When we talk of combo draws in no-limit hold’em, we’re generally talking about a combination of a pair and either straight or flush possibilities. A conventional combo draw is something as strong as, or stronger than, a pair plus a flush draw. Something shady like two overcards plus a gutshot would not be considered a combo draw, while a hand like Ah-Jh on a 9h-10h-8s board would be deemed a premium draw – the combination of straight and flush draws with overcards makes it a very powerful holding.
A combo draw is generally flopped but you can also turn a combo draw. Indeed, some of the biggest pots can be won with backdoor hands that are well disguised to all but the very best hand readers.
Playing a combo draw
So, how should you play a flopped combo draw? As ever, it depends on a number of situational factors. When you have the initiative (betting lead) in a hand, you want to be leading or check-raising out of position depending on stack sizes, your opponents’ tendencies and your image. Say you’re playing on a six-max table with effective stacks of 100BB. You open Ac-5c UTG+1 and a loose-passive player calls on the button. Your image is tight-aggressive but this probably doesn’t matter much given your opponent’s attitude to the game. On a flop of 4c-6c-Ad you would lead out most of the time, with very little fear of being raised and, if called, looking to build the pot so you can win more when the villain has A-x and you spike a 5/club/backdoor straight, as well as getting value from the numerous draws your opponent can have. If your opponent is loose-aggressive, you are better to check-raise this flop more often, because it is going to be harder to get value from worse, but by checking he will bluff a lot, something a passive player is unlikely to do.
When you are in position, you can check back more flops you connect with, to add some deception against thinking opponents and allow yourself free cards in big pots. For example, say you elect to three-bet a tight-aggressive player’s cutoff raise from the button with 4s-3s. On a flop of Js-7s-3d you will want to check back a fair amount of the time, as a bet will price you into calling a shove a lot of the time against a range that’s often beating you. Checking back with such a disguised holding that has some showdown value is fine. If your draw was stronger, say Qs-Js on Ks-Th-5s flop, you should be betting to get it in as you are rarely dominated by bigger draws and a lot of the equity in the hand lies in making an opponent fold hands such as Q-Q, J-J and A-T.
The disguised nature of the combo draw
The thing that makes combo draws so powerful is their highly disguised nature. Straight draws in particular can be very powerful, as they are much more deceptive than flush draws (which is one reason why the latter should be often played faster than the former).
Let’s say you three-bet a tight UTG raiser with 3s-4s and he calls. You are both 200BB deep. Your read is that he’s a bad tight player who overvalues big pocket pairs. On a flop of Js-7h-3s he checks to you and you have to check it back because you hate getting check-raised here, especially as you’ll have to fold to his shove on the turn given the stacks. You check it back. In his eyes A-A/K-K/Q-Q looks like the absolute nuts if a Three or a Four rolls off on the turn, plus any spade now looks way less dangerous (especially if he holds one too). In other words, you’re going to get paid off.
Punishing trappers
Some of the biggest pots occur when you turn combo draws against habitual slow-players when deep-stacked. The best cards to hit here are backdoor draws (especially straight draws) which are so tough to read. Let’s say you three-bet small to isolate a weak-tight regular with Ad-4d on the button when 150BB deep. He calls and you see a flop of Ks-4h-9d. He checks, you make a continuation bet and he calls. The turn is a wonderful card, the 3d. He checks, you bet small so you don’t get blown off by a check-raise but you can still get most of your stack in on the river if he calls and you hit or you decide to three-barrel bluff. The river is the ultimate card, the 2c. In these spots, when your opponent’s range is pretty much locked as A-K/K-Q or slow-played sets or Aces, they will almost always pay off a river shove. Apart from 9-9, A-A and A-K, what can you have that goes for three streets and stacks off? Your hand looks like the nuts or air and you almost certainly stack him when you jam.
The great thing about combo draws is the flexibility of the hand. You have a lot of options on multiple streets, whereas with one-pair hands you generally need to decide how big a pot you are prepared to play on the flop, as soon as it looks like the pot might get big.
The dangers of combo draws
Okay, it’s fantastic to flop a big draw, but there are certain instances when you should be wary. The three factors that should set off warning beacons in your head when you flop a big draw are as follows…
Deep stacks
When the money gets deeper, the strength of holdings that opponents are willing to stack off with gets tighter. In spots where they would happily get 100 big blinds in, they might be more conservative with 200bb and super-conservative with 300bb. This is definitely true up to $3/$6 no-limit hold’em. When you flop 8-9 offsuit on a 6-7-8 rainbow flop you should not be ecstatic about shipping in 200bb. The range that people will turn over here is basically sets and made straights. With 100bb, because the risk is less and your opponents can have two pair or overcard-plus-draw combos you can be happier about getting the money in, especially if there is a lot of money in the pot.
Multi-way pots
When there are more people in the pot it’s more likely someone has flopped a stronger hand. Let’s say you flop Ah-7c-Th holding 6h-7h. Heads-up against a tight early position raiser, you can generally play this hand fast and look to get the money in on the flop against most opponents. You have a lot of fold equity here as most players won’t want to put all their money in with A-J or less. Even if the money goes in against A-K/A-Q it’s not a problem.
The problem in multi-way pots is that it is more conceivable that somebody is holding a bigger flush-draw combo, like Kh-Qh or Qh-Jh, which has you as a dog of about 40%. The more active hands in the pot, the higher the possibility that there is a dominating draw in your opponents’ range.
A good example of playing a weak combo draw sub-optimally comes in this hand from High Stakes Poker, courtesy of poker godfather Doyle Brunson. Of course this is just my view of this particular hand – Doyle is still a legend!
Loose opponents
Against tight opponents you generally have an idea of what kind of range they have after certain actions. For instance, when they three-bet you after you open under the gun they usually have J-J+/A-Qs+ for example. Against loose opponents, ranges are more difficult, which can lead to you stacking off too lightly in spots where you ‘thought’ you had good equity.