How do You Play Draws?

Introduction

In this article

• Passive or aggressive?
• Fold equity or implied odds?
  
• In position or out of position?
  

The special thing about Hold'em poker is that you are only dealt two cards to begin with. In most cases, the strength of your hand changes drastically on the flop.

Often, you won't hit the flop as desired and find yourself with an incomplete hand. These hands, called drawing hands, or draws, turn into very strong hands when they improve on one of the remaining streets. This article describes different kinds of draws and explains their peculiarities in detail.

What types of draws are there?

A draw is characterized by the fact that you have outs. We can generally distinguish the following kinds of draws:

• Overcards
• Flush draws
• Straight draws
• Combo draws

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is Button with A K
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.25, 2 folds, UTG calls $1.25

Flop: ($2.85) J 5 2 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $2.25, UTG ...

Overcards are a very common draw. While being in great shape pre-flop with AK, you are stuck with an ace high hand on the flop if you don't hit your top pair. Your strong hand has turned into a draw and must hit one of the outs by the river to gain reasonable showdown value.

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is Button with 8 7
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, 1 fold, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($2.10) A J 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.50, BB ...

A flush draw usually has 9 outs. There are 13 cards of the same suit in the deck, four of which have already been revealed.

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is Button with 8 7
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, 1 fold, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($2.10) K 6 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.50, BB ...

This is an example of an open-ended straight draw (OESD). This gives you 8 outs, as the straight can be completed at both ends. Its little brother is the gutshot straight draw, which is missing a card in the middle, and has only 4 outs.

Each of the above examples illustrates one type of draw. Sometimes you will even have more than one draw with a single hand. These are so-called combo draws.

The important thing is that you recognize immediately how many outs you have, as this is crucial for your equity and dictates how to play the hand. Further on in this article you will learn when and how to discount outs, i.e. determine how many of your outs are actually helpful to your hand. But we will ignore this for now and continue with a simple analysis of your outs:

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is Button with A K
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.25, 2 folds, UTG calls $1.25

Flop: ($2.85) J T 2 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $2.25, UTG ...

Again, you hold AK and raise pre-flop, and as before, you don't hit anything directly on the flop, ace high is all you've got. However, in this example, you have additional outs.

You do, of course, still have the six overcard outs. In addition, you have a gutshot straight draw, as each queen gives you the nut straight. This gives you another 4 outs.

Due to the fact the there are two s on the board, you can even give yourself one more out for the backdoor flush draw. Backdoor means that you must hit on both the turn and the river (two more diamonds would give you a flush). Your hand can therefore be analyzed as follows:

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is Button with 8 7
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, 1 fold, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($2.10) A J 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.50, BB ...

A similar hand to the flush draw example above, but the third card on the flop is now the 9 instead of the 4. This gives you 3 more outs, as you now hold a gutshot. The T was already counted towards the flush outs. We can therefore conclude:

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is Button with 8 7
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, 1 fold, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($2.10) 8 6 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.50, BB ...

This time we see a different board. The 8 gives you not only top pair, but also additional outs. With another 8 you would have trips. With another 7 you would have two pair. You now have:

In this example, it is worth taking a closer look at your outs, as some of them might not be clean.

Think about it: If a 7 comes up on the turn, you will hold two pair, but what is this hand worth? You are behind against any 4 and any 9. Either you opponent holds the straight, or he will be so afraid of the board that he will not pay you off with a worse hand.

How do you discount outs?

Discounting outs is not an easy subject. There are basically two things you must consider:

• Does the out really give me the best hand? Or am I drawing dead and will only hold the second best hand even if I hit?
• Is it possible that one of my outs will give my opponent an even stronger hand?

Exact discounting is mainly done in Fixed Limit Hold'em, where the fixed bet sizes allow for precise and mathematically correct decisions.

In No Limit, you must of course deal with varying bet sizes and implied odds. What does this mean? If, for example, you make a call because you gave yourself too many outs and thus made a mathematical mistake, it isn't very drastic, as this will often be more than compensated for by the implied odds. You can reevaluate on the next street and possibly correct a mistake you made before.

The problem of drawing to the 2nd nuts or drawing dead is, however, much more drastic. A call on the flop is usually not very expensive, but an incorrect evaluation of the real strength of your opponent's hand can cost you your whole stack in the end.

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is Button with A K
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.25, 1 fold, BB calls $1.25, UTG calls $1.25

Flop: ($3.85) 6 5 4 (3 players)
BB bets $1.50, UTG calls $1.50, Hero ...

You raise AK pre-flop, get two callers, and completely miss the flop. The Big Blind donks and UTG cold calls after having limp/called before the flop.

Taking a look at your outs, you see that there isn't really much there. If you were to give yourself the full 6 outs, you would need odds of 7:1. On the flop you are being offered 4.5:1, so you would need to be able count on implied odds (which you certainly can't do in this example).

You could now start discounting. Two s are on the board, so you would have to be very careful with your diamond outs, as they might complete a flush for an opponent.

If you give yourself 4 outs after discounting, a call is even less justifiable. But the main problem for which you must find an answer does not concern discounting outs: If you hit an ace or a king, what value does this card imply? Let's continue analyzing the hand after you call:

Turn: ($8.35) A (3 players)
BB bets $5.00, UTG calls $5.00, Hero ...

You called on the flop despite having incorrect odds and have hit a supposedly clean out on the turn. But is this really good news? A second barrel follows, and after another cold call you basically have to go broke. Having called on the flop, you can of course not fold after hitting on the turn. You also have to protect your hand, as many draws are possible.

The chances that you are already way behind against a set, straight or two pair are rather large. Already on the flop it should have been clear to you that a top pair doesn't have much value on this board against two opponents.

Whether or not you discount outs, a fold on the flop would clearly have been a better choice. Instead of having implied odds, you are now dealing with reverse implied odds and your marginal call on the flop could end up costing you a pretty penny.

And this is really the crucial point: Which outs actually give you the best hand? To figure this out, you must, of course, put your opponent(s) on a hand, or at least on a range and then decide how to play your hand.

How do you play a draw?

It is, as always, important to have a plan. You must know how you want to play your hand, and should select your starting hands accordingly. Picking up a draw on the flop can happen intentionally or unintentionally.

For example, a draw with overcards is unintentional. You goal was certainly to extract value with a top pair on the flop, or to continuation bet without having hit, relying on fold equity.

When playing a hand like 8 7, you expect to find yourself a draw on the flop, as you will very rarely hit something better. Accordingly, you must also know how to go about playing such a hand.

You can choose between two types of play: Aggressive and passive. Passive means calling according to odds and outs, while of course taking expected implied odds into account.

Aggressive means that you try to get your opponent to fold by betting. This is a semi-bluff. It builds on fold equity, but additionally has outs that can improve your hand.

Both types of play have advantages and disadvantages, which you should take into consideration each time you make such a decision. The fact of the matter is that you should consider both options. Mixing passive and aggressive play is also a good way to balance your play.

You can't always play your draws passively or aggressively. You will soon see examples of both passive and aggressive play (semi-bluff).

Which are the decisive factors when choosing between aggressive and passive draw play? It is clear that when playing passively, you aim to improve your hand on one of the following streets.

If you have called with correct odds, a hit is enough to make the move +EV. If you call with incorrect odds, you must extract more value after having hit. When playing aggressively, you have two ways to win: Either your opponent folds, or he calls and you hit your draw on a later street. It is important to give some thought to the relevant criteria:

• How strong is your draw?
• What does the board look like?
• Are you in or out of position?
• Is the pot multiway or heads up?
• Who are your opponents?
• Are you playing for fold equity or implied odds?
• Is the pot raised?
• Deception

The most important thing is the strength of your draw. You have already seen a few examples of drawing hands. In order to determine the strength of your draw, you have count your outs and determine how many of them will actually give you the best hand (discount!).

The stronger your draw, the more likely you can play aggressively. Your equity increases accordingly, and it may well be that you hold the best hand on the flop, even with a draw. At 13-14 outs, you reach a coin flip situation, where trying to get all-in on the flop becomes +EV due to the money already in the pot and the fold equity generated by aggressive play.

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is Button with A K
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.25, 2 folds, UTG calls $1.25

Flop: ($2.85) J T 5 (2 players)

Theoretically, this hand gives you 18 outs: 9 outs to the flush, 3 more outs to the straight and 6 for overcards. Of course, the overcard outs mustn't necessarily be clean, but the bottom line is that you're pretty well off. Against a good made hand like QJ or QQ you are a clear favorite.

The fewer outs you have, the smaller your equity. In general: If you have 8-9 clean outs, you might consider a passive line. With fewer outs, meaning calling would clearly be unprofitable, you can consider an aggressive line. This really boils down to a pure bluff; you have just a few outs up your sleeve. However, this scenario will not be further discussed in this article.

The board is, of course, decisive in many ways. First, it must offer you a draw. Then you must decide if your draw is clean or if some outs must be discounted. The remaining question, "How obvious is your draw and can you extract value on later streets?"

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with 5 6
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Button calls $0.25, SB calls $0.25, Hero checks.

Flop: ($2.85) 4 4 7 (4 players)

In this example you hold an open ended straight draw. There are however two s on the board, so the 3 and 8 cannot be counted as clean outs. In addition, the board is paired, which means that a hit does not necessarily give you the nuts.

Many hands are possible in an unraised pot. If, for example, one opponents holds the flush draw, and the other 43o, you are left with a mere 3 outs (8 / 8 / 8 ). Think about how obvious your hand is. This is particularly important if you want to (or have to) count on implied odds.

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks MP ($25) CO ($25) UTG ($25) BB ($25) SB ($25) Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with Q 3
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Button calls $0.25, SB calls $0.25, Hero checks.

Flop: ($2.85) 6 7 T (4 players)

You hold the 3rd nut flush draw. But what will you do if you hit on the turn? Which worse hand would pay you off? Either you end up paying off a higher flush, or all worse hands fold. You will have a hard time finding someone willing to pay you off with a J or 9 high flush.

Without doubt, position can always be regarded as one of the most important factors when evaluating your hand. This especially counts when playing a draw.

Out of position you have some big disadvantages. In most cases you do not know where you stand, as you lack information on the potential strength of your opponent's hand.

Your options are simple: If you want to play aggressively, you must bet. If you want to play passively, you check. When betting yourself, you of course carry the advantage of having some fold equity.

The odds are not favorable in most cases, and you will have to give up your hand, unless your draw is strong enough to play bet/3-bet/broke from the start.

It is hard to estimate implied odds, which you will most often depend on. What does the raise mean? Bluff? Strong made hand? If you just call the raise out of position, you still don't know what a reasonable play on the turn would be.

If your opponent calls, you will pretty much have to fire the 2nd barrel, as you can't just play check/call on the turn. If you opponent calls the turn, as well, you will rarely have a viable alternative other than check/fold on the river.

A 3rd barrel bluff should be made with caution. Advantage: Should you hit on the turn or the river, you can continue to bet straight out for value. This is one of the great advantages of aggressive play.

Playability out of position is generally very poor. Suppose you play check/call on the flop and hit on the turn. What do you do? A check/raise would of course be a nice option, but there is no guarantee your opponent will bet. Your hand you use protection, but doing so gives away what you have.

Suppose you play check/call on the flop and don't hit. How do you play the turn? You will rarely have another option other than checking. If your opponent bets a reasonable amount, you won't be able to call due to the poor odds you will be getting.

On the river, you would have to donk upon hitting, making it rather obvious that your draw has arrived. Generally speaking, you can hardly count on implied odds on the river when playing a draw passively out of position.

Your opponent must act first. He (usually) knows that he has the disadvantage of having to play out of position for the rest of the hand. You will be able to take many free cards (by checking behind the flop or betting the flop for a free river card).

Should you pick up a medium hand on the turn or river with your draw, a middle pair for example, you can take a free showdown (bet turn for free showdown). In case you hit, being in position allows you to control the size of the pot or protect easily against possible redraws.

In case you occasionally go for a 3rd barrel bluff, it is better to do so in position when your opponent has signaled weakness on the river. The advantage of position is particularly important when playing draws.

When playing draws, the number of opponents is very important. You basically have the following options:

• Aggressive play: You reckon with a reasonably amount of fold equity.
• Passive play: You reckon with good implied odds.

Now it is clear that the best choice is interdependent on the number of opponents in the hand. Against one player, fold equity is much higher, yet you cannot reckon with good implied odds, so aggressive play is favorable.

Things change when you're up against several opponents. If, for example, you find yourself 4 handed on the flop, you would have to get three players to fold. The chances for this are rather small, as most likely at least one opponent will have hit something and is hardly inclined to give up right away.

On the other hand, your implied odds increase, as you might get paid off by several opponents if you hit on the turn. In this situation, passive play is usually the correct choice.

No matter how many opponents you face, it is always a huge advantage to know something about them. Here are a few important values and explanations thereof:

Went to Showdown:
An opponent with a high WTS value will not fold very often, however you can count on implied odds on later streets.

Aggression-Factor:
A player with a high AF will often (want to) bluff. A player with a low AF will tend to only bet good hands. Against a passive player, you should try to take free cards, as he will rarely bluff you out of the pot.

Fold to continuation bet / flop bet / turn bet
These values are decisive for your fold equity. Should your opponent frequently call continuation bets on the flop, but then give up on the turn, it should be clear to you that you most often will have to fire two barrels.

VPIP/PFR
These values are crucial for determining your opponent's range. Could he have hit a marginal hand on this board? Or can you put your opponent on a strong hand, leaving you hardly any fold equity, but good implied odds?

In a raised pot, you must of course evaluate a draw differently than in an unraised pot:

• In a raised pot, you will mostly be up against stronger hands.
• The pot is bigger, limiting space for further action.
• Raised pots usually involve fewer players.
• You will often have to (semi-)bluff to win the pot. In a raised pot, you can go broke with a strong draw more often, especially if you were the pre-flop aggressor.
• The (small) implied odds are often easier to calculate, as your opponent can usually either fold or push all-in when you play aggressively.
• In raised pots, you can rarely call for odds.

In unraised pots however, the situation looks quite different:

• You often have to deal with several opponents.
• In an unraised pot you should rarely go broke with a draw, as there is enough leeway to extract value on following streets.
• You have greater implied odds, but less fold equity (at least on the flop).

You will have noticed that most of this article has revolved around fold equity and implied odds. You must always consider these factors when making your decision.

Deception is an essential part of the game. You do not want to become readable, and your intention is to make it difficult for opponents to put you on a hand. The more intransparently you play, the better you mislead your opponents, causing them to make mistakes. When playing a draw, deception usually kicks in in one of two ways:

Deception: draws versus made hands
It is important not to make it evident that you are holding a draw. You try to play a draw similar to the way you would play a made hand. Balancing isn't particularly difficult either; as the pre-flop aggressor for instance, you bet strong hands for value, bluff with very weak hands and semi-bluff with draws.

Likewise, and especially in position, you go for pot control with certain hands, basically following the "way ahead / way behind" principle. You will sometimes call with a middle pair in order to get to a showdown, sometimes with air, in order to bluff on a later street, or with a draw.

Deception: draws versus draws
As mentioned, it is important to balance your draws. Sometimes you play them aggressively, sometimes passively. You must avoid that your opponents can tell if you are holding a made hand or a draw.

Further, by varying your play with draws, you become even more unreadable. This too is automatically taken care of, as you don't have a fixed plan for playing draws, but rather analyze the situation according to the points discussed in this article, and then make your decision.

Further examples

The following examples focus on playing draws passively. Examples for aggressive draw play can be found in the article The Semi-bluff.

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
UTG ($25) (54/11/1.6/33/435) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
BB ($25)
SB ($25)
Hero ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is Button with 5 6
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.25, 2 folds, UTG calls $1.25.

Flop: ($2.85) 9 A 2 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $2.25, UTG calls $2.25.

Turn: ($7.35) K (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.

River: ($7.35) 7 (2 players)
UTG bets $5.00, Hero raises to $12.50, 1 fold.

You decide to raise pre-flop in position with suited connectors. This is generally O.K., as long as you are aware that the rather loose player will often call.

The flop isn't too bad. Although you have not hit, this is an ideal situation for a continuation bet. Of course, one could argue that your opponent could easily have hit, but if you're not willing to contibet on this board when heads up and in position, you shouldn't be raising with this hand before the flop.

On the turn you get a good draw. If you hit on the river, your opponent will very rarely believe you hold the flush.

One possibility would be to fire a second barrel, but you decide against it because of his high WTS. With his high VPIP, it is not unlikely he has hit something with which he will continue to check/call. You decide to play passively.

You can assume to get further value if you hit on the river, so you check behind the turn. After you hit on the river, you must raise for value.

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
UTG ($25) (54/11/1.6/33/435) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
Hero ($25)
SB ($25)
Button ($25) (13/11/2.7/21/850) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with 3 3
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Button raises to $1.25, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.25, UTG calls $1.25.

Flop: ($3.85) 2 4 5 (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $3.00, Button calls $3.00, Hero folds.

The loose player is in the hand once again, but this time the tight-aggressive button raises. You don't want to 3-bet, nor do you want to fold, as the loose player will often stay in the hand. You simply call for set value.

You don't hit your set on the flop, but you do pick up an OESD. You check, the passive opponent bets and the TAG calls. You are being offered 3.2:1 pot odds. You decide not to play aggressively - if so, you would have either donked or would now check/raise. You can't generate enough fold equity to justify playing this hand aggressively.

If you give yourself 8 outs, you would need pot odds of 5 to 1 when hoping to hit on the turn. You need to be able to give yourself implied odds to call. In the end, you decide to fold for the following reasons:

• You often don't have 8 clean outs, but rather only 6, as the A and 6 complete a possible flush.
• You must act out of position. Should you hit on the turn, you would really have to donk to extract value and protect against the flush draw.
• If you hit on the turn, your hand is rather obvious. The board would be quite connected and the other players would know that any 3 completes the straight.
• Assessing your implied odds is difficult. Neither the donk of the loose player, nor the call of the tight player give you good clues on their hands.

Based on these assumptions, you decide to give up the hand out of position.

$25 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
UTG ($25) (54/11/1.6/33/435) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
Hero ($25)
SB ($25) (20/1/0.5/29/321) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
BU ($25)

Pre-flop: Hero is BB with 4 5
UTG calls $0.25, 1 fold, CO calls $0.25, Button calls $0.25, SB calls $0.25, Hero checks.

Flop: ($1.25) 2 3 Q (5 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG bets $0.50, CO calls $0.50, 1 fold, SB calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.50.

Turn: ($3.25) K (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG bets $2.00, CO calls $2.00, 1 fold, Hero calls $2.00.

River: ($9.25) A (3 players)
Hero bets $6.00, UTG calls $6.00, 1 fold.

There is no reason to raise pre-flop. On the flop you hit an open ended straight draw and decide to play it passively, as you hardly have any fold equity against 4 players. The odds of 5:1 are acceptable even out of position, as this is what you need for a clean 8-outer.

You do not hit on the turn. Unfortunately, you are in a sandwich position between the Small Blind and the player in early position. But there is no reason to get active now. After you check, UTG bets again, and SB stays in the pot. Should you call or fold?

You are getting odds of 3.5 to 1. You still need odds of 5 to 1 with your draw. Although the K completes a possible backdoor flush draw, it is unlikely someone has this. Should you call, you must extract an additional $3 on the river to justify the turn call.

The advantages of a call are:

• Both players are loose and like to go to showdown. You can give yourself implied odds.
• A number of made hands that would call your river bet are possible on this board.
• Neither an ace nor a 6 on the river make it very obvious that you hold a straight.

Disadvantages of a call:

• You continue to play in a sandwich position. The aggressive player acts behind you, so you would have to donk in case you hit on the river.
• If you do not hit and the hand gets checked around, you have no showdown value.

A fold on the turn would not be a big mistake either. But you decide to call, hit on the river, donk out and extract another $6. Consequently, you have not only justified the turn call, but even made some extra cash.

Summary

There are many things you must bare in mind when playing a draw. You must count your outs and consider if every hit really gives you the best hand. Further, you need a plan on how to continue on later streets in case you hit. Most important hereby is your position.

You must also decide if you want to play the hand aggressively or passively. If you assume you have enough fold equity, you should tend to play aggressively. If you consider your fold equity to be minor, but can count on good implied odds, you should favor passive play.

You have seen a few examples and possible approaches. For examples of aggressive play, refer to the article The Semi-bluff.

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Related Articles: The Semi-bluff How do you play strong draws? (as of Gold) How do you play weak draws? (as of Gold) Discussion Forum: Discuss this article in the forum