better to draw |Poker Strategy|

It is better to draw to three cards in sequence, if A-K-Q or K-Q-J or Q-J-10, than to draw to a three-flush, such as J-8-7 of diamonds. One of the possibilities is that you will make one high pair or two pairs and will win, while the chance of making the actual straight or flush is almost too remote to be considered.The draw of one card to an inside straight is nearly always wrong.

The odds against filling are almost I 1 to 1. Few are the hands that do not offer at least as good odds on making a single high or two pairs if you simply throw away all the unlikely cards and draw four cards to the highest card, or three cards to some freak combination such as a king and jack of the same suit. The inside straight is justly notorious in poker.

Almost the only case in which you should draw one card to an inside straight is the case in which you hold something like 9-8-6-5 or lower and know that even pairing your high cards will not give you a chance to win. Even so, you can draw four cards to your highest card and have a 1-in-12 chance to make two pairs or better-the same chance as when you draw one card to an inside straight.

In Chapter 8 there are tables of the mathematical odds that give your exact chances on most of these combinations. I have paid no attention here to the question of drawing when there is a wild card in the game, such as the bug or the joker, because all such cases will be taken up separately.