Value for Draws

10NGY

I always struggle to get value from hitting my flush draws, just wondering what line most of you take when you flop a draw and how to proceed when you hit. Here's an example from 4nl this morning.... villain is bet frequently and seems quite aggro.

PlayerActionCardsAmountPotBalancewasky-180Small blind £0.02£0.02£6.7010NGYBig blind £0.04£0.06£2.41 Your hole cardsA7   kingace84Call £0.04£0.10£3.16Googly69Fold    dabasserFold    commandosFold    wasky-180Fold    10NGYCheck    Flop  9107   10NGYBet £0.04£0.14£2.37kingace84Raise £0.13£0.27£3.0310NGYCall £0.09£0.36£2.28Turn  J   10NGYCheck    kingace84Bet £0.18£0.54£2.8510NGYCall £0.18£0.72£2.10River  K   10NGYBet £0.40£1.12£1.70kingace84Fold    10NGYMuck    10NGYWin £0.66 £2.3610NGYReturn £0.40£0.06£2.76

Lambert180

I go full pot on flop, pretty much full pot on turn, and pretty much full pot on river.

BorinLoner

The biggest handicap you have is your stack. The fact you're playing a shortish stack takes away some of your options. Always pull up for 100BB and top-up if you take a hit of more than 5BB or so.

I'm not a fan of the min-bet on the flop. I think you'd probably bet more with a big made hand to protect against the draws, so bet the same when you're holding those draws. You don't want people to be able to distinguish your hand strength so easily.

When we're raised on the flop, we need to think about his range for doing this and what he'd do if faced with a 3-bet. If we think he only ever raises this flop with two-pair or better then we should definitely flat his raise because we don't want to open the door for him to 4-bet us. Also, if he's holding a big made hand, it's more likely that well be paid more if we hit as people don't like to fold their big flopped hands.

Alternatively, if he can be raising this flop with just one-pair hands or weaker draws then we definitely want to 3-bet. We want to be able to win the pot without hitting our flush and if we can 3-bet the flop and bet turn and river, it's going to be very difficult for our opponent to call with just one-pair. (This is where your short stack will give you a problem - You might not have the ammuntion to fire on three streets)

We definitely prefer to have the betting lead here, so unless you're sure that he doesn't raise without a big made hand, I think we should prefer the 3-bet as a default. Of course, we can't really 3-bet fold here so it would be nice to believe that if he 4-bets he can be doing so with draws sometimes, too.

As played, after calling the flop raise and hitting on the turn, I think we should consider ourselves locked into check-calling the turn (as you did) and then checking the river. You pretty much turn your hand face up when you lead on the river. If we check, he still bets all his flushes and may bluff at us. He probably also bets his straights. We can then raise and hope he gets stubborn with those weaker hands. If we lead the river ourselves, it's tough for him to call with anything weaker than the straight and he is very unlikely to raise any hand, except perhaps the King-flush or the straight flush. Obviously he never calls with any hand he was bluffing.

We may hope that he might flat us with just top pair or something, but the King is a bad card on the river for that because he doesn't figure to have one after the flop and turn action. It also makes it tough for him to call with weaker two-pairs because all flopped draws got there.

So I think we need to check the river and hope he bets as played.


Generally speaking, we should always sit with the maximum and I'd prefer 3-betting this flop.