[Al_Capone_Junior]

I think the worst mistakes in no limit are seen with drawing hands. Now I like to play drawing hands like 76s and 22, but I try to play them in a cost effective manner. Every day tho, I see the worst mistakes in the world being made by beginners and unknowledgeables who over-estimate the value of a draw.

For instance, here are a few plays I've seen recently with drawing hands.

QQ raises two limpers in a tournament 15x the blind, for a total of T300. Player with Kh3h limp-reraises all-in.

6h5h raises HUGE, half his stack, 20x the BB of T30. He's reraised by AK all-in and calls.

That's just the before the flop disasters. There are a few who will do this, but the real $$ is lost on the flop or turn.

Another couple examples:

KK raises a few limpers 7x the BB. Two of the limpers, plus the BB, call. The flop is Jack high rags with two hearts. limper bets 1/2 the pot, KK raises all-in for about 6x the pot, limper calls with Qh3h.

AK raises UTG 7x the BB, only the BB calls. Flop 2 4 5 rainbow. Check, check. Turn Ko. Check, bet all-in for twice the pot, call. BB had 23o.

The flop is King high with two hearts. AK goes all-in and is called by 7h6h who has a flush draw and no pair.

The mistake I'm talking about here is calling big bets or raises with a draw, but WITHOUT the necessary pot or implied odds. Terrible, yet it happens all the time. Which of course is good, because it means there is a lot of $ to be made off of these terrible players. Frustrating when they draw out, but I'll take it anytime. The absolute worst play is to call an all-in bet with a draw. There is NO implied odds when your opponent is all-in, and calling with a 1.86:1 or 2.2:1 draw means you are taking that much the worst of it. Yet I see them call with even WORSE draws.

Now there is a correct way to play draws. I love small suited connectors or small pairs, and I even call small raises with them (except in tournaments, where I generally don't play them, this is more about ring games). You want the other player to have a big hand when you hit with your small pair or connector. [It should be noted that flush draws aren't nearly as valuable here as str8 draws, as it's far more obvious when you make a flush, so the implied odds aren't as good]. However, when the flop comes, you need to be wise about how you go about playing your draws.

One option is to semi-bluff. Say you have 76 and the flop is K 5 8 rainbow. If the pre-flop raiser bet, you MIGHT make a huge raise to try to drive him out. If he does call, you still have a 2.2:1 shot at making the str8 anyway. It's an option, but not one that I use very often. The situation needs to be right, and it helps if you know something about the bettor, namely that you know he can be made to fold.

The other option is to draw. This is often the better option. Many, many times, the raiser will make a fairly small bet on the flop. Say it's the same flop as before, K 5 8, you have 76. The raiser bets 1/3 or 1/2 the pot into you. If he's deep (has a lot of chips), and so do you, calling is the best option. Of course you need to be fairly sure you can get the needed amount of $ out of him when you hit, i.e. you need the right implied odds. It doesn't work if he makes too big of a bet, if he has too small of a stack, or if you know he'll instantly fold to any big raises. If he only has twice more left than what he bets, I'd fold. But if he has 15x more than what he bet, and I think I can get it if I hit, I'll call. Note that often times the pot odds will be far short of what's correct, but the implied odds are far more than the minimum needed.

Given what I've said in the last paragraph, there's also a defense against someone who's doing this to you. BET BIG. It's big bet poker, after all. You need to wreck the pot and implied odds of opponents who may be drawing against you. I tend to usually bet at least the pot when I have top pair, top kicker. This is especially necessary if it's a fairly coordinated two-suited board. If I have AsKs and the flop is K T 8 with two hearts, I will usually over-bet the pot to wreck the implied odds and pot odds of people with QJ or two hearts. When people call these kind of bets, they are making a huge mistake. I really think this is why I do best at big bet poker, because I hurt the odds of people drawing against me so much that I inevitably make $$, because they call so often. In ring games, I tend to prefer the draws, because they tend to do very well in loose limit games. The best hand can't bet enough to protect their hand.

Implied odds are king in big bet poker. Take advantage of them whenever you can. Wreck them for your opponents.

Comments welcome.

al