If You Put Your Opponent On A Flush Draw...

Is it sometimes best to let them see a free card? I know it's tough to put your opponent on that flush draw, but say the 2 suited cards come on flop and you have top pair. You know they are going to chase most of the time or atleast see a turn. Sometimes I don't mind letting them see a free card if in the long run it saves me money if they hit it. Just looking at a flush draw from a different perspective I guess. Considering their flush doesn't hit on the turn and you showed slight weakness from your post flop check... they may stab at it and you can raise with the best hand and take it down right there. Thoughts?

Wolfpack43ACC said:

Sometimes I don't mind letting them see a free card if in the long run it saves me money if they hit it.

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It doesn't save you money, it loses you money.
They only hit their flush draw on the turn 18% of the time if they have a 4 flush on the flop. Thus, the bet is a good investment 82% of the time, and letting them see a free card gives them infinite pot odds to hit their flush and take the pot down.
Bet enough so they are not priced in on their draw. If they still call, bet even more next time. If they still call after that, push all-in and reap the long term profits.

vanquish said:

It doesn't save you money, it loses you money.

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^^this. I will almost always fire a second shell on the turn w tp if there are two to the flush out. It can be a good play to check (if you are oop) to the busted draw to induce a bluff, however. They probably wont call your river bet if they missed, but you might get some more chips by check calling.

annie duke said so herself... slowplaying is the way to cash success? just a risky slowplay is all.

i would think betting hard is the right approach. odds are in your favor the flush will not hit. why give them a free card?

are your opponents hitting their flushes all the time? i play 2k hands a day and some days yes, i feel that way, but eventually with around 5-10k hands, they stop hitting so much and it averages at the 33% it is.. theres a lilttle bit of a dilemma here coz when u have top pair top kicker and a fllush draw and ur out of position, its sometimes tricky to play. If you bet the pot, and you get called, you're gonna put ur opponent on a flush draw BUT he also might have a set, two pair, etc and hes slow playing it and in a big pot where theres raises pre flop, it can cost you a lot of money especially if you have AK and flop an ace while he flops a set but you put him on a flush draw mistakenly and whne he raises you/pushes on the river, you think hes bluffing and you call only to see him turn over a set of deuces or something. In my opinion its better to play your big hands in position so that you can get a read of your opponent.. if you have AK and flop an ace but you face huge continuous bets, then depending on your opponent you might wanna fold that - if you're in position you'll lose less etc. I usually limp with AK out of position and raise a lot in position. With the donkeys online, your AK limp can make you LOADs of money if the other guy has A4.A5.. Bakc to the flush thing, if your opponent is a fish, bet the pot coz hes gonna call anyway. If hes not, value bet 1/2-3/4 of the pot to price them in because after all, he will ist 2/3 times..Maybe even better, bet 1/2-2/3 on the flop then on the turn if he misses bet the pot or even overbet.. that way if he folds you'll win 4/5 times. Does everyone agree?

i want them out right away when a flush or straight is possible. i only give free cards if i need one or have a big hand not likely to be outdrawn.reads are educated guesses and can be way off depending on the skill of the player you are against, jmo,then again im still on the peanuts table so .....

so here's a differnt question...what do you do to read your oponent in this situation? any tips to tell if they are on a flush draw versus having something else?

One indicator (usually very reliable against weak players and still fairly reliable against avg players) is how fast someone calls your bet. A quick call often means that your opponent is on a draw. Now I don't mean an instacall as if they are using the act in turn selections, I mean a manual click of the call button quickly (or a quick call in general in live play). And yes you can see the difference between an instacall and a manual call. There will be some variance here too because many people have started multi-tabling.

Of course this means knowing your opponents skill level to some degree. I've been known on occassion to quick call bets with a monster hand if I believe my opponent is watching and could be putting me on a draw. If I think he's putting me on a draw, then I want to do what I can to feed that belief when I've got the nuts. But this is a different topic.

the only time i would give a free card is when i have the nuts and want them to catch something so i can make money of them

I never let any of my opponents see free cards if there are draws out there. If they want too see the next card, then they have to pay alot too see it. If i have top to pair and there are any draws out there, im either just going to push all in, or bet alot to where the wont call. Ive had alot of bad beats when ive had a straight on flop and they get a flush on turn or river. Learned my lesson and now i know what too do.

if i know that my opponent is on a draw im gonna push all in and if i know i have the best hand.simple as that..lol

You want to bet the draw hard, you want to force your opponent to make mistakes by chasing, if they call and dont hit, their mistake is your gain.