Poker: How to Play Draw Hands.

Firstly, let us define what is meant in poker by ‘drawing' or a ‘draw'; "A poker player is drawing if he has a hand that is incomplete and needs further cards to become valuable. The hand itself is called a draw or drawing hand. For example, in seven-card stud, if four of a player's first five cards are all spades, but the hand is otherwise weak, he is drawing to a flush. In contrast, a made hand already has value and does not necessarily need to draw to win. A made starting hand with no help can lose to an inferior starting hand with a favourable draw. If an opponent has a made hand that will beat the player's draw, then the player is drawing dead; even if he makes his desired hand, he will lose. Not only draws benefit from additional cards; many made hands can be improved by catching an out - and may have to in order to win" (Wikipedia).

Playing a ‘drawing' hand is one of the greatest problems faced by a player in Texas Hold'EM. This article will show you how to play a ‘drawing' hand.

Before starting though, I would like to stress that the approach taken here is more akin to the playing styles of an aggressive player, players who likely to take the initiative in the hands that they are playing. This is simply because, by satisfying yourself with following the bets of your opponents, you will only be able to win when you are in receipt of the best hand at the table, whereas, when you bet (or raise), you will always be in with the chance that your opponents will fold their hands, and thus, you may be able to win the pot with nothing in hand at all.

In this article I will refer to the above as FE, which stands for Fold Equity, this is the extent of your ability to make your opponents fold. If I had to describe this strategy I would say the following: with initiative or nothing at all.

I believe that one of the greatest errors a player can make, pre-flop, concerns the selection of hands. A hand, such as King-Queen or Pair of Jacks, appears to be an easy combination to play, but they are also particularly easy to fold. Like the ‘broadway' type of hand (two non-connected, non-assorted cards, value 10+) it is played a lot and the player often finds himself in a situation where the flop brings an average or reasonable ‘draw hand' (such as a ‘gutshot' flush draw or ‘OESD'- Open Ended Straight Draw), leaving the player without any idea as to how to play that hand.

If you are a beginner you should try not to play these hands very often. A hand such as a 7 of Hearts and an 8 of Hearts is a lot easier to play than a ‘broadway', because with the first lot, it is a easier to estimate the strength of your hand, and also because it is very likely that your opponents would play these cards and take away some of your outs, or get a better straight than you when this is the case.

For the moment, we are going to leave pre-flop play here, now I will concentrate on describing the different types of ‘draws' that you might encounter, and how to play these ‘draws' in the best possible way. I classify ‘draw' hands into three distinct categories and each type should be played using a specific strategy- although in reality, it is of course more subtle than this, but in general the following advice will help you.

 

Bad 'Draw' Hands

The first category is relatively simple to recognise: the bad ‘draws'. This category is collectively known as the ‘Gutshots', like a flop of 7 of Hearts-8 of Club-X with a 10 of Spades and Jack of Diamonds in hand, and those open-ended ‘draws' where there is a good chance of finding a superior straight with a 7 of Clubs and 8 of Clubs with the 9 of Hearts, 10 of Diamonds and X at the flop. The only think to do with this type of ‘draw' is to fold. The chances of getting the cards you need are very small, as is the chance of having the best hand when you do get the cards you need. In the remaining cases your hand is so obvious that even if you do get the cards you want, you will be unlikely to profit very much from them as your opponents would have guessed the type of combination you have in hand.

As always, there are exceptions to the rules, like at times when your opponents wager very small amounts, this will give you reasonable odds to follow, or when the player is so weak that they will pay you even when your ‘draw' is obvious; but the general rule is to fold these hands.

 

Average 'Draw' Hands

The second category of ‘draws' are the average and good types, like an Open Ended Straight Draw, or a ‘draw' with high value colours. These are difficult hands to play and several factors will determine the manner in which you should play them. One of the most important factors (and in my opinion it is often ignored) is not so much to do with your hand, but the hand of your opponents. I would not always play a check/raise (speak to re-raise the bet of my opponent) with an OESD or systematically wager with a colour ‘draw'; this depends largely upon the player against whom I am playing. Just like there are different categories of ‘draw', there are, in my opinion, 3 general categories of player to consider in this situation.

 

Weak Players

Against a weak player will often play extremely passively, as oppose to my usual style, and I will be happy to follow with my ‘draws'. I do this in part to limit the value of the pot, but also because this type of player never folds a hand that others would consider too weak to play, a top pair will suffice for this player to follow All-In. Consequently, I do not have any Fold Equity (FE) with this player (one of the main reasons to bet or raise) and I have a good chance of victory if I find a winning hand.

 

Average Players

The second category of person is the average player, against whom you can play a reasonable game of poker, but not the type of player you should fear. These players are conscious of the fact that if I am passive at the flop and the turn, then bet aggressively at the river when I get my colours, it is because I must surely have had a ‘draw' and that my desired cards had come in. Against this type of player it is important to vary between the two different modes of play and to combine them (control of pot and bluff), in a manner in which the opponent will not be able to automatically assume you are in ‘draw'. At the same time you do not want a pot that is too great. One way of managing this is to speak and be happy to follow your opponents' bets at the flop before betting at the turn (if you are the first to speak).

This method of betting is not used very often and other players will have you marked-out as in ‘draw' when you play as such. However, you must control the size of the pot, so only bet a small amount more than is in the pot. Many of your opponents will be unsure as to whether they should interpret this bet as a sign of strength or a sign of weakness, and they will pay just to see how your game unfolds at the river. By playing thus, you will be able to conceal the true strength of your hand, and you will be able to see the river at not too much cost to yourself. You should also be aware that if your opponent raises at the turn on your bet, you should never follow, but this is one of the risks that you run by playing in such a fashion. There are several ways of combining your play, try it out a few times and see which way is most suitable to your playing style. Many players choose the option of raising at the flop in order to obtain a free card at the turn, but given that many players chose this method to play these types of ‘draw', then this method will not bode well for the concealment of your intentions from your opponents- i.e. it is obvious what hand you are playing.

 

Advanced Players

The third, and final, category of player is the advanced player, or shark- as they are often referred- those whose game you respect and who, normally, respect yours in return. If I get a ‘draw' hand against such a player then I will play it aggressively. These players will be prepared to fold a top pair or an overpair; this then gives you a larger FE than when playing against weaker players. This technique will thus give you a greater chance of winning.

These players know that once you have paid a continuation bet when a ‘draw' hand is on the cards, then that means that you probably have one, therefore you need to be able to conceal these hands in this situation. The best strategy is to bet against these players and bet at the flop, paying the eventual raise, before betting at the turn (when you are out of position), or to bet then re-raise at the flop (when you are in position) in order to create as much strength as you can.

By playing the game in this fashion your opponents will often assume that you are not in ‘draw', and if your opponents have a strong hand in play, enough to go all the way (which is rare with this type of player), you will be paid to the max when your ‘draw' is realised. Your best asset against this type of player is always your FE. These players can fold a great many hands and you can thus exploit this pattern. Make sure that you do not abuse this technique, if you go to the showdown and are using this strategy then make sure that you vary the way in which you deliver your bets in order that your game remains unknowable. If the shark knows how you played your last ‘draw' hand, use the same strategy when you have a monster hand, the principle reason here being that your FE becomes a lot weaker once your opponent has seen what level of aggressiveness you use to play a ‘draw'- as they will then be able to second guess when you are in ‘draw' again, because you will be playing in the same style.

 

Good 'Draws'

Finally, the last category of ‘draw' is the ‘combination draw', the best kind of ‘draw' you can have, for example an OESD ‘draw' + a colour ‘draw'. With this type of ‘draw' it is important to do everything you can to maximise the size of the pot.

The only exception to this rule is when you find yourself playing against a particularly weak type of player (category 1 above). Against these players you will have a larger FE if you simply follow before you bet once you have your cards. Against these players what you must do is play your stack as fast as possible. The reason for this is because with these ‘draws' your hand is practically as strong as an opponents hand which has already been completed. If you find an OESD + Colour ‘draw' at the flop, you will have more of a chance of winning the round than you would with an overpair.

What I often do with these ‘draws' against the 2nd category of player is to go All-In. With this type of ‘draw' you will be in front of the majority of hands, and because your opponent will, from time to time, fold, going All-In here is clearly EV+ (positive expected value i.e. you will expect a positive return on your stack). This is due to the fact that the majority of the time you will be facing a coin-flip decision, a confrontation of 50/50 percent chance of win/loss or better, to bring in the pot, and, additionally, you will bring in more chips the more times your opponents fold. Therefore a great reason to cut the action at the flop, and your chances of winning shoot up at the turn, if you do complete the hand, it will often be at the turn or the river. Going All-In at the flop supposes that the pot is reasonably large so that the amount you win will be substantial when your opponents fold their hands. This is the case, for example, for a re-raised pot at the preflop, or once a raise at the preflop is followed by a continuation bet at the flop. There is no viable reason for sending $25 into the game in a pot of $1, the money that you will win if your opponents fold does not justify the effort or the risk.

Now that we have covered the three major types of ‘draw' there remains one last thing we need to address, this concerns ‘draws' in which several players are implicated in the pot. The most important factor in my decision making in this case is the real strength of my ‘draw' hand. A max-colour ‘draw' is a lot stronger than a gutshot ‘draw'. The important thing to remember here is that certain other player will probably also be in ‘draw'; and in this case, contrary to what we have already discussed, the force of your ‘draw' is more important than the style of play of your opponents.

If you have a weak ‘draw', such as a colour ‘draw' at the Queen, or a low Straight, you should forget all other ‘draws'. In contrast, if you have a strong ‘draw' (colours at the Ace), there is some interest in following or being paid by a weaker colour ‘draw'. This is an example of the type of hand that will really bring you big bucks when you complete it against an opponent who also completes, but with a weaker set. Another advantage of following instead of raising in a pot implicating several players is that once a player raises behind you, you can pay with a good coup once the players before you have followed.

In brief, remember this: in a multiway pot (with several players being in play) you must raise with weak ‘draws' and follow with strong ‘draws', which is perhaps contrary to what you have read in the previous section of this article. I hope that the information you have read has taught you a thing or two about how you should be playing your ‘drawing' hands. Good luck!!!!!! (When you win we don't mind a small donation of thanks )

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