Q about flush being higher than straight

[og5]

After playing my way up the microlimits and getting crushed at the .50/1 tables I have realized that my sometimes tight/sometimes loose playing does not work well against better players. Too frequently I found myself not betting for value and it caught up to me when I saw what I thought were the best hands gettng cracked by even better hands (very rarely the nuts though, which I guess is even more reason to tighten up)

I'm now taking serious consideration to hand odds and pot odds. I guess it was a good time for me to learn this lesson because I just finished WLLH and started ITH, which focuses much more on odds and math in general.

Something I have not seen info about aywhere is that fact that a flush draw has better hand odds than an open ended straight draw, yet the straight is lower. As a newbie this doesn't make much sense to me and I wonder why the hands are ranked this way? A flush draw at the flop has 4:1 odds of making it by the river yet the straight draw is 5:1.

I assume this would affect the way I play these hands. Like if I had a flush draw and a stright was possible I would be aggressive against another player who might be going for the striaght, and vice verse when I have the straight draw.

Thanks for any help
og5

[Dead]

The hands are ranked this way because straights are still more common than flushes. Like over the long run, you'll get more straights than flushes. Just like you'll get more full houses than quads. The higher a hand is ranked, the harder it is to get.

The reason that straights are harder to make when you flop an OESD compared to a flush draw is that 8 cards can complete your OESD, and 9 cards can complete a flopped a flush draw. So you have better odds of completing your flush draw than you do of completing your OESD.

You also have a better chance of winning with your flush than with your straight because if the flop is two-suited, some of your OESD outs could be tainted and you could still lose to a flush.

But losing to a higher flush with two suited cards in your hand is rarer.

If you have a 4-flush and someone else has an OESD and there are lots of other people in the hand just raise and re-raise for value. Both of you have a large chunk of pot equity and the other players are likely dead money unless they have two pair or a set.

[the_joker]

It's because it's easier to make a straight than a flush. Check this (http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/56158.html) out.

[SheridanCat]

[ QUOTE ]
A flush draw at the flop has 4:1 odds of making it by the river yet the straight draw is 5:1.


[/ QUOTE ]

You've gotten the answer, I just want to clarify something. The odds you've quoted are for making your flush or OESD with one card to come, not two as you indicated.

Regards,

T

[Dave H.]

While it's true that your odds of completing a four flush are better than completing an OESD, you will get more OESDs than you will 4 flushes in your first 5 cards.

[og5]

Thanks for the clarification guys. So basically there are more straight combinations, but they are slightly harder to complete than a flush. Flush draws are more infrequent but they have better odds to complete. I guess I should be playing more suited cards /images/graemlins/smile.gif