When to bet your draws (NLH)

[robsterling]

I, like a lot of players, like to bet my strong draws - open ended straight draws, nut flush draws or combo draws. I think its good to do this because obviously you build the pot up bigger so if you do hit you win more and others find it harder to fold possibly, you can make other people fold and win the pot there and then and also the fact that you are drawing maybe somewhat disguised. The reason I'm posting is because I don't really have any rules for when to bet on draws. Sometimes I do, sometimes I dont. In position I don't do it too often because of the danger of being check-raised by a set or something, if I'm on the button and I can get that free card I will. So basically I'm wondering whether anyone has rules or anything they apply when to bet their draws (based on position, players in the hand, whether there's a preflop raise, stack sizes, etc). I will post a few hands to where I have bet my draws or chose not to and show the outcomes and explain them where possible. Bare in mind though, I am only playin 0.05/0.10, I know some might say just to play standard ABC TAG but I think there is definitely a time and a place for everything at any stakes and I have been successful at these stakes so far and will move up, just want to see how well I do on the Betfair leaderboard this month :tongue2. Anyway I'll post hands up shortly once I've edited them. Thanks, Rob

[robsterling]

Re: When to bet your draws (NLH) Hand 1: Here I bet my draw because this was a fairly unaggressive game where there were a lot of callers and I figured I could make a decent bet to juice up the pot hoping to hit the nuts on the turn perhaps. Then with the turn being an A I figured some callers may have hit their top pair and called as I figured I was getting about better than 3/1 and had about 4/1 to hit, and believed if i did hit I could get paid off as people love aces at these stakes. Unfortunately there is a min raise then, which I didnt expect but obviously had to call this. I then obviously missed the river and check folded. I think in retrospect maybe I shouldnt have bet this flop at all, the call on the turn I don't think was too bad as I believe I just about had odds, but would like to hear your opinions. ***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 232488787 ***** NL $0.05/$0.10 Texas Hold'em - Monday, July 23, 23:31:13 GMT 2007 Table Mensa 9-max (Real Money) Seat 7 is the button Total number of active players : 9 Seat 1: UTG ( $22.69 ) Seat 2: Player B ( $15.87 ) Seat 3: Player C ( $21.65 ) Seat 4: Player D ( $7.40 ) Seat 5: Player E ( $10.15 ) Seat 6: Cut Off ( $3.78 ) Seat 7: Button ( $4.57 ) Seat 8: SB ( $12.71 ) Seat 9: Hero ( $16.07 ) SB posts small blind [$0.05] Hero posts big blind [$0.10] ** Dealing down cards ** Dealt to Hero [ 8c, 9s ] UTG folds Player B folds Player C calls [$0.10] Player D folds Player E calls [$0.10] Player F calls [$0.10] Button folds SB calls [$0.05] Hero checks ** Dealing Flop ** [ 2d, 7s, 6d ] SB checks Hero bets [$0.40] Player C calls [$0.40] Player E calls [$0.40] Cut Off folds SB calls [$0.40] ** Dealing Turn ** [ As ] SB bets [$0.60] Hero calls [$0.60] Player C raises to [$1.20] Player E folds SB calls [$0.60] Hero calls [$0.60] ** Dealing River ** [ Qh ] SB checks Hero checks Player C bets [$4.80] SB calls [$4.80] Hero folds ** Showdown ** Player C shows [ 5h, 4d ] high card Ace SB shows [ Ac, Jd ] a pair of Aces ** Hand Conclusion ** SB wins $14.54 from main pot with a pair of Aces Hand 2: In this hand I know my call from the big blind is questionable but I am happy that I can get rid of A9 if i hit the ace, and also Player D here has been raising and playing way too many hands with all kinds of rubbish (playing LAG badly). On the flop I hit a nut flush draw against two opponents I decide to bet this as I think I may be able to take the pot there but also build it up. The call from Player B I like here as I have played with this player a lot and the limp call preflop, followed by the call on flop I know could very likely be a set here, which could see me get paid off nicely. I check call the turn here estimating that implied odds and my read of a set mean I could get paid off adequately despite not having proper odds on the turn. The river again is a blank so I check fold (although pretended to think about it) she asked if I had KQ or KJ here so I'm happy my hand was disguised well and she said she did have a set. I know poker players lie and everything but I think my read and play here was ok, pity I didn't hit. And I'm happy that if the turn or river was an A I could get away. ***** Betfair Poker Hand History for Game 232501168 ***** NL $0.05/$0.10 Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, July 24, 00:12:07 GMT 2007 Table Mensa 9-max (Real Money) Seat 6 is the button Total number of active players : 8 Seat 1: Player A ( $15.81 ) Seat 2: Player B ( $14.15 ) Seat 3: Player C ( $29.21 ) Seat 4: Player D ( $47.36 ) Seat 5: Cut Off ( $22.82 ) Seat 6: Button ( $4.60 ) Seat 7: SB ( $13.53 ) Seat 8: Hero ( $11.93 ) Seat 9: UTG ( $1.55 ) Hero posts big blind [$0.10] ** Dealing down cards ** Dealt to Hero [ 9c, Ac ] UTG folds Player A folds Player B calls [$0.10] Player C folds Player D raises to [$0.24] Cut Off folds Button folds Hero calls [$0.14] Player B calls [$0.14] ** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, 7d, 2c ] Hero bets [$0.49] Player B calls [$0.49] Player D folds ** Dealing Turn ** [ 5d ] Hero checks Player B bets [$1] Hero calls [$1] ** Dealing River ** [ 2h ] Hero checks Player B bets [$2] Hero folds Returning uncalled bet [$2] to Player B ** Hand Conclusion ** Player B wins $3.52 from main pot