it can
work to your advantage to act strong with your draws."
Perhaps one of the best ways you can
both get value on your draws, confuse your opponents, and take down
a fair share of pots uncontested is to bet out on your straight and
flush draws on the flop. Of course, you should follow some
guidelines and mix up your play to avoid giving tells to your
opponents, but I have found this, if done properly, to be an
excellent weapon at the table – especially no-limit ring games.
First of all, let’s outline what you’re trying to accomplish:
getting proper value when your draws hit, winning the pot right
away, or gaining a free card on the turn. How do you go about
accomplishing these lofty goals? First, you should stick to a set of
guidelines before you go semi-bluff betting your draws.
Most important in this situation is position. You want to act after
your opponents, which gives you the most power and control in the
hand. You can get into trouble if you get raised by a powerhouse
hand behind you, so I wouldn’t recommend betting your draws very
often with more than one player to act after you.
You can do this successfully with any number of opponents in the
hand, but realize that you probably won’t win the pot on the flop
against several players since one of them is likely to have a decent
holding. This move is also most effective when used after your
opponents check, but you might try a semi-bluff raise occasionally.
They key to semi-bluffing is giving yourself the right odds to hit
your draw. More on that later...
To begin with limit ring games, you won’t be able to control the
odds as much as no-limit ring games since you are, by definition,
limited in what you can bet. However, let’s say that you just called
the big blind from the button with: Ah-9h. The flop comes out
5h-Jh-2s and there are 3 other limpers in the pot. If you get
checked to, try betting. If there is a minimum bet out already,
raise it. Hopefully you don’t get reraised. If you do, you’ll have
to make the call anyway because of the pot odds. You have position
and the nut flush draw. If you hit another heart on the turn,
bet/raise it again. If you don’t, hopefully you get checked to out
of fear and you can check on behind them and see the river for free.
Simple!
However, where you can really make big bucks with this move is in
no-limit ring games. Let’s say that you called a minimum raise of $4
from the button in a $1/2 NL ring game with Jd-10d. There are 2
others that stay in to see a flop of Qd-10h-4d and a $12 pot. This
is a great spot to semi-bluff with your middle pair and flush draw.
Let’s say that they check to you. Since your odds are about 2:1 to
make your flush by the river, bet out $6 and build a pot while still
giving yourself the right odds to draw. If they both call you,
great! You’ll be getting even better pot odds. Again, you can
continue your bet on the turn if you hit your flush (or sometimes
even if you don’t to mix things up) or check to see the river for
free. Sometimes you can even check on the turn when you do hit your
draw to look completely timid and beg to be bet into on the river.
The real beauty in this move is that you’ll be completely throwing
off your opponents. While they may still suspect that you’re on a
draw, most players simply don’t put betting players on straight or
flush draws. If they see two suited or connected cards on the board
and a player betting aggressively, they’ll assume that you are
protecting against the draw. If the draw is completed, they will
often bluff with a big bet since they assume that you don’t have it.
Of course, you’re sitting back with your straight or flush ready to
call/raise as much as possible. Also, you should note that
open-ended straight draws (which can be completed with either of 2
cards) lay you about the same odds of hitting as a flush: 2:1 by the
river.
While there are many more variations of draws and semi-bluffs that
are best suited for their own articles, this should give you a solid
foundation of betting with your straight and flush draws. Used
effectively, you can often win extremely large pots from opponents
bluffing you when the draw is completed or just value betting what
they believe is the best hand. Often, you’ll win the pot uncontested
on the flop with your semi-bluff bet.
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