5 Card Draw (3) - Postdraw

Introduction

In this article

• Which hands you can hold postdraw
  
• How you play with them
  
• What a median hand is
  

The postdraw action

The action after the draw – the post draw – is very important for your future winrate since the betting amount is double the pre draw. You will earn more money in 5CD if you know how to play well post draw - and vice versa - you will lose more if you overplay your holdings too many times or simply call too much.

In many confrontations post draw you will face just one single player but sometimes two or more. In my experience, what many players are asking themselves is: ”how good is my hand  after the draw?” If they are statistically well aware of their hand's value (given number of players in the pot and eventual actions post draw) then the logical thing to do is to go ahead and bet for value and hopefully get paid.

Good players in 5CD are very proficient at this. They know exactly how good their hand is expected to be and they often value bet it post draw since they have strong logical reasons to do so. But the truth is that a majority of players do not know a) what a good hand generally is post draw and as a consequence b) how good the specific hand they are holding is in order to make the decision whether to valuebet, reraise, call or fold.

When you look at the post draw play on many tables today you can see players act confusingly or even with fear. They are simply scared or worried that their opponent has improved to something stronger or they fear that their opponent will attempt to bluff them many times. As a consequence, they just check down, call or even fold their hands when they could have put in one extra bet. This way of thinking is completly wrong.

The right way is to think: ”if this hand is a statistical winner post draw, I should try to get out more value”. With this state of mind you should go ahead and act and you will turn out a winner. It could mean you will have to bet out sometimes or that you will have to even reraise other times.

If you suspect someone is on a draw or that someone has a extremly marginal hand close to yours, then you will have to make a call for showdown value. The latter case is a difficult one since it involves strong reading skills. I would like to say that you should not try to be a ”hero” too often with calls in post draw rounds – especially if you do not have the right experience – it will cost you more than it tastes. It is true though that there are many bluffers out there and also many players who ”overrates” their hands too often. With more experience and practice you will easily spot these players and make the perfect calls if they opt to play ”wildly” post draw.

I am going to give you some statistical facts that could be useful for post draw play and I will add my experiences to them. Let us first go through the hands that could be played post draw and discuss appopriate actions. We will start from stronger hands and end with more marginal hands. The statistical basis – the so called median hands - can also be found in summary in a table at the end of this chapter.

If you are dealt a pat hand pre draw and you manage to get one or more callers before the draw you should post draw always bet out for value regardless of position and reraise if you think you have the best hand. That is given that nobody else in the pot has a pat hand pre draw or possibly has improved from two pairs or trips after the draw. In the case of somebody holding an already made hand or in the case of somebody making his draw remember that A-K-Q-J-T (broadway) is 50% to be the best hand when there could be a straight or any better pat hand out there.

If you hold a flush and encounter another possible flush the median flush is exactly KJT42. Last if you are dealt a flush and you are doubtful if you are up against better hand, i.e. higher flush, full house or quads, then the median hand is the AKT87 flush.

In the case of you holding trips post draw and you suspect someone else is holding exactly trips the median hand is 888.

I would be more cautious with trips below 888 in multiway pots post draw. Sometimes out of position, if more than 3 players, I would consider a check since there could be some draws out there. When the action is back to me and I face a possible bet I would consider the specific player and his past actions during the session and then make a stand.

It is a very difficult decision since there is more than one player involved and the likelyhood of bluffing is very low. This situation is definitely subject for an advanced topic of post draw in 5CD, In this article I will leave it right here and say you will call sometimes but you will fold other times.

A very difficult spot is knowing how good your two pair is and if it should be bet or not. The answer is, it depends on many things. If you have a low pair and many higher pairs joined the pot then your hand becomes more vulnerable. If anyone of your opponents were to improve your hand is more or less dead (you are drawing to 4 outs to improve). A higher two pair such as Aces or Kings up is stronger. You should consider valuebetting Aces up even multiways. Kings up is a borderliner if one player potentially holds Aces. What about the two pairs in between?

The median two pair hand is JJ44A – JJ552. That fact is very useful to know when you are deciding whether to check or value bet your dealt two pair post draw.  Of course, you will have to consider your position and the number of players in the pot and act accordingly.

Let us say someone has raised from the cut off and you hold QQ44X on the button. You make your standard reraise and your opponent calls. He then discards 1 and then checks to you. You also know that this typical opponent is a fairly solid player who is not particularly aggressive with draws. It would be safe - since he didn't put in a 4^th bet pre draw - to put him on a 2 pair. So how good is our two pair? Well according to the median hand for two pairs our two pair should be over 50% better than other 2 pairs. The next question is – should we value bet or not? Well, if I know this is a solid player who will not call anything less than Aces up then there is not much point to bet. We would like to put our opponent to a decision and if he folds then we don't need to show our hand which always is an advantage. In this particular case there is not a great idea because we have a good idea about his opening and calling range pre draw. If he calls it would be with minimum Aces up.

A pair that is unimproved post draw has to be played carefully, especially if there are more than 1 extra player in pot. A pair of 99 with a king kicker is the median hand that beats one pair or better 50 percent of the time. However, if you hold a pair like AA-KK and you go ahead and raise first in and you get called by two players. Then if you don't improve you should definitely check if you are out of position.

It is true that AA 6-handed is a favorite vs the field pre draw but if you do not improve and there are several players in the pot you will have to proceed with caution and check. If you then are faced with a bet you are most of the times beat and you should fold. There is a fair chance that at least one player has you beat in many multiway situations if your pair has not improved.

The chapter on the post draw could be expanded and included moremore mathematics and statistical methods. I have limited this article to be more introductory and I hence use a more intuitive approach in my examples.

In my experience the post draw round is the most difficult stage of the game.

The hand examples below should reflect some common scenarios. I will add my suggestions of suitable play for each one.

You have been dealt 4433X in Cut Off and you are first in to make to make it $4 in a $2/$4 game. A player in bb calls and the pot is $9. The bb-player discards 3 and you naturally discard 1 and you do not improve. The BB player now checks and it is up to you.

Suggestions:

You hold small two pair. You started from Cut Off which is a position that normally should hold for something along JJ or better. You do not know a lot about your opponent. It could be a notorious defender or it could be a player who calls with a strong pair. However, your hand should be fine, given that he has checked to you (and there is only you and him in the pot).

I would like, as a general recommendation, to go ahead and bet here. You could get paid if he wants to play hero and calls. If he folds, then you will have had the benefit of not showing your hand (the strength, this time). This is very important and therefore even if he does not call, you will have made a correct play. You will also make sure that if you enter a pot you are going to put your opponent to a decision in the next round. It is very important to be consequent in that because if a good player notice that you are checking too much behind in the post round – he will exploit that by betting into you more often.

UTG player opens up for a bet of $2 in a $1/$2 game. You hold JJ1010 and you make it 3 bets from the button. The player from UTG calls and discards 3. You do not improve after draw and UTG player checks to you. The pot is $7.5. What should you do next?

Suggestions:

Given that it’s fairly normal player who opens up with AA-KK (he could also have QQ) I think I would lean towards check a fair amount of the time and value betting if he is inclined topay you off unimproved a lot of the times because he thinks you are a bluffer (that assumption is quite vague, but it could be possible if you have been sitting for a while). Most of the time you will not get paid if you bet. The reason is you already showed good strength predraw and if a player (quite quickly) checks, it is with the intention of giving up the hand more or less. Remember also, if you bet you will get called most of the times with a higher two pair or even trips.

UTG+1 opens up with a bet of $6 in a $3/$6 game. You pick up KKQQ in BB and you raise and make it $9 to go and your opponent calls. You don't improve and your opponent discards 1. Pot is $19. You are first to act. What should you do here?

Suggestions:

Your opponent just called to your reraise. In the general case when somebody has any kind of trips in these spots the player with the trips will cap the pot (in this case make one extra raise). So the question is if our two pair is still good? Answer is yes, if it is given that our opponent doesn't have trips predraw and thus we have to put him on a smaller two pair (if he is not on a draw).

Therefore I think it is fair to say that our hand was the best pre draw since KKQQ will beat a lot of other two pair and then it should be just as good after the draw. Your opponent with the lower two pair should hence be drawing to 4 outs and he needs a miracle. A good idea is therefore to bet here if we are confident that he does not have trips. If he pays us off then it is brilliant and if he folds then we do not need to show our hand which is good.

If we are faced with a reraise then we should be leaning towards that he has made his draw (flush or straight) or in the extreme case a full house. A call is normally not good in those spots. If you read the player as a player capable of bluffing in these situations then you could sometimes consider calling although it would be very light.   

I am enclosing a calculation of the median hands in 5CD for your personal use. I found this very useful since it gives me the idea if my hand beats at least 50% of other similar hands. By knowing this I am, along with my information and reads on the player or players involved, more secure in deciding whether my hand will hold or not. More importantly, I feel more confident that my hand is good enough to value bet.

LINKS
Related Articles: 5 Card Draw (1) - Introduction 5 Card Draw (2) - Predraw and Draw 5 Card Draw (4) - Opponents Related Quiz: 5 Card Draw Quiz (1) 5 Card Draw Quiz (2) 5 Card Draw Quiz (3)