Draws
Preflop > Pairs > Draws > Big hands/Bluffing > Other
When I talk about draws, I mostly mean flush draws and straight draws. While most hands can technically be seen as “draws” to bigger hands, flush/straight draws are special because they are usually very weak hands with a certain potential to become huge hands. The fatal flaw most people make with draws is playing them too passively, and paying too much for them. There are basically three options when playing a draw- 1: seeing cards cheaply 2: betting big and testing your opponent and 3: giving up and folding. What makes playing draws difficult is that you need a certain sense of your opponent to make your decision.
Let's say you have JQ of spades on the button. The person in 5th position flat calls the big blind, and so do you. The small blind folds and the big blind checks. The flop is Kh, 3s, 7s. You have a flush draw. The person on the big blind now checks, and the other player makes a pot-sized bet. At this point, many inexperienced players may flat call hoping to hit the flush.
Some more experienced players who have learned about implied odds may call and convince themselves it's correct by thinking “if I hit the flush and he bets again, it will have been worth the risk”. This decision is just flat out wrong. You should never flat call a large bet with just a flush draw. I'll tell you why.
First off, the chance of hitting it is smaller than you think. The chance of hitting it on the turn is about 17%, not 25% as you might think at first. This is due to the simple fact that 4 of the 13 spade cards have already been dealt (for a complete explanation of calculating odds, click here). Second of all, if the flush does hit and he's holding something like top pair, he may very well check and fold to a bet having put you on a flush draw. Last but not least, if the flush doesn't hit on the turn he'll most likely bet big again and you'll be even more screwed.
The fact is, with a flush draw you're not going to get any sweeter deal than the one you have on the flop so you have to make your decision quick. It's either raise big or fold. Now, in an ideal world this decision would be based on your knowledge of your opponent. If he's a person who likes to bet a lot of flops with a variety of hands, of course the right decision is to put him to the test. If he only bets good hands, hands that he's sure to call you with, then the right decision is to fold. Unfortunately we don't live in a perfect world and a lot of the time we don't have a clue what kind of person we're playing against. In this situation your decision should be based on your stack. Basically, if you have the right amount of chips to go all-in and force him to make a tough decision without it being a huge overbet you should do it. But if you have a lot of chips, you should probably just fold. If you raise him with a big stack and he reraises you, you'll be put to a very very tough decision. And we all hate those.
Note- this is a guide to playing pure flush draws. If your flush draw has other positives like a straight draw or a pair, then your play should change slightly. I would still recommend trying to avoid flat-calling pot sized bets, but in this situation you should raise a lot more often than you should fold. Also, you can flat-call ½ pot sized bets guilt free!
