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This is a strong hand. You have a one card, open-ended straight draw and an overcard. The board shows three different suits. You will probably win or tie if you catch an eight. Furthermore, a king gives you the nuts, beating anyone who has just a jack since they make only a king-high straight . You may get a lot of action when a king comes if one or more players have jacks. In general, one card straight draws are worth significantly more if your side card can help make the nuts, as you may get...
Flush Draws
Flush draws are strong hands, stronger than most people seem to understand. A flush draw on the flop comes in by the river 35 percent of the time. You should only very rarely fold a flush draw on the flop Even small preflop pots are generally big enough to rule out folding. Weak one card flush draws are an exception. A one card flush draw is where you use only one card from your hand and three of the same suit from the board. Even with small cards, you will usually win ifyou use both cards from...
Introduction
This is not a beginners book. We will not explain the rules of Texas hold em, show how to read the board, or teach you to identify the nuts.2 We do not discuss how to select a table, tell you how large a buy-in to make, or teach you proper table etiquette. This is also not a beginners strategy book. We do not repeatedly emphasize the importance of playing tightly before the flop. We do not constantly advise you to avoid trouble or warn against the perils of calling down aimlessly with weak...
Evaluating the Flop Drawing Hands
In the previous section we examined made hands and discussed how board textures affect their value. In this section we do the same for drawing hands.57 We use the same assumptions and rating scale in this section as we did previously. Use these rough interpretations for each ranking Your draw will win over fifty percent of the time, even against a large field. Raise and reraise for value. Your hand will win a multiway pot a large percentage of the time. If the pot is small, try to build it by...
Raising for a Free Card
Poker players have a tendency to check to someone who raised on the previous round. If someone raises before the flop, some players will check no matter what comes on the flop. Instead of betting, they will check and call with top pair or an even better hand. Fearing the strength shown by the raiser, they instinctively check. This effect is even stronger on the later betting rounds. Hand values change a lot between the first two cards and the flop. Many players recognize this and resist the...