[RoundTower]

Hi ocelot,
It wouldn't be very helpful to answer "It depends". Of course it depends, and of course you should play the hand one way in some situations and a different way in another. I won't ask you to "specify if appropriate": if an interesting hand comes up why not post the particulars here and ask this forum. But here are some things you should consider in those situations, that might swing the balance one way or another. Some of them depend on the players, some of them on the hand itself:

If you have an 8-way/up and down straight draw:
How much money is there left to bet? Are your draws to the nuts? Can you pick up a nice backdoor draw? If you call, is there someone behind you who is likely to raise? Are you up against a loose player who will definitely call you with a set, or maybe a tight player who will check and fold the turn if a scare card comes, or at least give you a free card? If you hit the nuts on fourth street, how vulnerable is your hand to a bigger straight coming on fifth street? (56 on a 34K7 board is substantially different from 56 on a 478K board.) Is it likely someone else is calling with a draw that dominates you? If you raise now, is it likely everyone will go away?

FWIW, I almost always call with a hand like this getting 3-1, if there is no two-flush and I am in position and it is not likely to be raised behind me. I call getting 2-1 if some of the factors above are in my favour. I expect this is looser than most people here will play, so you might be better off making sure some of the factors above are in your favour.

If there is a two-flush, almost always muck the eight-out straight draw. Often muck a slightly better wrap. Again, I like to take one off with a marginal draw here, something like 567 on a 3 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], if I think my opponent has top set here, but probably not if it was 3 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] when he could well have top set and the nut flush draw. This draw looks excellent, much better than the 8-out draw, but some people will fold this every time.

Top set on the turn:
Again you want to consider some of the above factors, particularly if you are likely to be able to bluff a flush card or other scare card on the river. If you have no implied odds, that must mean you have some chance of bluffing him if the nuts change. 3-1 is not quite enough to call heads up if you know your opponent has the straight, but it's very close. If there's any chance your opponent is bluffing you will usually have to call here getting 3-1 or close if it is all in.

Hope this helped. Many people here will tell you that you need the nuts, preferably the nuts going upwards, or at least 16 outs twice, to commit money to the pot. Ignore them.

Sorry for the long reply, but I hope it gives you some things to think about.

RoundTower.