Inside Straight Draw in Texas Hold'Em
Inside straights (also known as gutshots) can win huge pots for you if you are aware of how to play them. Gutshots are typical holdings where math plays a big role and you really have to calculate pot odds to profit with it.
A gutshot straight draw is a type of hand where you can make a straight but only with one specific card. Let's say the board is 678 and you have J9. In this case if the ten hits you have the nuts.
Let's see an example from a 9 handed $0.25/$0.50 table in cutoff position with ThJh and my stack is $63.50. A player in UTG bets $1.50 with a $71 stack and a middle position player makes a call with $37 in front of him. I have to share some thoughts about the UTG player before I go further on. He is a special small stack player. He is loose-aggressives, bets preflop and with top pair top kicker or overpair he bets flop, turn and river and even goes all-in. If he misses, he still makes a cbet on flop but shuts down on turn and it is then easy to take the pot from him. Knowing all this, I make the call, the blinds fold and the pot is $5.25.
The flop comes: 8s7c2d. I have a perfect gutshot situation where I have four outs to the nuts, great implied odds and position. The preflop bettor bets $4 just as expected and the next player folds. Now I have to look at my possibilities. If he has an overpair or set he will definitely pay me off if I hit my straight. The pot is $9.25, I have to call $4 and I will still have $58 left, my opponent covers me. The pot odds are definitely on my side. A jack or a ten might also be good on turn and give me further possibilities. With the 3 jacks, 3 tens and 4 straight cards I have altogether ten possible outs. Not even mentioning that my opponent very often check-folded on turn when he bluffed on the flop but had nothing and did not fire the second barrel. This means I can also take the pot on turn if he checks. All these factors make me think that calling is the right option. I call and the pot is $13.25.
The turn card is 9d. Bingo! My opponent bets $10.50. Even better! I hit the nuts and the bet from my opponent means he has a hand and is willing to play with it. For sure he will not put me on the hand I have. If I push all-in he might fold so I just want to raise the pot a bit to make sure he has the right odds to call my all-in bet on the river. I minraise to $21 and he pushes all-in. What could be nicer than that? I make the call and he shows a very nice pocket AhAc, meaning that he has no outs on me. The river card is that Jc and I win the $129.25 pot with my straight.
As you can see gutshot draws have huge potentials, but only if you have implied odds, deep stacks, position and a hand to the nuts. Take all these factors in consideration when you make your flop or turn calls and at the end, stack your opponent!
Inside straights (also known as gutshots) can win huge pots for you if you are aware of how to play them. Gutshots are typical holdings where math plays a big role and you really have to calculate pot odds to profit with it.
A gutshot straight draw is a type of hand where you can make a straight but only with one specific card. Let's say the board is 678 and you have J9. In this case if the ten hits you have the nuts.
Let's see an example from a 9 handed $0.25/$0.50 table in cutoff position with ThJh and my stack is $63.50. A player in UTG bets $1.50 with a $71 stack and a middle position player makes a call with $37 in front of him. I have to share some thoughts about the UTG player before I go further on. He is a special small stack player. He is loose-aggressives, bets preflop and with top pair top kicker or overpair he bets flop, turn and river and even goes all-in. If he misses, he still makes a cbet on flop but shuts down on turn and it is then easy to take the pot from him. Knowing all this, I make the call, the blinds fold and the pot is $5.25.
The flop comes: 8s7c2d. I have a perfect gutshot situation where I have four outs to the nuts, great implied odds and position. The preflop bettor bets $4 just as expected and the next player folds. Now I have to look at my possibilities. If he has an overpair or set he will definitely pay me off if I hit my straight. The pot is $9.25, I have to call $4 and I will still have $58 left, my opponent covers me. The pot odds are definitely on my side. A jack or a ten might also be good on turn and give me further possibilities. With the 3 jacks, 3 tens and 4 straight cards I have altogether ten possible outs. Not even mentioning that my opponent very often check-folded on turn when he bluffed on the flop but had nothing and did not fire the second barrel. This means I can also take the pot on turn if he checks. All these factors make me think that calling is the right option. I call and the pot is $13.25.
The turn card is 9d. Bingo! My opponent bets $10.50. Even better! I hit the nuts and the bet from my opponent means he has a hand and is willing to play with it. For sure he will not put me on the hand I have. If I push all-in he might fold so I just want to raise the pot a bit to make sure he has the right odds to call my all-in bet on the river. I minraise to $21 and he pushes all-in. What could be nicer than that? I make the call and he shows a very nice pocket AhAc, meaning that he has no outs on me. The river card is that Jc and I win the $129.25 pot with my straight.
As you can see gutshot draws have huge potentials, but only if you have implied odds, deep stacks, position and a hand to the nuts. Take all these factors in consideration when you make your flop or turn calls and at the end, stack your opponent!
