Poker Tip Man Armen-"Open-ended Straight Draw"
Open-ended straight draw: When you are on a straight draw, you have completed four out of five cards to a straight and you need the fifth card from either end to complete your straight. For example if you are holding Q10 of Diamonds and the flop is 9 of spades, J of hearts and 2 of clubs. You have an open-ended straight draw. You need an eight or a king to complete the straight.
Like most poker players, I get really excited when I flop an open-ended straight draw. I know that I have a good chance to hit a straight and potentially taking down a big pot. But, before I start celebrating...I need to know my odds of completing the straight.
How do I calculate my odds of hitting a straight and is it worth the investment? The first thing that I do is count the number of outs I have. I'm going to use the scenario I mentioned above. Since we need an eight or king to complete the straight, we have a total of 8 outs (4 eights and 4 kings). Each out gives us about 2% on the turn and 2% on the river (1 out of 47 on the turn and 1 out of 46 on the river for each out). Since we have eight outs, that gives us about 16% on the turn and 16% on the river. For a total of about 32%, basically 1 out of 3. In order for us to make a call we need 3 to 1 on our potential win to continue playing. If we are not going to get at least 3 to 1 on our money then we shouldn't chase the straight.
Chasing a straight and hitting the straight will help you win big pots, but it can also spell disasters. Some player tend to chase an open-ended straight draws even if there is a flush draw or a paired board out there as well and they don't have a flush draw. I have learned to fold open-ended straight draws when the board is paired or there is a flush draw on the board. More than often you hit your straight when someone else hits their flush or full-house and you end-up losing your entire chip stack because it's hard to lay down a straight.
Play Hard, Play Smart and Count your Outs
As usual, fish-think and terrible advice that clearly comes from someone with no real poker experience.
32% needs 2 to 1 to call, not 3 to 1. Odds in poker (as in most gambling) are expressed in a L:W format. 50% is even money (1 to 1) 33% is 2 to 1, 20% is 4 to 1.
Ignoring implied and reverse implied odds, if our percentage chance of winning is 33% that means we can call just about a PSB. So if the pot is 50, and our opponent bets 50, our call of 50 to win 100 already in the pot is 2:1 (which will break even if we win 33% of the time.)
Great advice...I've never been caught with my pants down against a flush or full house, you can almost smell when they are going to happen...but I have had a few hands go belly up on me at the Texas Hold 'Em table...caught pocket Queens once, caught 2 Kings and another Queen on the flop...thought I had it in the bag, the lady next to me matched every bet I made through the turn and river, she turned over a King and Queen to take me down...some lessons we learn the hard way...LOL
Thats terrible, that happened to me as well. I had pocket 6's flopp was 7,7,6. The guy had 7,6....lol. I bet on the river he min raised me and I only called. Saved my chip stack by not going allin. I got mad props from other players at the table.
Unless you were like 9200bbs deep, you both get mad anti-props for getting to the river with any chips left to bet.
C-
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