How far will you go? (straight flush)

[beekeeper]

Playing small stakes limit hold'em, though I would also be interested to know how people play this in small stakes tournaments.

How far will you go if you have 4 to the straight flush but are holding 2 little suits in your hand. It seems like these pots can get expensive, but you're drawing to the absolute nuts.

Will you call 3 bets on the flop? Cap it? What about on the turn?

I know I'm not being specific, but this has happened to me more than once in different circumstances. I will bet & call on the flop, but get scared off if betting is heavy on the turn.

[AKQJ10]

It's all about pot odds*. Note, however, that the straight flush itself doesn't contribute much because that's only one out. More importantly, depending on which cards you hold, you could have as many as 15 outs to a straight or better, and 21 outs to top pair or better (if your cards are overcards -- e.g. you have K [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] with J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] T [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] on the board).

The only exception would be if your cardroom pays a jackpot for the straight flush. That might add enough EV to tip a fold to a call.



*What faith I'm showing, linking to an article that isn't written yet!

[Pov]

With 4 to a straight flush you are probably the favorite in the hand unless you're already up against a set or the combination of opponents is particularly unfavorable. For instance, 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] on a board of 8[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] will actually win more often than A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] even though you currently have nothing.

You should rarely hesitate to do whatever is necessary to get as much money in the pot as possible on the flop. On the turn you can chill out some but in a limit game with that many outs there is virtually no situation that can arise in which you should not see the river. Tournament play can sometimes make for strange strategy though so I wouldn't do anything the same way every time.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
With 4 to a straight flush you are probably the favorite in the hand...

[/ QUOTE ]

Does that still hold true if the straight draw is a gutshot?

BTW, I erroneously said above that the SF itself is only one out; I overlooked that an open-ended draw is two outs to the SF.

I also forgot that she said small suited cards in my example. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


Your point that often these draws are so strong that calculating pot odds is unnecessary, is well taken -- although you might even raise for value heads up as the favorite. But when in doubt, falling back on pot odds can't hurt.

[Pov]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
With 4 to a straight flush you are probably the favorite in the hand...

[/ QUOTE ]

Does that still hold true if the straight draw is a gutshot?

BTW, I erroneously said above that the SF itself is only one out; I overlooved that an open-ended draw is two outs to the SF.

I also forgot that she said small suited cards in my example. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

No. In my example if the flop were instead 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] you would now be 47.8% to win against the AQ with two cards to come. Bad assumption on my part, I just read it as an open-ender.

edit: clarity