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Taking a Free Card With a Drawing HandTaking a Free Card With a Drawing Hand
Posted by T.J. Cloutier | July 5, 2006
In today’s tournaments, you’ll see players making all sorts of plays with nothing more than a drawing hand. Let’s look at a scenario in which an inexperienced, aggressive player might play fast with a good draw.
Suppose you’re in the cutoff seat (one spot to the right of the button) with the Kh Qh. Three players have limped into the pot and you decide to also limp. The button folds and both blinds call, so you will have last action after the flop.
The flop comes Js 10c 5d. Everybody checks to you. You have two overcards to the flop and an open-ended straight draw. How would you play your hand? Would you check to take a free card? Or would you bet your draw because everyone has shown weakness by checking?
My answer is check. Take a good look at the board — that J-10 could give players either one or two-pair hands, or other drawing possibilities. Remember that a lot of folks like to play J-10, especially if they can limp with it. Trying to bluff this many players out of the pot is dangerous — and if you bet and get raised, what’ll you do? Are you willing to commit your whole tournament to this draw? I don’t recommend committing too many chips to a draw in a tournament because it could mean your tournament life. Therefore, you will have to fold if you bet and an opponent raises. For these reasons, I believe it is better to take the free card in this situation and try to make your hand on a later street.
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