Big Draws in No Limit Hold ‘Em

Suppose you're playing no limit hold ‘em and you're dealt 45, both clubs. A player in middle position makes a moderate raise and you decide to call in the big blind. The flop is 3-6-J with two clubs. You've flopped a powerful drawing hand – a flush draw plus an open-ended straight draw. Your most likely course of action is to try to get all of the chips on the flop! If you don't have many more poker chips than the size of the pot, just go ahead and bet all-in. If you have too many chips for that to be a normal-looking play, consider check-raising all-in. If you have a lot of chips in front of you, you can bet and plan on reraising all-in when the villain raises.

These plays are great because it will force the opponent to fold a lot of hands. And if he does call with one pair, you're better than 50-50 to win the pot! Even if he has a huge hand like 3 of a kind, you're not in terrible shape. On the other hand, if you check and call a bet, you're going to be stuck with a lot of your money in the pot and having to act first – a very unenviable position.