Playing Combo Draws on the Flop in Texas Hold'em

It's very rare in Texas Hold'em that drawing hands have more equity in a pot than a made hand.
Combo draws, however, are so powerful that some are actually a favorite versus a made hand.
A combo draw is defined as a draw that has more than 12 outs.
These draws are so robust they should be played marked cards fast and hard on almost all flops.
Some examples of combo draws:

• a pair and an open-ended straight draw (13 outs against an overpair)
• a pair and a flush draw (14 outs)
• gut-shot straight flush draw (12 outs)
• a straight draw and a flush draw (15 outs)
• the ever-elusive open-ended straight flush draw (15 outs)

In all of these examples about a quarter of the deck or more can give you the winning hand against an overpair.
In fact, the very worst combo draw you can have - a gut-shot straight flush draw (12 outs) - is even money versus an overpair!

Even the worst combo draw is even money vs. an overpair.

 

What that means for you is that you're only a slight dog to even monster hands. Against average hands you're a huge favorite.
You should push these hands hard; they're big money earners for all good players.

Why Should You Play Them Hard?

Obviously, you're always looking to get your money in in poker with good odds.
After a pre-flop raise, a bet and likely a raise on the flop, you're getting way more than the required break-even odds on your robust draw.
If you're going to win the pot 50% of the time, your break-even odds only have to be 1-1 to get it in on the flop.
In reality your odds are going to be much better, so don't be afraid to fast-play these combo draws.
If you don't get it in on the flop and a scare card marked cards lenses comes on either the turn or the river, your opponent may not be willing to put in any more money which makes it hard for you to get paid on your hand.
If you get it in on the flop, though, your opponent may be more willing to call.

Fold Equity

Any time you're making a bet or a raise, you always benefit from fold equity.
Simply put, fold equity refers to the equity you gain from the chance that your opponent will lay his hand down and forfeit the pot to you.
Obviously, calling has zero fold equity.
Fast-playing combo draws will not only give you excellent equity in the pot from your draw - you'll also gain fold equity.

Make use of fold equity.

 

Say you flop an open-ended stragiht-flush draw. You bet the flop and your opponent raises.
Now you're getting more than the required odds to call (you're actually a favorite here versus any one-pair hand), but you shove instead.
At this point, you can win the pot by hitting one of your numerous outs or you can win by having your opponent fold.
How much do you like getting one pair all-in on the flop? Not a very appealing prospect, right?
So you can exploit tight players by fast-playing your draws. They are in a lose-lose situation.
If they call, they're a slight favorite at very best. If they fold, they forfeit all of their equity in the pot.
This is a situation where you make both folding and calling incorrect for your opponent!
Don't believe me?
An Example:
$1/$2 No-Limit, six-max, online. Effective stacks are $200.
You're dealt T♠ 9♠ on the button.
It's folded around to you and you bump it to $8. The small blind folds and the big blind three-bets to $22.
You make the call.
The flop comes 7♠ 2♥ 8♠.
Your opponent bets $35. You raise around the pot to $110.
If your adversary was three-betting with any overcards and then following up with a continuation bet on the flop, he'll clearly have to fold.
If he was three-betting with a hand like 99-JJ he'd have to make a very difficult call. If he shoves with QQ-AA, he's actually a 45-55 dog!
You've just put your opponent in a very difficult spot where calling, shoving and folding are all marginal plays.
Your range when you play a combo draw like this consists of mostly monsters.
What your hand looks like is slow-played big pocket pairs AA-QQ, sets with 77, 22 or 88 and combo draws w/ 5-6s, T-9s and J-9s.
To make a profitable call against this range, your opponent would need a monster too.

Combo draws are monsters on their own.

 

Chances are he doesn't have one so he'll either fold or get it in - in which case you can call and get fantastic odds on what amounts to a coin flip.

Add Fast-Playing Combo Draws to Your Arsenal

From our example it becomes obvious that fast-playing combo draws should be a move in every poker player's arsenal.
They are monsters on their own and you can always rely on fold equity on top of that.
You need to be able to fast-play both made hands and good draws.
If you only get monsters in on the flop, you're going to become very predictable and seldom get action.
If you can make strong plays with both monsters and draws, the likelihood that you'll get paid off increases.
So stop being so passive and start playing those combo draws like the big-pot hands they are.

Other Odd Poker Rules and Exceptions

In the game of poker, there are hundreds of odd situations that can occur and numerous arcane rules that may or may not apply to them.
When money is on the line, however, there needs to be a set, fair way to deal with all of these anomalies.
Plenty of players across poker forums, comment boards and in the real world are always looking for answers as to these odd situations, so the goal of this article is to create a definitive list of rules to resolve these conundrums.Without further ado here is my list of odd situations and Texas Hold'em poker rules.
All-In Situations
Two players all-in for different amounts: In this scenario, you take the amount of the smaller stack from the big stack into the pot, returning the difference to the big-stack player.
Short stack all-in against two players: When a short stack is all-in against two larger stacks, the blinds, short stack, plus the amount of the short stack from each larger stack is placed in the main pot. All players are eligible to win this pot.
The two players on the side are now free to play and bet as usual into a side pot, which only they are eligible to win. (This means there can be two winners in the hand - a side pot and a main pot winner.)
Multiple players all-in: When multiple players are all-in, you must make multiple side pots. Make a main pot as described above. After you've done that, repeat the process with the next-smallest stack.
Continue to do this until all stacks are accounted for. Make sure to keep track of who is eligible for what pots.
Balancing Tables
If you're running a tournament with two tables, and table 1 loses two cheat poker players while table 2 is still full, you're going to have to move one player from table 2 to keep the tables balanced.
How to choose who moves is done by moving the player who is in (or closest to) the same position relative to the button. So if the open seat is in the cut-off on table 1, you want to move the player from the cut-off on table 2.
This keeps players from having to pay blinds twice, or not at all.
Breaking a Table
If you lose enough players to be able to merge one table with another (or multiple others), it's time to break the table. How to choose who sits where is done by drawing for the open seats.
If you're moving everyone onto one final table, typically all players, including those already seated at the table, draw for their seat. If you don't have seat cards, just use the deck counting lowest from highest, starting left of the dealer.
Can a Player Cash Out Half of Their Chips?
A player in a cash game has to play with all of their chips, or none. Cashing out part of your stack (also known as going south) is against the rules, and considered very poor etiquette.
If you would like to cash out only part of your chips, you must cash out your entire stack, and wait the set amount of time before taking your seat again.
This is known as recycling. The amount of time to wait changes depending on where you're playing, but I've never seen it lower than 30 minutes (the default online recycle timeframe).
Can a Player Purchase More Chips Off Another Player?
This is never a good idea. It's essentially the same concept as going south. The table loses the amount of chips the new player would be buying in for.
Always buy your chips from the dealer or the house. In a home game, one person should be in charge of all financial transactions.
Card Boxed in the Deck
If a boxed card (a card face up in the stub) is encountered at any time during a hand, the card is removed from the deck and shown to every player. The deal continues as if nothing went wrong.
If multiple cards are boxed, the dealer continues to remove the boxed cards until he reaches a facedown card to continue the deal.
If the stub runs short of nonboxed cards, the hand is declared dead, with all chips being returned to their original stacks as accurately as possible.
Cards Dealt Before All Players Have Acted
If the dealer burns and turns fourth street while a player has yet to make their flop decision, the play is temporarily halted. The dealer takes the turn card and puts it back into the stub, shuffling the entire stub sufficiently.
Once the deck is shuffled, and the player has made his final flop action, the top card is turned over as the new turn (there has already been a card burned for this street).
Card Exposed While Dealing
When dealing hole cards, if the first or second card you deal is exposed (the face value was seen by someone at the table), the hand is a misdeal, meaning the cards are reshuffled and the deal starts over (the dealer button stays in the same place).
If a card other than the first or second is exposed, the dealer continues to deal as if nothing had gone wrong. When the deal finishes, he give the top card on the deck to the player with the flashed card, and takes back the exposed card.
That card is then turned face up and shown to everyone at the table, and put on the top of the deck to be used as the first burn card.
If two cards are exposed while dealing, the hand is considered a misdeal.
Card Marked
When noticing a single badly marked card in play, first play out the hand normally. When the hand is complete you'll want to replace that marked card with a new one of the same value, or just grab a new deck.
If you don't have a new deck and are stuck with the one you have, your best bet is to remove the card from the game, making sure everyone is aware that the card is no longer in play.
It's better for everyone to know that no one has the card than for everyone to know when someone does have the card.
Dealer Deals an Extra Hand or a Hand to a Seat with No Player
In this scenario, as long as no one looks at the extra hand, it's folded as a dead hand, and play continues as usual.
How Long Can a Player Wait Before Choosing to Rebuy?
After a player loses all of their chips, they must choose whether or not to rebuy before the next hand is dealt.
In a home game there is room for lenience on this issue, just as long as the player isn't doing it on purpose to gain some sort of advantage.
Is a Single Over-Value Chip Considered a Raise or a Call?
By putting in one over-value chip without saying anything, it is always considered a call. For example, if the big blind is $25 and you're first to act, putting in a $100 chip without actually saying "raise" is considered a call.
The more lenient atmosphere of a home game means the dealer will typically ask the player what they actually wanted to do.
Player Misses a Blind (Cash Games)
A player can never come into the game between the blinds, or between the button and the blinds (unless they buy the button, see rule below). This applies when moving a player in tournaments as well.
If a player misses his or her blind in a cash game, they're not allowed to be dealt into a hand until the button has passed by them to the player on their left (it's treated as if there is no infrared contactlenses player sitting there). When the button has passed, they must post the amount equal to the blinds they missed.
For example, with blinds of $1/$2, a player who misses the big blind (therefore forcing them to also miss the small blind), they must post $3 to be dealt into the hand.
A small-blind post is always considered dead, meaning it goes into the pot and does not count toward any action in the hand, while the big-blind portion of the post is live, meaning it does count.
A player with a live post still receives option to check or raise when it's their turn to act in the hand.
Buying the button: Buying the button is allowed in some locations during a cash game. This means that when a player sits down between the small blind and the button, or on the seat where the button would be next, they have the option to pay both the small and big blind in place of the players with whom the responsibility lies.
This allows the player to play on the button, rather than having to wait for it to pass them the next hand.
Player Misses a Blind (Tournaments)
In a tournament, every stack gets dealt a hand regardless of a player being in the seat or not. When the last card is dealt to a player for the hand, the hands without players are mucked.
Players not present during their blinds have the blinds posted for them from their stacks, referred to as blinding out.
Player's Stack Size Less Than the Blind
When a player's stack is less than the amount of the small blind, they are automatically considered all-in in the next hand they play, regardless of position.
If the player's stack is larger than the small blind but smaller than the big blind, they will be considered all-in in any position other than the small blind, assuming they fold for their option.
When all-in, the player can only win the amount of their stack, plus that same amount from all of the callers and blinds. If the person has less than the big blind, they can only win the portion of the blind equal to that of their stack.
Removing Smaller Chips from Play
When the blinds increase in a tournament, eventually the smaller-value chips will become obsolete. Once the chips are no longer needed, they are chipped up to the next denomination.
First, make sure the chips are no longer needed (don't forget to check for antes in the future blind levels). If the blinds are $500/$1,000 doubling, you have no need for any chips smaller than $500 on the table.
Change as many low-value chips as you can into higher values and hold on to the remainder. For example, if you have ten $25 chips, you will receive two $100 chips and have two $25 chips left over.
Chip racing: The standard way to remove the odd low-value chips is a chip race (this is how it's done in all major tournaments such as the WSOP).
First the dealer adds up the total amount of odd chips on the table to determine the amount of larger-value chips up for grabs. For example, if there are 13 $25 chips on the table, they bring four $100 chips to take their place.
The dealer starts at the player to their left, dealing them as many cards as they have odd chips face up (if they have three $25 chips, they get three cards), until everyone with $25 chips has a card to represent each of them.
Each available chip is given to the players with the highest-valued show card, with each player being allowed to win only one chip. In a case of a tie in rank, suits are used to determine a winner.
Rounding up: To save time, some tournaments will round up all leftover chips to the higher value. Regardless of having one $25 chip or three $25 chips, you will receive one $100 chip in their place.
Suit Rankings
In poker, the official suit ranking goes with the official Bridge ranking system, which is alphabetical. From worst to best:
Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades
Turn-Dealing Mistakes
Turn is dealt without burning: When the dealer deals the turn card without burning, that card is simply treated as a flash card. The dealer makes sure all players see the card before turning it face down as the burn card, dealing the real turn as normal.
Two burn cards dealt when dealing the turn: In the case of a dealer burning two cards, and turning over a third as the turn, that third card is treated as a flashed card, and is returned to the top of the deck as the burn for the river. The second burn card is turned face up, since it is the valid turn card.
Two cards are burnt and two cards are shown when dealing the turn: The proper way to resolve this rare scenario is as follows. The second burn card (the official, should be turn) is placed face down on the top of the deck. The first up card (the would-be river burn card) is treated as a flash card and turned face down.
The second show card is the official river. It is now played as it lies on the turn instead. When action completes on the turn, the top card is turned over without burning for the river.
By doing it in this fashion, all cards put in play are the original cards that would have fallen if no mistake had occurred. There is no change to the results, and only one card gets exposed.

All You Need to Know About Fold Equity

"If you're planning to call a bet, you're better off betting it yourself." Behind this poker mantra is the reality that by betting, you give yourself two ways to win.
You can win the pot with the best hand at showdown, or you can win it immediately by having your opponent fold. Fold equity refers to your chances of causing your opponent to fold.
Technically speaking, if you think your opponent will fold 20% of the time in a $200 pot, you have $40 in fold equity.
However, in broader terms, fold equity can be used to signify that you're putting thought into the fact that you can make your opponent fold.
Making Moves With No Hand

If you take a look at a nosebleed hand from PL.com's MarketPulse biggest pots section, you can see how fold equity shapes entire games. These high-stakes players are so well-versed in marked cards reading their opponent's range that they can make moves with no hand at all.
They sometimes rely entirely on fold equity. And fold equity can win you pots that you have no business even being in in the first place.
A note of caution, though: I would never suggest for you to rely entirely on fold equity in a hand. To be successful at that you would need to have incredible hand-reading skills.

You are not Phil Hellmuth. And let's all be thankful for that.

Unlike lolphillhellmuthlol we are mere mortals and cannot read people's souls. So leave the stone-cold bluffs for the pros.
What you can and should do is start incorporating more semi-bluffs into your play. Let's take a look at an example where we flop a flush draw and use fold equity in our decision whether to smooth-call, fold or raise.
You are playing in a $1/$2 game at your local casino. Effective stacks are $200. You are dealt A♠ T♠ in the cutoff. A player limps from early position and it is folded to you. You make it $10 and only the early-position limper calls.
The flop comes 7♠ J♣ Q♦. Your opponent donk bets $15. From what you know about your opponent, he would likely do this with any pair of jacks or queens as well as with some weak draws.
What Should You Do?
Well, you do not have the best hand currently, and with one overcard and a gut-shot, you are not getting the correct odds to call. That eliminates calling from your options.
You're left with raising or folding. Folding, although safe, is not the best play. Plus, you want to be the one wielding fold equity to your advantage - don't let your opponent be the one to profit.
So let's take a look at raising.
There are a few reasons for choosing to raise. His range is wide and consists of many hands that cannot stand much action.

Full Tilt pro Phil Ivey: Always using fold equity to his advantage.

Also, your perceived range (how he sees your hand) is strong. You raised pre-flop and are now choosing to raise his flop bet. This represents a made hand, one that wants action.
Of course in reality you only have a weak draw. However, because the range you're representing is so strong and his is primarily weak, you'll often pick this pot up with a raise on the flop.
Even if your villain doesn't fold, all is not lost. You still have seven outs that can improve your hand on the turn. It is a semi-bluff, not a complete bluff.
Fold equity calculations do not work if your opponent doesn't ever fold. Fold equity is the chance that he will fold, so if he doesn't fold, factoring the chance that he will into your considerations is a pointless endeavor.
Getting Mathematical
If you wish to get mathematical, you can assign percentages to the likely outcomes. Using the hand above infrared contactlenses, I punched in our opponent's range into PokerStove to come up with some data.

PokerStars pro Bill Chen: Gets mathematical.

The information you have about your opponent's hand is that he limped from early position, then called a small raise, and when the flop came out he led into you for two-thirds the pot on a 7♠ J♣ Q♦ board.
You can assign him a range of something like TT-77, KQs, Q9s+, J9s+, T8s+, ATo, KQo, QTo+, JTo, T9o - which is a pretty wide range. Against it you're a 40% dog.
However, because the bulk of that range is weak, he will fold to a raise a high percentage of the time. What the exact percent is is impossible to determine, although it's safe to say that he will be folding enough times to make raising a more profitable play on your part than folding.
In Tournaments
In no form of poker do you rely on fold equity more than in tournament poker.
As the blinds increase and your M value decreases, you're going to need to start stealing blinds to keep afloat. If you do not steal blinds, you won't last long. The blinds will swallow you up and your tournament will be finished.
Most tournaments see rapid blind increases. There just isn't time to sit back and wait for aces. You have to make do, and you make do by "stealing" with worse-than-average hands.

Full Tilt pro Allen Cunningham: Big fan of stealing blinds.

Let's say you have seven BBs in the late stages of an online multi-table sit-and-go. The average stack is likely around 15 BBs, and the chip leader may only have 30 BBs. It's time to get moving and accumulate some chips.
In this stage of the tournament you have two options, shove or fold. (This article fills in the background as to why these are your two choices.) As we established earlier, good hands are not going to come along fast enough to save you, so you must start shoving worse-than-average hands.
Shoving a hand like T♥ 9♥ isn't a play made for value. Your goal is to have your opponents fold so you can take down the blinds and antes without a fight.
You rely mostly on fold equity. That's not to say that you should push any two cards and rely completely on your opponents folding, because that just isn't going to happen all the time.
Let's look at a common tournament situation:
You are playing a 45-person tournament online. There are 16 people left and top seven get paid. You have $4,000 and the blinds are $300/$600. It's folded to you on the button, and you have 7♣ 9♣. You shove all-in.

Full Tilt pro Patrik Antonius: Wins without showdown frequently, although much of that can be attributed to handsome panic.

Do you do it for value? No. This is a steal-raise, meaning that you hope your opponents will fold. If every time you went all-in you were called, this would not be a profitable move because you're going to be a dog each time.
The fold equity that your shove has makes the move profitable. Most of the time you're going to win this pot without showdown. Those times you are called you will likely be a 60-40 dog.
The fold equity overcomes this gap in hand value and turns an unprofitable shove into a profitable push. That's all there is to it.
Fold equity is a simple concept. Understanding it won't all of a sudden let you turn water into wine, but once you start factoring in the likelihood of your play getting your opponent to fold, you will be able to turn a marginal situation into a profitable one.