Pokerwiner.com → Games of texas holdem poker

STRAIGHT DRAWS

STRAIGHT FLUSH DRAWS

Important: In Holdem poker all straight draw starting hands with an Ace would fall in the three-gap category because only one straight would be possible. The hands Ace-King, ace-Queen, ace-Jack, ace-ten, ace-five, ace-four, ace-three, Ace two all would require three specific ranked cards to make the straight, the same as the hand nine-five.

The hands King-Queen, King-Jack, four-two, three-two, would fall into the two-gap category because they couldn’t form straight higher than Ace-high or lower than Ace-low. For the same reason the hands Queen-Jack and four-three would be in the one-gap category.

Importance of High Cards

The figure below will show the probability that at least one over card – a card on the board higher than either card in your starting hand would appear post flop. The probabilities would range from hundred percent (if the highest card in the starting hand were a two) to zero percent (for an Ace in the starting hand). The figure will demonstrate that holding an eight as a high card would not be much different than holding a two. Since straights and flushes will be rare, pairing pocket cards with cards in the flop would be much more likely than any other event. To win in poker over the long run, you should play high cards because that would decreases the chance that an opponent would pair with an over card.