Raise on the draw...

[mart541]

Could someone explain how pot equity is used to determine when to raise and when to call when on a draw? I have read SSHE but am still confused.
Thanks

[Pokey]

The main reason to raise on the draw is if your hand has ways to hit that aren't your main draw and you want to "clean up" those outs.

Examples: on a flop of 4 /images/graemlins/heart.gif Q /images/graemlins/spade.gif K /images/graemlins/heart.gif, a holding of T /images/graemlins/heart.gif 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif doesn't need to raise; either you hit your flush or you don't. If you hit, you (probably) win. If you don't, you (probably) lose. HOWEVER, a holding of A /images/graemlins/heart.gif 3 /images/graemlins/heart.gif benefits from betting this, since you can drive away weak aces that have no other draws; in doing so, you "clean up" your ace outs and make your hand a more likely winner when you miss your flush but hit an ace. Hands like A /images/graemlins/club.gif 7 /images/graemlins/spade.gif have to fold a bet on this flop, and when they do, your chances of winning rise. If you let the naked aces stick around, you could wind up missing your flush, hitting your ace, and still losing the pot with best pair but kicker trouble.

You aren't betting to "protect your main draw" -- rather, you're betting to protect your "partial hits."

[admiralfluff]

If you want to use pot equity to justify a raise:

let's say you have a flush draw on the flop. Assume for simplicity you will win whenever you hit on the turn or the river. You will make your hand around 1/3 of the time by the river.

If you have 2 opponents, and you raise on the flop and evereyone calls, you pay 1 bet to see the pot grow by a total of 3 bets. Because you win one third of the pot in the long run, you get back 1/3 of each of those bets in the long run. You pay one bet, to get 1 back, and the raise is break even. If there are more than 2 opponents in the pot, say 3, you pay 1 bet to increase the value of the pot by 4 bets total, so you make 1/3 of a bet per raise over the long run.

This is a way of explaining an equity edge. You win the hand ~35% of the time, yet with 4 people in the hand your fair share would be 25% of the time. You have a 10% equity edge, so you earn 10% of any future money that goes in the pot.

You do not need an equity edge to call with a draw. If you had 1 opponent, you would lose 15% of all flop betting with your draw that would come in 35% of the time. If you have proper pot odds, you make up your pot equity deficit with winning enough of the money that is already in the pot.

other considerations when raising with a draw are protecting other outs, buying a free card, and maybe protecting against bluffs.

[mart541]

Thanks guys!