Draw (poker)

One is said to be drawing in a poker game if one has a hand that is incomplete and needs further cards to become valuable. The hand itself is called a draw. For example, in seven-card stud, if four of your first five cards are all spades, but your hand is otherwise worthless (no pairs, no straight), you are said to be drawing for a flush. Contrast this with a made hand, which has value already. If another player has a made hand that will beat your potential flush, then you are drawing dead, that is, even if you make your flush, you will lose, therefore the draw is not worth pursuing.

Whether or not it is good strategy to play a drawing hand depends upon the nature of the game being played, the size of the pot, the betting structure, and many other factors. However, the most basic principle is the ratio of pot odds to the odds of making your hand: if the pot odds are greater, then the draw is likely worth pursuing if you are not drawing dead.

Straight draws

A straight draw usually has four of the five needed cards in sequence, for example, 2-3-4-5. This is called an open straight draw because it can be completed on either end, with either an ace or a six. Open straight draws are generally four cards; a three-card straight draw is rarely worth pursuing. More hazardous is an inside straight draw, also called a gutshot or belly buster, such as A-3-4-5 — only a 2 will complete the hand, so the chances of making the hand are halved. The same principle applies to the draws A-2-3-4 and J-Q-K-A, because only a five can complete the first and only a ten can complete the second, though these are not called inside straight draws (nor are they open straight draws). No matter what the game is, drawing to an inside straight is rarely a good idea — it is when the pot odds justify it, but this is rare. For example, in Texas hold 'em, the chance of hitting an inside straight draw after the flop is 8.5% for the next card, or about 1 in 12. That means if the bet size is $5, the pot must be at least 5*12 = $60 to call. If it is, which may happen if, for instance, you are in late position and the table is full of maniacs, then it is usually incorrect not to draw to the straight, unless there is a good chance that somebody else can beat you (usually with a flush or full house), in which case you are drawing dead.

An uncommon variation of the inside straight draw, only possible in games with more than five cards in play such as seven card stud or Texas hold 'em, is the double belly buster. This is a sequence of cards with two inside straight draws, for example, A-3-4-5-7. In this case, either a two or a six will complete a straight. This makes the odds of hitting the hand the same as hitting a normal straight draw.

Flush draws

It sounds strange, but flush draws are easier to hit than straight draws, even though a straight is more probable than a flush. For example, in Texas hold 'em, a flush draw with four cards has nine outs, but an open-ended straight draw has only eight outs, so a flush draw will usually be a favorite over a straight draw.

In Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold'em, if a player has only three of a suit on the flop, the player will need the turn and the river to be the right suit to hit the flush. This is called a runner-runner flush draw (runner-runner for short), or a backdoor flush. The probability of completing the flush is roughly 4%, therefore drawing to a runner-runner is similar to drawing to an inside straight on the river, and the same advice applies: it's not likely to be justified, but it can be if the pot is big enough. It is also easy to draw dead with a runner-runner, because if there are four of a suit on the board, then a player needs to be holding only one card of that suit. A player who holds the ace of that suit will have the nut (best possible) flush. Therefore, in chasing a runner-runner where such a board will be necessary, it is often not a good idea if the flush would not be the nut flush.

Other draws

Sometimes a made hand needs to draw to a better hand. For instance, you may have three of a kind kings, but may lose to a flush. Therefore, you will want to have a nut flush draw (in order to beat or tie the other flush). Failing that, you have a full house draw and a four of a kind draw. Suppose the game is Texas hold 'em, you hold K-K, and the board is 9-K-2-6, and the first three cards are spades, making it easy for a flush to have been made on the flop. This also means that you have no flush draw, because you hold kings and one of them would need to be the king of spades, which is already on the board. You will, however, win if the next card is an nine, six, or two, because these will give a full house. Each of those gives three outs each, for a total of nine outs. There is also one king left, which will yield four of a kind, for a total of ten outs. The percent chance of making your hand in the next card is roughly twice the number of outs, giving a 20% chance, or 1 in 5. If it will cost less than 20% of the pot size to call, then calling will still be the right move.