Flop Strategy – When to Bet a Flush Draw
Here is a good example of when to bet a flush draw. In the video it’s a short handed 25nl game and I am dealt 8d10d and the flop comes 2cQd9d giving me a flush draw and gut shot straight draw to make a straight flush. When SB checks to me this is a good time to bet a flush draw so I bet $1.50 into a $2.43 pot and the SB just flat calls. At this point I am thinking SB may just have top pair. They had checked the flop but considering the drawy board they didn’t want to face a raise. So the turn card comes the Kd to make my flush. SB checks to me and I decided to check because the K could have been a scare card for villain if they just have the Q. The river card is a 10 to make a possible straight. SB bets the pot leading me to believe they rivered the straight probably holding QJ. The plan of betting the flush draw on the flop and checking the turn card has disguised my hand, I raise the river bet and get called to win a big pot. As it turns out villain had flopped the bottom set which was horribly played and I still got the call.
I had position in this example of when to bet a flush draw. If I had the same situation but was first to act in the hand, when the turn card makes the flush it would be a good idea to check/call to disguise the hand. Even if you think villain may have a higher flush draw (which is unlikely), there is only about a 17% chance the 4th card of the same suit will come on the river, so it makes more sense to be deceptive and save the aggression for the river, when you can induce the other player into a bluff or get them to call with an mediocre hand considering you didn’t bet the turn when the flush hit.
