Only being a casual player of poker (5 card draw) I did not know what strategy to use when I was dealt a great hand right off the bat (straight). Any advice in this situation?
definitely a GD question. It will depend on your opponents, whether it is a limit or no limit game, how good your hand is and your previous history. If they are betting strongly, you can pretend to be weak and just going along for the ride. If they are tight bettors, a small bet might be the best way to get them along. If you have been bluffing a lot and they know it, a big bet might lead them to think you are bluffing again. If your hand is only moderately strong and unlikely to improve (say 3 or a kind) then I bet as strong as possible to try and knock out as many freeloaders as possible who might fluke a better hand. And poker being what it is, what will work one time will go down badly the next.
But I was dealt a straight. How are the other players going to react when I refuse to take any new cards. What kind of bluff can I use to fake them out. I see another player not take a single new card i worry he has a royal flush to tell you the truth. What to do, what to do???
Ok…
If you have been dealt a straight, full house or a flush, then bet very high, but… do it slyly. Pick up your hand, look at everyone else, wait a little, look at everyone else again, look at the pot, then bet whatever the limit is. Basically, you’ve just got to pretend to be bluffing.
If you’ve been dealt four of a kind, then you have a much easier time of it, because most people will assume that if you only change one card, then you have 4 cards of a straight or a flush, or have 2 pairs. If you bet reasonably low in the first round of betting, then increase it slightly in the second until people start passing, then bump it up to max, then you should get the biggest rewards.
If you’ve been dealt three of a kind, then when you change 2 cards, people will assume you’re either keeping a pair and a high card, or a three of a kind, or bluffing and hoping for a reward on the draw so there’s not that much you can do.
It all depends on so many factors : how many people are playing, how good they are, what other people are drawing, etc, etc.
I’m not really a 5 card draw fan myself, I prefer 7 card stud or 7 card river, since there’s a lot more skill in figuring out what people have and making people believe you have something that you do not.
Well, pk, it definitely is a very tough call. Just think of the underlying psychology. If you have a reputation for being very conservative, never bluffing, and then all of a sudden you start betting high, well, folks are apt to fold. Or if you don’t take any cards on the draw, the other card players can only assume one of two things: you’re bluffing the heck out of them or you’ve got a monster hand. They’re gonna venture a guess based on your poker playing personality.
If you want to have fun, try it some time. It sounds to me like you don’t bluff too often. Next game, try betting low-to-moderate, take no cards, and then bet higher. See how many people keep the nerve to stay in. It all comes down to how people analyze you.
But to directly address the OP, when I play and get dealt a decent hand, I start the betting relatively hard. Not hard enough so most will drop out, but hard enough that people may suspect I’m bluffing and will stay in just to call my bluff. Then again, when I play, I do occassionally throw a couple games early on with high initial bets, so people do stay in and realize that early high bets are not unusual for me even with a weak hand.