What are the hands that you should be willing to stand pat with after the first draw given you know your opponent will be drawing one each time unless he hits?

86? 96?

How about if he's going to draw two, then one if he hits one?

Anyone? C'mon, this forum isn't going to populate itself.

if i have an 8 after the first draw i'll usually stand pat...especially if my standing pat will force my opponent to possibly break up his 86 to draw for a 7. it all depends on previous action though

depends on how many opponents, how many cards they drew on the first draw, etc...

heads up, i'd probably stand pat with most 8s and some 9s.

Your opponents will never break 86 to draw for a 7 because the possibility of a 2-3-4-5-6 straight robs them of one of their outs. With 8-7 it makes more sense since a straight is impossible (assuming you have a 2).

For this reason, you should always stand pat (mostly) or fold (rarely) with 8-6 if you get it after the first draw. I can't think of a situation where you would draw to a 7. 8-7 is a flexible holding, and if you have position it usually pays to hold on to it, and toss the 8 if your opponent goes pat (especially after a reraise). This rule is flexible though - in a 4 way pot, you are probably going to need better than 8-7, so you might as well draw right away.

9-6 is interesting. Obviously it isn't a very strong hand, but your chance of improving is reduced because of the straight possibility. For example, if you have 2-3-4-6-9, you have 8 outs to improve, and three outs to stay the same. If you had instead 2-3-4-7-9, you have a full 12 outs to improve, and it certainly makes sense to draw. Generally (in my opinion) you are going to draw with 9-6, but there are certain factors that would make you more likely to stand pat:

1) You have position, and get to see whether your opponent is drawing before you make your drawing decision. Position is very powerful when you have a flexible holding like this.

2) You have made valuable discards. Your opponent is less likely to make his hand. Don't get too excited if you have tossed away a couple of 2s though - your opponent can beat you with rough made hands (8xxx3), and he is unlikely to have problems with making straights. So he probably does not need to draw the case 2 to make his hand.

3) You have been drawing smooth in previous hands. Your opponent is unlikely to believe his 8-7 will hold up if he makes it. He certainly won't fold, but he won't reraise you or anything if he does hit his draw, and the damage will be reduced. If you are really lucky, he might even break his hand.

Obviously if you have position with a single opponent, and he draws 2 on his 2nd draw, you stay pat with 9-6!

These are my opinions of course, please feel free to disagree. Dissent is welcome.

Depends on your opponents and how they view you.

You could pull off a straight-up snow if you stand pat on the first draw if your opponents are tight like that...

How do they view you, and how do you think they think you view them up to that point by the time you play the hand.

The only time you should EVER break an 8 after the first draw is if someone stood pat ahead of you and you think that your 8 is beat. Otherwise, it would be flat out foolish to break an 8. Even if you had an 8 with a strong 7 draw like 8-7-4-3-2. That is a monster 8, and can only be beat by an 8-6 or better which is hard to do.

Playing a 9 is a little more tricky. If you are going to stay pat with a 9, it should be IN position. Also, if you have a rough 9, like a 9-7-6-5-3, then drawing would be a bad idea.

However, you SHOULD break a 9-7-4-3-2 since you have two draws to improve upon your hand.