Hot flush: How to play flopped flushes and flush draws

First things first, it’s pretty hard to get away from a made flush on an unpaired board as you’re only being beaten by a bigger flush. In these cases you should mainly be thinking about how you can get all your opponents chips in. If you have reason to be cautious, such as when you have an eight-high flush, the only way you can find out if your hand is good is by betting it. Say you check the turn and flat-call their bet; what do you do on the river if they move all-in? You’re going to call and 90% of the time you’ll be crushed by a bigger flush. When you’re deep-stacked early in a tournament this is a huge mistake. By betting the turn you’ll find out where you are and can play the river accordingly.

Equally so, if you’re playing your made flushes fast by leading out with them then you should play your nut-draws aggressively as well. If you’re in with Ac-Jc on a Nine-high board with two clubs you should make anyone with a nine or T-T sweat. In most cases you shouldn’t have too many concerns about raising all-in with this hand in a multi-way pot. You can have as many as 15 outs if your overcards are live – if the original raiser had Jacks for example – and even if you have the misfortune to run into a set you’ve still got 25% equity in the pot. It’s not great to be the 3-to-1 underdog but if you see sets everywhere you look you’d never play a hand in hold’ em! Folding against hands that are currently ahead of you is winning poker, but actually having the back-up of a nut-flush draw is a powerful safety net.

When to shove?

In multi-way action you really need to pay attention to the stack sizes to determine who you think may be approaching being pot-committed and who will pass to a shove. Obviously whether you want them to call or fold depends upon what you’re holding. Make sure you’re getting your drawing hands in with some fold equity and watch that you’re not pricing out hands you’re crushing. When you know you’re ahead, consider giving your opponent one more street before pushing your chips into the middle and letting them know how much trouble they’re in.

Read Part 2...