Properly Pursue Your Poker Flushes and Straight Draws

One of poker’s most popular players Sam Farha tells us when and how to properly pursue your flush and straight draws

Author: Sam Farha

ANYTIME I’M TRYING TO MAKE a flush or straight, I first make sure that my opponent is going to pay me off. That’s the most important thing. If they’re not going to pay me off, there’s no sense in putting money in the pot because I’m about a 4-1 or 3½-1 underdog to make my draw. It is important to play your hand to make money. If you can’t make money, don’t play the hand.

Here’s a perfect example from 2003. Phil Hellmuth had 10-8 of hearts. I had A-K. Two hearts came on the flop. I bet with nothing but ace high, and he called. On the turn I bet again, and he called. On the river he made his flush. I checked to him. He checked. That makes no sense to me, that he played the hand and then gave up. He surrendered. Why would he do that? He played the hand to hit the flush and after he made the flush he surrendered? It’s not a good play. In my eyes, you should really bet your hand or don’t play it. If you’re scared your flush is going to be no good, don’t play the hand.

In a tournament, you don’t want to go broke and eliminate yourself, so I try not to go all in on a draw unless I’m short-stacked. If you’re on a draw and get called, all you can do is pray to make your hand. If you don’t hit it, you’re out. I’ll never go all in on a flush draw. Let’s assume I’m putting pressure on my opponent. I feel some weakness from him. I’ll raise him, but not enough to put me all in. I’ll try to leave myself some money so I can bluff on the end. Then I at least have something left so I can get him out. If I put him all in on the turn, that’s it. I can’t do anything on the end. I can’t force him out anymore.

If somebody puts me all in and I have a draw, I’ll lay it down. It makes no sense to go all in and try to get lucky. In poker you’re not playing to get lucky. You use your skill and your outs. Anytime you go all in it takes the play away from you. You can’t make a play against your opponent anymore because you’re all in. All you can do is get lucky and make your flush or straight.

That’s why I play so aggressively—to punish my opponent. Here’s a hand I played in a cash game about nine months ago with one of the best players in the world: We were playing Omaha and he flopped top set. The flop was J-10-x. I had 8-9-K-Q. Nearly every card from the seven to the ace would give me a straight and I had a diamond flush draw, so I raised him big on the flop. We put a lot of money into the pot. That was one of the biggest hands I’ve ever played. The reason I pressed it was that I knew he had top set, but there’s more cards to come for me to win. If I only called the guy, then if I made my hand on the turn he might lay it down. So instead I decided to gamble on the flop. I knew I had more outs than him to win the hand. I decided to gamble because I wanted to punish him. I didn’t want to just call and then on the turn have him lay his hand down. I had too much money already in there. So I decided, with the odds, to play it all the way on the flop. I won the hand. I actually hit it twice: on the turn and on the river.

A lot of people would have just called on the flop in that situation. They would have tried to make their hand and then once they did they would have tried to protect it by betting on the turn, trying to get the guy with top set out. My philosophy is to punish my opponent right away. Of course, I could have also gotten myself punished if the board paired, but I’m taking my chances. I had more outs than he did. That hand I had four sevens, three eights, three nines, three queens, three kings, four aces, and the flush draw. So many cards! Something like 30 out of the 40 or so cards left in the deck would have helped me. So I’ll gamble my money in a situation like that.

Here’s another example. In the 2003 World Series, Phil Hellmuth jumped out of his chair when I played a drawing hand against him. I had about $300,000 at the time. I raised the pot with Q-J of diamonds. He re-raised. He felt weakness. That’s fine. I played the hand and then after I beat him, he jumped out of his chair and said, “How can you call $35,000 with Q-J of diamonds?” Well, number one, the $35,000 was not going to affect my $300,000 stack much. Number two, I knew he was going to pay me off, which he did in the end.

Anytime you’re trying to make a drawing hand in poker, you want to make sure your opponent is going to pay you off. If they’re not going to pay you off, there’s no sense putting any money in the pot.