3 replies to this topic

[MasterLJ]

On the flush and the straight draws...Open ended straight draw = 8 outs which is roughly 32% chance of hitting on the turn or the river4 to a flush = 9 outs which is roughly 36% of hitting on the turn or the river.The rule of thumb that works pretty well is to multiply your number of outs by 4 if you have the turn and the river to come, and by 2 with just the river remaining to get the percentage of your hand hitting.Now that you have the percentages then you need to apply them to pot odds.If you are getting 32% odds to draw to the nuts, then you need to be donating 32% or less of the chips into the pot to make it profitable to you. If you are putting half the chips in the pot with only a 32% chance of winning, you are working at -18% statistically and negative is bad =P.So to answer your question, the only reason to draw to the straight in a 3-way game, is if all three players are in and actively betting. If you can see a free card, that's always awesome.As for your brother, maybe you should just play your cards and not him. One thing that really bothers new poker players in small games is that literally any two cards can win, and surprisingly, AK against 27 is not as dominating as you might think (although it's obviously dominating). I know off hand that 56 suited against AK unsuited is like 38% to 62% in favor of 56... that's really not that much.That doesn't mean play anything, that just means play your cards, and don't let people bully you.

[MasterLJ]

WSOPchamp2015 said:

thanks for the tips on playing draws. Also with my brother, I do try and play my cards. The only problem is everytime I play my cards it seems he always one ups me, or somehow betters me. For example last time we played, I had AK in my pocket so I called the blind and the flop looks like A 6 7. So I have a nice pair of A's. I bet small and try and get the other 2 to play. My friend folds and my brother calls. The Turn is another Ace. So I have trip Aces, with a King Kicker. He pushes me all in. And looking at the table the only way he can beat me is if he has pocket 6's, 7's. I call and he flips over his pocket 6's for the full house. It was absolute crap. Thats what kinda luck I have with him.

That's just luck man. I had the exact same type of beat today in one of my SNGs. It happens. AK is a scary hand to play, picking up on the trips is one of the hardest things to tell imo. Bet aggressively, if he calls/raises think about getting out. Wait for a better opportunity to capitalize.If you can be absolutely sure that someone is bullying you, you can't be afraid to call with things like middle pair. It's an acquired skill and you have to know the right time to do it, but it stops bullys in their tracks. It also means that you will eventually have to call an all in with middle pair when dealing with a serious bully. It's a scary proposition, but it works if done correctly.