Evaluating the flop: Drawing Hands

Here I will share a list of various drawing hands presented in Small Stakes Hold'em which demonstrates different starting hands' strength on the flop, and if you are a beginner player these examples can be very useful to learn.  Enjoy!

1.

This is a very strong hand.  You have the nutflush draw and two big overcards.  You will often win even if your flush doesn't come in by spiking a K or an A.  Against a small field AK may stillness even be good enough to win on its own.

2.

This is a strong hand.  You have the one card, nut flush draw and you have an overcard.  When the flop comes all of one suit you can often pick up the pot with aggressive play without needing a showdown.  Less valuable than two card flushes as you rarely get as much action in these spots.

3.

This is a strong hand.  Despite your small cards you will typically win if you make your flush.  However you have no chance of winning by spiking a pair.  There is no reason to protect the pot unless it is very large.

4.

This is a marginal hand.  Beware paired boards with three high cards!  People love to play hands like J10.  You will be drawing dead more often than not on flops like this.

5.

This is a poor hand.  You have third pair and a small one card flush draw.  Heads up, this hand may hold a fair amount of value.  If your opponent has a bigger pair you still have 11 outs (2 nines and 9 diamonds).  As you add opponents this hand loses a lot of value however.

STRAIGHT DRAWS

6.

This is a very strong hand.  You have an open ended straight door to the nuts, two overcards, and a backdoor flush draw.  No four flush is possible.  With eight outs to the nuts and six more to top pair you will often win.

To find out more details and other drawing hands presented in this excellent chapter go to page 130 onwards.  You can download the book for free online - Small Stakes Hold'em pdf.

Thanks for reading :)