Calling Gutshot Draws in No Limit Poker
Some poker players hold a special disdain for gutshot draws. When someone calls a gutshot draw against them and makes, out come the tantrums and sighs and disgusted looks. While players are generally right to be critical of those who consistently call gutshot draws in limit poker, calling gut draws in NL is an essential part of your game. Throw away these draws and you’re throwing away profit. Obviously with only 4 outs, you need to pick you spots - you wouldn’t want to call gutshots all willy-nilly, as it were. But if more than a few of the following conditions are met, think twice before you ditch:
1) Your gutshot draw is to the nuts. Drawing at a gut is tough, so you want a lock hand when you make, not a possible trap second best. You want 97 with a board of 5 6 K, not 9 7 with a board of 8 J 2. anytime one of your cards would be the lowest in the straight, time to fold.
2) The player you’re calling has a good amount of money in front of them relative to their bet. Remember in NL, your odds are a function of both the current pot and your opponent’s stack. You don’t want to call a $20 bet from someone with only $40 more to pay you off if you hit.
3) The bettor is a committer. I can’t think of a better word for it - there are some players who can get away from a hand after the flop or turn and there are some who just can’t. You’d prefer the latter. When you call with a gutshot draw, you’re not calling to win the pot - you’re calling to win someone’s entire stack when they can’t fold their aces to your raise.
4) Family pot, cheap bet. You can pretty much ignore 2 & 3 if someone bets $2 into a $20 pot and 6 people call. The pot alone has long since presented proper odds to draw by the time the action gets to you.
Be warned, lesser NL players will give you grief when you call with these draws and get there. But they will also give you money, so that ends up pretty good for you overall.
