What Is A Flush Draw In Texas Holdem
A Royal Flush is the highest hand in poker. Between two Royal flushes, there can be no tie breaker. If two players have Royal Flushes, they split the pot. The odds of this happening though are very rare and almost impossible in texas holdem because the board requires three cards of one suit for anyone to have a flush in that suit. Flopping a backdoor flush draw (3 flush cards) = 1.4-to-1 (41.6%). In Texas Hold’em, a player makes the best 5 card hand from 7 cards available to them, 2 hole cards and the 5 cards that make up the board (flop, turn and river). To calculate the probability for being dealt a royal flush in ONLY 5 cards, we can fi.
There are two different types of post-flop hands that have value in poker: made hands and drawing hands. Made hands are more straightforward than draws and typically much easier to play. In fact, learning what a drawing hand is and how to play it is an often misunderstood yet extremely important component of mastering Texas Hold’em or any poker game for that matter.
So what is a draw in poker? In poker, a drawing hand is when a player has an unmade hand that is not likely to be best on the current street but has the potential to “draw” to the best hand by the turn or river if a particular card comes. The most common draws that come to mind for most people is the flush draw or straight draw.
There are varying strengths of drawing hands ranging from a gutshot straight draw (4 potential outs) all the way up to having a powerful combo draw such as a straight draw that includes a flush draw (up to 15 outs).
What Is an Out?
An out is a potential future card that could be dealt on the turn or river that has the potential of improving a poker hand. Usually, outs are associated with cards that would likely improve a player to the winning hand. For example, if you held Ace King and the board was 952, then all Aces and Kings left in the deck would be considered “outs” since either of them would make you top pair.
What Is a Flush Draw?
A flush is when your hole cards and the community cards include 5 of the same suit. Therefore, a flush draw is when one or both of your hole cards have the possibility of making a flush on the next street.
Examples Two Card Flush Draws
Not all flush draws are created equally. The strongest flush draws are when you either have two of the same suit in your hand and two on the board, or have the Ace of one suit in your hand and 3 of the same suit on the board. Having a single card flush draw that is not to the nuts (the best hand possible) is often a sucker hand to play due to reverse implied odds.
What is Reverse Implied Odds?
Reverse implied odds means that you might improve your hand and still lose to a better draw. The weaker your flush draw the more likely it is that reverse implied odds is an issue. Therefore, unless both cards in your hand are suited, you generally do not want to invest a lot of chips chasing a flush draw. As a rule, straight draws tend to have fewer issues with reverse implied odds.
What Is a Straight Draw?
A straight draw is when one or both of your hole cards allow your hand to make a 5 card straight on the next street. The most common straight draw that most people are familiar with is the open-ended straight draw. This is where one or both of your cards are in between the community cards in such a way that you have 8 potential outs to make a straight.
While reverse implied odds problems are typically not that common with straight draws, it is still possible. If your cards are at the bottom of the potential straight and there are hands that can make a bigger straight, this is known as having the “dummy” end of the straight. The best straight draw to have is when all 8 cards are to the nuts, typically seen as open-ended straight draws.
Are There Any Other Drawing Hands?
Yes. In fact, any time you have a hand that has an obvious route to becoming the best hand on either the Turn or River, it is technically a drawing hand. Examples include:
- Bottom pair, which has 5 outs to make trips or two pair
- A gutshot straight draw, which has 4 potential outs to a straight
- A Backdoor flush draw, which can make a flush if the correct suit comes runner runner on the turn and river
See the image below for examples of the above hands, respectively shown in the same order as written.
Weak Draws
The possibilities are endless. What is really important is in determining which draws have enough value to continue with and then choosing the correct lines to maximize the expected value. Mastering tactical play in these spots takes lots of time and effort.
What Are the Odds of Making a Draw by the Turn or River?
Understanding the odds of drawing hands is one of the basic fundamental concepts of texas hold’em. The probability of completing a draw is based on the number of outs you have. Here is a poker outs probability chart showing the odds of making a few of the common draws on the turn or river, based on the number of outs.
An Easy Math Shortcut to Help You Figure out the Odds
If you can remember the numbers 4 and 2, you can figure out your approximate chances of hitting a flopped draw on the turn or by the river. For your chance of improving by the river, multiply your expected number of outs by 4. For your chance of improving on the turn, multiply your expected number of outs by 2. That’s it, easy peasy.
Of course, the numbers won’t be exactly correct and are going to be off by around 1% most of the time. Even so, it’s close enough to make intelligent decisions at the table. Let’s test it out, just to be sure. Say you have an open-ended straight draw and are curious how often you will hit your straight by the river. Since an open ender is 8 outs, we multiply that by 4 and end up with 32. If you check the chart above, you will notice that the actual number is 31.5%; pretty dang close. Feel free to test a few other possibilities to get the hang of it.
Why Are Drawing Hands so Valuable?
Now, let’s briefly get a bit more advanced and discuss the theory of why drawing hands are so valuable. In short, it’s because they tend to do very well against the strong made hands and have much better equity against the nuts (the strongest hand possible) or near nuts, even on the turn.
Equity is basically what percentage of the pot your hand is going to win if everyone involved in the pot happened to get all-in right now at this very moment on this street. If you compare the equity of a made hand like top pair versus the nuts, you will see that that type of hand has very little chance of winning by the river. On the other hand, your run of the mill low flush draw will usually beat the stone cold nuts more than 1 in 3 times by the river.
As an example, 32s, with a two card flush draw, has over a 33% chance of winning the pot by the river versus QJo on an AKT, 36% if your opponent doesn’t share a suit with you. See the results below, as shown in a program called Pokerstove, which calculates raw flop equity based on known hole cards and the board.
Now, look at how top pair does versus the same hand.
Only 7.5% equity! Now you see the full impact of draws. Versus an opponent who likely has a really strong range, it is much better to have a draw than a medium strength hand, like top pair.
While it’s better to have a draw over a made hand when up against a really strong hand, the real power of a draw is the fact that sometimes your opponent(s) will fold and you take down the pot uncontested. This extra money you win the times that you get a fold is known as fold equity.
The Power of Fold Equity
The entire reason a draw is profitable has nothing to do with actually making your hand. Even most of the stronger draws will have less than 50% equity on the flop. If no one ever folded, then it would be virtually impossible to show a profit with a draw. Take a look at this screenshot of the graph from my recent play while holding either a flush draw or straight draw.
Hold’em Manager Graph Showing My Results With Flopped Draws
As you can see, I won a lot of money with my draws but would have been a loser if it were not for the non-showdown earnings I achieved via fold equity. These “red line” earnings were made when I bet and my opponents folded. This is known as “Semi-Bluffing.”
What is a Semi Bluff?
When you represent a made hand by betting or raising while on a draw, it is known as semi-bluffing. One of the reasons that good poker players win is not because they have the best hand at showdown more than everyone else, but rather how they make opponents fold the best hand. The best hands to “bluff” are ones that are most likely to improve on a later street; namely draws. Therefore, the most effective bluffs are ones that have a lot of equity, such as flush draws or straight draws via semi-bluffs.
Summary
One of the keys to learning how to play winning poker is to master how to play a variety of hands after the flop. Not only do you have to know how to get value from made hands, you also have to learn how to maximize your drawing hands as well. In fact, learning how the equity of made hands versus draws works can make the difference between being a losing and a winning player. This makes mastering how to play a drawing hand of utmost importance.
If you’re a beginning poker player and want to learn not only
which hands beat which hands, but how to read the board and
possible hands while playing Texas holdem, you’ve found the best
page available to help.
While it’s important to understand how each hand ranks in
comparison to others hands it’s equally important to understand
how to read the board of community cards, how to read possible
draws, and how to read what hands your opponents may be holding.
Each of these subjects is covered below.
New players should make sure to read each section in order
below. But if you already know how to play poker and are
familiar with the rank of poker hands you can skip to the
sections following the hand rankings section. But it’s never a
bad idea to refresh your knowledge and it only takes a couple
minutes to read the extra sections.
Texas Holdem Hand Rankings
The following list is ranked from highest five card hand to
lowest five card hand. Start reading from the top down and the
first hand you find that a player holds is the winning hand. See
how to break ties below the hand rankings.
Remember that you always make your best five card hand out of
the two hole cards and five community cards. You can use both of
your hole cards and three community cards, one hole card and
four community cards, or just the five community cards, but you
always use exactly five cards to make a hand.
- Royal Flush
A royal flush consists of an ace, king,
queen, jack, and ten of all the same suit. In other words,
an ace high straight that’s also a flush is a royal flush.
An example of a royal flush is the ace of clubs, king of
clubs, queen of clubs, jack of clubs, and ten of clubs. - Straight Flush
A straight flush is a straight and a
flush that isn’t ace high. Straight flushes can be anywhere
from king high down to five high. Two examples of straight
flushes are king of spades, queen of spades, jack of spades,
ten of spades, and nine of spades or the five of hearts,
four of hearts, three of hearts, two of hearts, and ace of
hearts. In the case of the second example, the ace is
counted as a one, or the lowest card in the deck. So if a
straight using an ace as a one is in a tie the ace is always
used as a low card for tie purposes, not high. - Four of a Kind
A four of a kind includes all four
cards of the same rank in the deck. The fifth card doesn’t
matter. An example of four of a kind is eight of spades,
eight of hearts, eight of clubs, and eight of diamonds. - Full House
A full house consists of three of a kind
and two of a kind. An example of a full house is the jack of
clubs, jack of diamonds, jack of spades, seven of hearts,
and seven of spades. - Flush
A flush has all five cards the same suit. The
rank of the cards doesn’t matter as long as all five cards
are the same suit. Any five hearts is a flush or any five
clubs, etc. - Straight
A straight has five cards in sequential
order. The suits don’t matter in a straight. - Three of a Kind
Three of a kind consists of three
cards of the same rank. Example of three of a kind hands
include a hand with three jacks or a hand with three sevens.
Other names for three of a kind include trips or a set. When
the word set is used it usually means a hand with a pocket
pair and one matching card on the board making three of a
kind. - Two Pair
Two pair consists of two different pairs of
matching ranks. Two sixes and two eights is an example of a
two pair hand. - One Pair
One pair is simply two cards of the same
rank. Two nines or two aces are examples of a pair. - High Card
A high card hand is one that doesn’t have
any of the hands listed above. The highest ranked card is
designated as the high card for the hand. If the highest
card you have is a king you have a king high hand.
How to Break Ties
When two or more hands are tied for the highest hand one of
two things must happen. The first thing is you must decide if
one hand is actually higher than the other / s based on a few
simple rules that we cover next.
Moving from the top of the hand rankings above down, in a
Texas holdem game it’s impossible for more than one player to
have a royal flush unless the royal flush has all five cards on
the board. If all five cards on the board are used in this way
by every player remaining in the hand, all of the players tie.
It’s possible for two players to have straight flushes. In
the case of two or more straight flushes, straights, or flushes,
the player with the highest card in her straight or flush has
the highest hand. If one player has a queen high straight and
another has a nine high straight, the player with the queen high
straight wins.
In the event of two or more players holding a full house, the
player with the highest three of a kind has the better hand. If
two or more players hold two pair hands, the player with the
highest pair wins. If each player has the same high pair the
player with the highest second pair wins.
When two or more players have the same high hand of a pair,
or three of a kind, or something similar, the rest of each
player’s hand is considered.
Two players each have a pair of aces for their high hand.
Player A has A A K J 5 and player B has A A J 7 4. Player A wins
the hand because her next highest card after the tied pair of
aces is a king and player B only has a jack. In the event the
third card is the same you then compare the fourth card.
If two or more hands have the exact same five card hand then
the pot is split between the winning hands. The suits all have
the same rank as far as value is concerned. Hearts is not worth
more or less than spades, etc.
How to Read the Board
When you start playing Texas holdem it’s important to learn
how to read the board not only to determine what you hold but
also what your opponent could possibly have. This is important
because you don’t want to be caught by surprise when you think
you have the best hand and commit a large amount of money to the
pot when another player actually has a better hand.
You start the hand with the ace of clubs and the jack of
clubs and the flop has the queen of clubs, nine of clubs, and
ace of diamonds. This looks like a good flop for you because you
have a pair of aces and a chance to hit an ace high flush. The
turn is the two of clubs, completing the best possible flush.
The river is the queen of hearts.
While you still have the best possible flush, when the board
paired on the river it means you no longer have the best
possible hand. Whenever the board pairs it means there’s a
possibility that one of your opponents may have a full house.
In the example we just used a player starting the hand with
an ace and queen would have hit the full house on the river. The
same is true for a player starting with pocket nines.
Most of the time in Texas holdem you’ll still have the best
hand with a flush in these situations, but you always need to
know what the best possible hand is before deciding how much to
risk in the pot.
Other hands to watch out for include possible straights and
boards that have a high likelihood of having two pair.
Good starting hands often have two high cards, so any flop
that holds two or three high cards has a chance to create pairs
or straight possibilities for your opponents who hold high card
starting hands.
Even flops with middle and smaller cards may offer straight
possibilities, especially in unraised pots. In an unraised pot
the blinds get to see the flop for free or a half bet, so even
on a flop with lower cards they may have hit two pair or a
straight draw.
One of the best ways to practice reading the board is by
dealing out hands at home and figuring out every possible hand.
Then start dealing pocket cards for multiple players and play
each one independently in your mind. This way you see many
different pocket cards in combination with the board cards.
If you’re still struggling to see all of the possibilities
and hands ask a more experienced player to work with you as you
practice to point out things you may be missing.
How to Read Draws
Reading draws kind of goes hand in hand with the last section
about reading the board, but you also need to learn how to
factor in the chances of hitting your draws.
If you have four cards to a straight after the turn there’s
only a few cards left in the deck that can complete your
straight. If your straight draw is open ended, meaning you can
hit a card on either end to complete it, you have eight cards
left in the deck that can help you.
A hand of seven, eight, nine, ten will complete with any six
or jack. You’ve seen your two hole cards and four board cards,
so the deck still has 46 unseen cards. Eight of these cards
complete your straight and 38 of them don’t. So the odds of you
completing your straight are 38 to 8. This reduces to 4.75 to 1.
In more simple terms this means that on average if you played
the exact same situation 46 times you’d complete your straight
eight times and miss it 38 times.
Of course the actual deck of remaining cards doesn’t have 46
cards because the other players have cards, but you haven’t seen
them so you have to include them as unseen cards in the deck for
your calculations.
You use the odds in combination with your possible draws to
determine if it’s profitable to bet, raise, check, or fold.
This can become somewhat complicated when you have multiple
ways to make a hand. Usually each possible draw has a different
chance of winning if you hit it. In the example above you stand
a good chance of winning the hand when you hit your straight,
but if you miss your straight but pair one of your cards on the
river you’ll have a pair, but the odds of it being good are
slim.
Learn how to read all of your possible draws and how to
determine the odds of each draw being successful and winning if
you hit it. This will help you win more often playing Texas
holdem.
Reading Your Opponents Possible Hands
Continuing the discussion from the last two sections, once
you learn all there is to know about your possible hands and
draws and the odds you can start using the same things to
determine what hands your opponents can possibly hold and their
chance of completing hands that may be able to beat your hand.
You’ll need to learn what hands your opponents like to play
and which ones they don’t play if you want to get the best
possible reads, but even if you don’t know anything about your
opponents you can still make educated guesses based on the
board, what you hold, and the betting action throughout the
hand.
Remember in an earlier section we mentioned that many good
starting hands have high cards. Other popular starting hands
include pocket pairs and suited hands including an ace. As the
level of competition improves the starting hand possibilities
tend to change. Staring hands with an ace and suited small card
are more likely at the lower levels than at the higher levels of
competition.
Look at the list of good starting hands included in the next
section and then compare them with the current board. Which
hands fit with the way your opponent is playing the hand? Don’t
forget that not every player will follow the guidelines listed
below.
Some players, especially at the lower levels, play any ace or
any hand with an ace and any card the same suit as the ace.
At lower levels you’ll often see hands where a player with an
ace and a small off card hit two pair and beat a hand with a
pair of aces and a large second hole card that doesn’t pair up.
This may seem like playing better starting hands doesn’t pay
off, but in the long run the player starting with ace queen is
going to win more hands than the player starting with ace three.
It’s also important to always consider the players in the
blinds. If they get in for free or half a bet they could have
any two cards. Even for a small raise many players won’t fold
anything from the blinds because they’re already invested in the
pot.
You need to consider a wide range of things when trying to
guess what your opponents hold, but with practice you can start
narrowing down their possible hands quickly. As you gain more
experience you can get to the point where you’ll often have a
good idea where your opponents stand in a hand. You’ll still be
surprised sometimes because players do all kinds of crazy things
at the holdem table, but the more you know the better you’ll be
in the long run.
Another big part of reading your opponent’s possible hands is
watching them play, even when you aren’t in the hand, and
remembering everything they do. If they have a big pocket pair
do they always raise before the flop? Do they ever bet into a
draw or do they always check and call? Thinking about these
questions and learning the answers to them and others will make
your play more profitable over time.
Best Starting Hands
Here’s a list of the best starting hands in Texas holdem. The
list is roughly listed from best to worst, but hand values
change somewhat based on the level of competition, the makeup of
the game, and your ability to play well after the flop.
Not all of these hands can be played from every position or
in every game. But if a hand isn’t listed here you should avoid
playing it in any Texas holdem game.
Two card hands followed by a small “s” means suited. For
example, K Q s means a king and queen of the same suit.
As you become a long term profitable Texas Holdem player
you’ll find situations where you may be able to play a few hands
profitably that aren’t on the list. You may be able to play 10 9
s or 4 4 from late position profitably in a few games, but don’t
even think about trying it until you’re already a profitable
player.
On the other hand you’ll find many games where hands like K J
and below on the list can’t be played profitably. As a rule of
thumb, while you’re learning how to be a better player, it’s
always better to be tight than loose. So only play the best
hands while learning how to play.
You also need to understand how position relative to the
dealer button changes the value of starting hands and what you
can and can’t play for a profit. We have an entire page
dedicated to position so you should study it to make sure you
completely understand how to use it.
Conclusion
Even experienced Texas holdem players make mistakes when it
comes to reading the board of community cards and trying to
determine what their opponents hold. Once you learn what beats
what, you still have a great deal to learn if you want to be a
winning player.
Start by making sure you know the ranking of all of the
possible hands, and then learn how to read the board. Use your
hole cards with the board to determine not only the best hand
you can form, but also the best hand your opponents could
possibly have.
The next step is learning the odds of you hitting your hands
and using this information to determine the best way to play the
rest of the hand. Finally, you can start using all of the things
you’ve learned to start making educated guesses about what your
opponents have and are drawing to.
Royal Flush Odds Texas Holdem
Winning Texas holdem players use all of these things and more
on every hand to give themselves the best chance to win. But
don’t panic if this seems like a lot to take in at once. You
don’t have to learn it all in one sitting. Bookmark or print out
this page and go over it often while you’re learning to be a
better player.
What Is Texas Holdem Poker
practice for free or start at the low levels so you don’t risk
much money while you’re learning.