Question nine:
You have KcJc in LP. Everybody folds to you, so you raise. The small and big blinds call your raise, and the three of you see this flop: Ac9c6h. The small blind bets, and the big blind calls. What should you do?
Answer:
Raise. You have nothing but a flush draw, but you are in late position, meaning you are going to act last for the rest of the hand. You are raising your draw on the flop with the intention of checking the turn if a club doesn’t come. This is called raising for a free card. It’s not really ‘free’, but it is a good way to draw cheaply from late position.
Consider the two possibilities. Let’s say you just call the bet on the flop. The turn card is a heart, and you call the small blind’s bet again, hoping for a club on the river. The river is a diamond, and you fold to his final bet, because you missed your flush. In a $2/$4 game, $4 preflop plus $2 on the flop plus $4 on the turn means that you spent $10 on this missed flush draw.
Let’s look at the other possibility: you raise the flop after the small blind’s bet and the big blind’s call, and they both just call your raise. The turn card is a heart, and because of the strength you showed on the flop, they check to you, expecting you to bet with what they think is a strong pair, at least. But, since your club didn’t arrive, you check as well, and since you are the last to act, you will all see the river card for ‘free’. The river card is a diamond, and one of them bets, and you fold. $4 preflop plus $4 on the flop plus $0 on the turn means that you spent $8 on this missed flush draw, which is $2 less than if you’d just called the flop and the turn bets.
Of course, if you get re-raised on the flop, your free card plan will be thwarted. Unless you’ve been playing like a maniac, though, or unless one of the blinds hit the flop really hard, that shouldn’t happen.
Question 10:
Again, you have KcJc in LP. Three players call before you, and you just call as well. The small blind calls, and the big blind checks, so six of you see the same flop from question eight: Ac9c6h. Both of the blinds check, the early position player bets, and both of the players behind him call. What should you do?
Answer:
This time, you should just call the bet. This pot has a lot of players in it, so you would be better off just calling the flop, and not raising for a possible free card. Although raising for a free card with a good draw to the best hand works well in pots where you have only one or two opponents, in a big multi-way pot, you want to keep as many players in as possible, because there will be more money in the pot (and more players to pay you off) if you hit your draw. If you were to raise the flop for a free turn card, some of the players would probably fold, but your good flush draw wants them to stick around. Losing players by raising for a free card doesn’t make sense when you can keep 5 players in by just calling, many of whom may pay you off if you hit your flush. Against one or two opponents, however, there wouldn’t be enough players in the hand in the first place to make it very profitable for you if you made your flush, so keeping them in the hand isn’t a factor.
Question 11:
You have TcJc on the button. Five players call preflop, and you just call as well. The small blind completes his bet, and the big blind checks. 8 of you to the flop of Ah 9c Qc. One player bets, another raises, and another re-raises. It’s your decision. Should you call, fold, or cap the betting?
Answer:
You should cap the betting. You have flopped an open-ended straight flush draw. Any club gives you a flush, and any 8 or K gives you a straight, which will probably be enough to win you the pot. Furthermore, if you’re lucky enough to get an eight or king of clubs on the turn or river, you’ll have made a straight flush, and those are always nice. Interestingly enough, you have a better chance of winning this pot than someone with AK, who has already flopped top pair, best kicker, and you’re about 50/50 against someone with A9, who has flopped two pair. The more bets that go into the pot on the flop, the bigger the pot will be if you win it, which you often will. So, you should cap the flop, and hope that as many people call as possible. If you don’t make one of your draws on the turn card, however, you will want to slow down, because a player with AK now stands a much better chance of winning with only one card to come for your draw. But you should get your money in when you have the best of it, and against a lot of hands on the flop, you do.
Note that you are not raising the flop specifically for a free turn card, as was the case in question nine. Here, you are raising the flop for value, because your draw has so many outs that you’re essentially making money on every bet that goes into the pot. Also, because of all the interest that was shown in that flop before the betting came to you, it doesn’t look like many—if any—players are going to fold to your re-raise, so you don’t have to worry about losing them. Chances are good that you won’t get a free turn card —the flop was bet, raised and re-raised before it got to you. Clearly, there are other players in the hand who really like their chances, as well. If the turn card doesn’t help you and it actually does get checked to you, though, it may not be a bad idea to take a free card by checking as well.
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