Each hand is unique & I do want tips on the specific HH below, but if anyone would like rant on how they treat draws, I'd appreciate that much more. Anything from when you like to play them aggressively, when not to, etc. If I graphed my aggro frequency with draws over the past year (~500 hrs) it'd look like an increasing 45 degree line. I've been having a lucky summer climbing out of downswing and feeling invincible partly because of rungood w/ draws. Last night was sort of a reality check to that & I was on my C+ game during this hand. Any tips appreciated.


5/5 $390 Eff

Villain: Sat down few orbits ago. Older composed Asian lady. Has been in 1/4 - 1/3 of the pots so far... no showdowns. Seems like the loose-passive pre type that bets when connecting post if I had to generalize.

Hero: Covers V. Weak-tight loosing image to rest of table but V likely has no reads other than I fold pre a lot.

Hero opens A7 $20 in HJ, CO, BTN, and V in BB call.

$79

J98

V leads $40, H $160, folds back to V...

Why raise..?: My general thinking recently has shifted to 3betting these spots b/c our equity will never be as high as it is on the flop. Couple that with some FE & we should be ok.

Why flat..? There are 2 other players left to act. Their calls boost our winnings when connecting. Their raises could indicate we should exit.

Why that size? Probably could have gone smaller. I think I justify commitment too liberally & felt any raise would end up committing us on later streets being 78bb deep.

Yeah its fine. I like to raise here because we have transparent outs and we need to clean up Qx so our tens are good. I would rather go 120 otf tho

When you have a losing image, you want to tighten up your game. A reason is that even if the villains think they are behind, they figure you're running bad and they hit anyway. That's why you got 3 callers. In under these conditions, I just fold A7s pf. Now if you were sun running or even had a winning imagel, A7s in the HJ is a decent spot to raise.

The villain donks into you and the other two villains on the flop. The villain is never drawing in this situation. While your equity isn't going to be higher, you're going to pay even more on the turn if you miss and someone calls. The villain offers you 3:1 already and and probably someone else is going to call to give you direct odds to call. When given a gift, you should take it. When you don't likely have FE either, call.

In general, I like to raise the flop when deeper with the draw. You want to threaten large stacks. Let's say the stacks were $1200. Your raise gives you plenty of room to maneuver, but threatens you could make a PSB on the river for everything. She doesn't know you have a FD. You could have a set or straight already. TP isn't going to look so good with that threat.

Thanks Venice. Really good points.

To answer your general question, I raise when I think I have FE (now or ott on a rare board like 982 where we have JT and can rep half the deck). I call when I don't, or when I think I can entice others to join my nut-peddling party. In this specific HH, I doubt you have any FE so I'd just call.

Nice self-awareness of where your game is at and how rungood is propping you up. Underrated skill imo.

I hate hh like this where we know you lost the hand lol. She had Q10 from what it sounds like.

Pair + (weak) gs + 1 over, I would raise as well and I'd also go big. You aren't super deep. If she shoves over my raise I sigh and get it in hoping for a spade. If she calls I check back the turn.

I don't think a call is wrong either but she could fold you out on brick turns.

You got a combo draw, but for the straight draw is weak because if the T comes on the turn you could lose to a Q. You still be beaten right now by QT or T7s. The board is very coordinated and you should expect lots of heavy action. You got a small investment pre and now expecting huge actions. Not good by my book. The goddamned HJ is not a position of power and almost nothing sounds right from that spot.

I only have in my table setup two major positions: OOP and IP the rest is for birds. The blinds are special case pre and post.

I don't know..., wtf? You want action? ...., You got action now.

I don't consider drawing to a 4 card str8 on the board, a draw worthy of adding equity to my hand, when my card being the bottom card of the str8. In addition, a reason to not c-bet [that's not what we are doing here] is when there is a ten OTF & another card close to it, because it connects with so many hands. There is no ten, but damn!

I really like venice10's prose [not that he needs me to qualify it ] so, I am going to call to see one street & be done to a bombed bet OTT.

Yeah good points. This draw isnt that strong and v is donking oop. Good time to just flat and play it safe.

There isnt a catchall for any hand.

I open this pre 100% btw because the nut flush is so valuable deep stacked. If eff stacks are 150 bbs i think you are losing a bit of value not opening. You can use it as a light 4bet.

At shallower stack sizes it will be a slight loser, but it should break even from co and win from btn, so raising pre isnt a big thing

Seems pretty nice to have a villain donk lead to give you almost 3:1 with you IP. Flat and see a turn. Board is plenty coordinated and you could get action from the nuts or even better combo draws like pair +SD. You're basically committing your entire stack because you flopped NFD so that's why I'm not a fan. I think flatting would even get you more value in the long run when villain has lower FD.

Folding pre-flop is ridiculous.

Just call the flop. So dumb to try to knock out weak hands and draws when you have this hand (and haaaaaaate getting 3 bet).

I would also consider flatting here because of your winning image. If you hit the nut flush, you could almost over bet the pot to confuse him with a possible bluff (not the case) and make him consider calling with two pairs and set if he have a hand.