Michael Paler
Legend
Silver Level
For those of you new to poker or MTT's, it can be intimidating to hear how chasing draws is a top killer of MTT players. And it's very true. You see guys call/shove all in with only a flush draw or a gut shot and lose. Or they chase these hands, after having so much invested in the pot they then make a bad river bluff or call a river bet when they have almost nothing.
So what is good to chase? Most would certainly think an open end straight draw or a 4 flush, right? Well, only one problem with those two - they are often very obvious. Let's say you called a raise preflop with KK. The flop comes 5-6-7 (rainbow), giving you an overpair. Villain checks the flop, you bet out get called or check-raised/shoved on. Now, what could the guy have? A set, maybe, but a 8-9 (the nuts so far) or even a 3-4; If there are two of a suit on board, he could be drawing to a flush. Obvious, isn't it? Your overpair is no good.
Ok, now lets say you have QQ and the flop is 5-8-J rainbow. He checks, you bet, and he calls. What does he have? A Jack with a weak kicker? Seems the obvious one. But what if he had, of all things, a 7-9?
Well, a 7-9 gives him something called a "Double Belly Buster Straight". A 10 or a 6 gives him the straight. Carefull! Only the 6 will make him the nuts (5-6-7-8-9, as anyone with a 9-Q will nut him if a 10 falls (Q-J-10-9-8). If you look closely, you will notice this is far better hidden, far less obvious than a mere open-ender.
So, if we refer to our handy Super System charts, all of these are laid out nicely. However, you don't need to memorize all of the charts. Simply put, you have a Double Belly Buster anytime you have 3 to a straight with one gap on either end and the next cards after the gap come one on the board and one in your hand.
In other words, you hold 5-9. Flop comes 7-8-J. Your 3-to-a-straight is 7-8-9. The gap (cards you need to complete) is a 10 or a 6. The cards next to the gap would be the J on board and the 5 in your hand. This is pretty much how every one of them are structured by nature.
Now, if you have to chase a straight (if you are getting a good price to chase), this is the one to have. It isn't obvious, so you can get paid where as a board which clearly has a straight on it might get a fold if you bet.
If you combine a flush draw into the mix, well now you can only lose to a higher flush or straight, but you might well hit a straight flush! You have Jh-7h on a Kc-9h-10h board, you have a boatload of outs! An 8 or Q gives you a straight, a flush, or a straight flush. As before, you might not get paid if a 3rd heart hits, but if the straight hits you can probably get paid from a wide range of hands, from 2-pair or sets to maybe overpairs if the guy is loose enough.
Often, however, you get something like this; you hold J-7 in the blind, the board comes A-9-10 - not quite a double belly buster - yet! While the 8 gets you to your straight, a K on the turn moves you into Double Belly territory, improves your outs, and is far better to chase than a mere flush (9 outs) or a single gutshot (4 outs). If you can get to the turn cheap, it's worth it to chase, provided your stack can support it (I might call a small Cbet and if I do not get to the K or hit my straight, I'm gone if I cannot check the turn).
If you are short stacked, this can be a far better hand than even AA to shove with post-flop. You think the villain has AA, you have Q-8 of spades, the flop comes 6s-9s-10h - Any non-spade 7, any non-spade J gets you the straight, 7 or J spades a straight flush/flush/straight flush draw, any spade a flush. If I am short stacked, I'm shoving or calling all in every time with this many outs! The guy with AA can pretty much forget it, as he needs runner runner to beat a straight or a flush. Even if the turn is an A, he's going to need to dodge a large chunk of the deck to win.
So, if you simply must chase draws, DBB's are the way to go!
So what is good to chase? Most would certainly think an open end straight draw or a 4 flush, right? Well, only one problem with those two - they are often very obvious. Let's say you called a raise preflop with KK. The flop comes 5-6-7 (rainbow), giving you an overpair. Villain checks the flop, you bet out get called or check-raised/shoved on. Now, what could the guy have? A set, maybe, but a 8-9 (the nuts so far) or even a 3-4; If there are two of a suit on board, he could be drawing to a flush. Obvious, isn't it? Your overpair is no good.
Ok, now lets say you have QQ and the flop is 5-8-J rainbow. He checks, you bet, and he calls. What does he have? A Jack with a weak kicker? Seems the obvious one. But what if he had, of all things, a 7-9?
Well, a 7-9 gives him something called a "Double Belly Buster Straight". A 10 or a 6 gives him the straight. Carefull! Only the 6 will make him the nuts (5-6-7-8-9, as anyone with a 9-Q will nut him if a 10 falls (Q-J-10-9-8). If you look closely, you will notice this is far better hidden, far less obvious than a mere open-ender.
So, if we refer to our handy Super System charts, all of these are laid out nicely. However, you don't need to memorize all of the charts. Simply put, you have a Double Belly Buster anytime you have 3 to a straight with one gap on either end and the next cards after the gap come one on the board and one in your hand.
In other words, you hold 5-9. Flop comes 7-8-J. Your 3-to-a-straight is 7-8-9. The gap (cards you need to complete) is a 10 or a 6. The cards next to the gap would be the J on board and the 5 in your hand. This is pretty much how every one of them are structured by nature.
Now, if you have to chase a straight (if you are getting a good price to chase), this is the one to have. It isn't obvious, so you can get paid where as a board which clearly has a straight on it might get a fold if you bet.
If you combine a flush draw into the mix, well now you can only lose to a higher flush or straight, but you might well hit a straight flush! You have Jh-7h on a Kc-9h-10h board, you have a boatload of outs! An 8 or Q gives you a straight, a flush, or a straight flush. As before, you might not get paid if a 3rd heart hits, but if the straight hits you can probably get paid from a wide range of hands, from 2-pair or sets to maybe overpairs if the guy is loose enough.
Often, however, you get something like this; you hold J-7 in the blind, the board comes A-9-10 - not quite a double belly buster - yet! While the 8 gets you to your straight, a K on the turn moves you into Double Belly territory, improves your outs, and is far better to chase than a mere flush (9 outs) or a single gutshot (4 outs). If you can get to the turn cheap, it's worth it to chase, provided your stack can support it (I might call a small Cbet and if I do not get to the K or hit my straight, I'm gone if I cannot check the turn).
If you are short stacked, this can be a far better hand than even AA to shove with post-flop. You think the villain has AA, you have Q-8 of spades, the flop comes 6s-9s-10h - Any non-spade 7, any non-spade J gets you the straight, 7 or J spades a straight flush/flush/straight flush draw, any spade a flush. If I am short stacked, I'm shoving or calling all in every time with this many outs! The guy with AA can pretty much forget it, as he needs runner runner to beat a straight or a flush. Even if the turn is an A, he's going to need to dodge a large chunk of the deck to win.
So, if you simply must chase draws, DBB's are the way to go!