Raising on draws

Amaru

I was watching a clip of tips from former world champions, and chris moneymaker suggested never calling. Even if you're on a draw, you should raise or fold, the logic being you'll win more pots there and then, and your opponent won't put you on a draw. Now i know Moneymaker isn't highly respected in the poker community, and any advice from him i generally regard suspiciously, but i honestly can't figure out if this is terrible or genius.

Thoughts?

NickyOD

Amaru wrote:

I was watching a clip of tips from former world champions, and chris moneymaker suggested never calling. Even if you're on a draw, you should raise or fold, the logic being you'll win more pots there and then, and your opponent won't put you on a draw. Now i know Moneymaker isn't highly respected in the poker community, and any advice from him i generally regard suspiciously, but i honestly can't figure out if this is terrible or genius.

Thoughts?

There is a lot to consider. It depends what the stacks are, who your oponent(s) are, how close are to the money etc etc etc. It also depends how big the draw is and how many players are in the hand. I like check raising or even leading on a big draw but it really depends and without a doubt its a far superior play to just calling so in that case he is absolutely right but Moneymaker's statement is just far too vague. There are situations where calling might be fine too.

Amaru

I have a relatively poor knowledge of how pot odds work, but aren't decisions in draws based on just that? And by raising, isn't he skewing those odds? Of course the tactic is to have your opponent fold, so that shouldn't matter.

willis

by raising your not skewing the odds as such, your giving yourself 2 chances of winning the pot instead of 1 i.e. you can take it down there and then or you could hit your draw. Also check rasing with these draws is a play i love as a check raise shows lots of strength and if you do hit your draw your in business as many players wont put you on the draw. As well as this rasing in position with these hands can give you the option of getting a free river card if you miss on the turn

NickyOD

Amaru wrote:

I have a relatively poor knowledge of how pot odds work, but aren't decisions in draws based on just that? And by raising, isn't he skewing those odds? Of course the tactic is to have your opponent fold, so that shouldn't matter.

It's not really just about the pot odds. You also need to factor in the % of chance of your oponent folding.

Hectorjelly

People who constantly just call with draws are likely to be long term losers. People who raise constanly on draws are likely to be not making as much money as they could.