Betting Draws

How often do you bet your draws and in what situations should you bet your draws to be profitable?

Assuming we're talking about NLHE cash games (limit is very different), this depends on at least:

1. The number of outs (15 outs on the flop are actually favorites over one pair hands)
2. How aggressive you are (can you get the better hand to fold if you don't catch your draw?) - if you're passive and just call, the better hand will not fold, so you have to catch to win the pot
3. Your implied odds (if you hit your draw, will villain put more money in after you hit? Is your draw obvious, like a flush draw, or is it hidden, like some straight draws?)

I bet draws when I think the combination of the above is in my favor, especially if I raised preflop. I call draws if I think Villain is passive and bets small - but not always, sometimes I raise in these situations if I think I have fold equity (i.e., if I think Villain might fold) - and I think I shouldn't call as much as I do heads up (multiway pots are different - there's a fourth "it depends" I didn't think of until now).

Oops, here's number 5 - your position. Don't draw out of position unless you're the aggressor.

^^ Pretty good advice here, if you have a hand with open-ended straight draws and flush draws, that is definitely a fighting hand. Similarly, a hand like top pair or second pair with the nut flush draw is a good hand to bet, because you have lots of cards to improve your hand.

Another situation to consider that a lot of people don't think about is when a bet could take down the pot right there. Without a made hand, you risk not hitting the straight or flush by checking, but if you can win the pot without having to draw, you've made a good move.

If I think people are unlikely to raise (based on what I think they have and how they've acted in the past) I'll usually bet strong draws such as nut flush, up/down straight draws, or any flush draw plus gutshot or pair. I'm hoping to either take the pot down or set up a bluff later down the road. The other players might call with a weak hand and give up on the turn or river. I try to make my betting the same as if I had top pair with decent kicker.

If you just check-call until your draw hits then bet it's too obvious what you're doing.

In some cases I'll even 3-bet draws - for example the other night I flopped bottom pair plus over card and nut flush draw. I bet, someone raised and I put him on top pair. My hand had the better chance of winning but only if I get to see both cards. His remaining chip stack was a little less than the size of the pot so I pushed him all in.

This is for ring games - for tournaments you also have to consider stack sizes and such.

Thanks for the advice. I usually do bet my draws as you guys were saying but I wasn't sure if I was playing that correctly or not.

No problem-- just make sure the circumstances are right. Multi-way pots with big draws are good, whereas a gutshot HU obviously is not as good of a situation. Keep it up!