5 card draw: Anyone?

[AnArkhos]

I was wondering how many of you people play the traditional 5 card draw-version of poker?

I was hoping to get some conversation about tricky situations in games and/or good tips for the gameplaying.

I'll start off with one of the normal ones I use:
Covering cards. When I am dealt a pair or trips, I tend to use (and I do vary the use of this technique from time to time) a covering card so my opponents would call me when I hit a good hand.

With one pair, I leave one card (any really, although many leave an ace as the extra) so the change looks like potential trips

With trips I also do this, and in that case it looks like 2 pair or str8/flushdraw. This gets alot of callers, as I tend to raise all the open-ended str8 draws and flushdraws, like I would do with 2 pairs. This will leave the opponent with information value next to nothing when it comes to my hand.

When playing pot-limit version, I also vary the bet sizes so it will be even harder to read my hand.

Any good tricks up the sleeve, anyone?

[Vito_Nuccio]

Holding trips and drawing one is one 'trick'. If you raised before the draw with trips I would always draw one card. If calling a raise with trips, draw two. For having a pair and drawing two, if you did not raise before the draw others may put you on a pair with an Ace or a king kicker. If you play tight and want to try a steal, raise before the draw and take zero cards, only 5 card hands should call you down. I would not make a habit of this, but if used sparingly you can take down pots uncontested. This is not a game where you will win or lose a great deal, it is a break even type of game. Making comp points and rakeback makes up the difference.

I play at .10-.25 pot limit 5-draw at Nordica. You break about even and pile up the comp points. They have a weekly 10,000 and a monthy 50,000 freeroll entry if you make enough points. Playing draw I have no worries about making the points. The freerolls have supplied me with more than enough cash to continue playing all games, rolling up more comp points and playing in some nice big free tourneys.

Thanks,

[AnArkhos]

Yup.

I play with a seemingly aggressive style and get calls by very bad hands. I tend to get a slight winnings from this game, but it's nothing compared to holdem -games. The losses are not so big when they happend, so it's a good game in my opinion.

I rarely use the 0 changes -"trick", although it is also a good way to get a pot every now and then.

The limit version of this game is a bit easier to handle for me, as the betting is fixed to a certain level. Ppl also tend to play looser than PL games, as it 'only' costs them one bet to see my hand, no matter the situation. On low levels, this is a very hard game to bluff in.

[liladypokerpro]

I still play this on rare occasion...this is actually the first poker game I learned with my family when I was a child. Nowadays I think the only real "trick" is being able to pick up tells quickly in order to either call a bluff or succeed in passing one off. As far as 5 card draw I prefer to play this game live rather than online, only because the typical reads from NLHE are not as helpful in 5 card draw...at least not to me. I suppose it varies per player.

[AnArkhos]

In a live game this is one of the best games to practice your reading skills on people. Same expressions still take place, so it is only the question of wether u trust your read to be correct or not.

Some of the best tells are things seen when ur opponent looks at his/her hand. If you have followed the persons expressions, it is fairly easy to see a familiar one, as there are a lot more cards to be looked at.

Some different ones exist too. You can have an idea of how many cards is the opponent going to change if you look at the players hands while bets take place. Typical one is when your opponent has placed his/her bet, they will start to organize their hand accordingly.

If they have a str8draw, they might organize it in a numeric order.

I've seen this plenty of times. You can also just organize your cards just to make your opponents think you are going to draw or you already have, a straight.

Mixed with the 0-cards bluff, it's good to go.

[liladypokerpro]

Yes I should have elaborated I meant online reads are not as helpful in 5 card draw as they are in NLHE sorry...I haven't slept in 22 hours LOL

[AnArkhos]

I figured u did.

And you are very right.

[liladypokerpro]

hehe thanks I really need to start getting on here after I've had some sleep LOL

[irishpkr]

Stop posting?

[DEN23DEN]

play it once in a while not really a big fan.