been starting to play some triple draw again lately and i found that i have some difficulties with straightdraws. often times i'm not sure about whether it is better to draw 1 or discard the six and draw 2, also how aggressively to play the hand if you decide to draw one, for example would you semibluffraise the 2nd draw less often when you have a straightdraw like 2356, 2345 instead of a smooth 7 or 8 draw?

as another example, you are dealt 2356-x in the CO, open, both blinds call and both draw 2. usually i would draw 1 in this scenario, however, i kinda feel that drawing 2 might be the better option.

another scenario could be this: you open HJ or CO with the same draw, get 3bet by a reasonably aggressive player on the BTN, do you take the aggressive route, 4bet and draw one or just flatcall and draw a bit smoother?

how do you approach this issue in general? (not necessarily the given examples)

no, 6's are not a bad thing.

6s are bad if your hand is 7653 or 8654 or something like that. When you have a deuce in your hand a 6 is a good card.

1. Not entirely sure what you mean by semi-bluff raise the 2nd draw. If you draw 1 and they draw 2, it's a value bet. If you both draw 1, then it's not a good idea to always bet just because you have position w/ any hand, 6 or no 6, straight draw or no straight draw. It's probably a bit strong to say you should never bet unimproved, but you definitely shouldn't make it the norm.

2. Draw 1 always.

3. Cap and draw 1. Some people have talked about not balancing their 1c range vs nitty opponents who "never" draw 2 when 3-betting and have position on them, so that is an option. Even then, that was probably with hands worse than 6532x.

I think the two times that I tried that the guys who "never" drew more than one drew 2 both times...


The easiest way to make the point about 6s is to note that in the top 10 hands, 7 of them have a 6 in them. 3 of the top 4 do. 13 out of the top 20.

The straight draws that you tend to get with 6s are annoying, but you're essentially throwing away a card that you want to get back, which is pretty silly.

Another good thing about sixes:
You've got 6532, he's got 7432. You both draw one on the river. You both catch the same brick (say a queen). Despite having the worse draw, you win.

One time you really don't want a six is if you start with 754 or 543 (say as a steal or when you get a free look in the BB). Then you'll want to toss the six straight away. But generally sixes aren't nearly as evil as some people think.