when is it okay to draw to an inside straight?

Question

In what situation? I like to win.

Answer 1

It is okay to draw to an inside straight when the ratio between the money you must call and the money in the pot exceeds the ration of cards that will not help your hand to the ration that will help your hand.

i.e. in hold'em... the flop is AK2 and you have a 45. You need a three to make your straight. There are 52 cards in the deck and you know what 5 cards are (the three on the flop plus two in your hand) therefore there are 47 unknown cards. Of these unknown cards - 4 will help you. The three of hearts, three of spades, three of clubs and the three of diamonds. 43 cards will not help you and 4 will help... 43:4 or 10.75:1 or about 11:1. If some one bets $10 then to determine if a call is correct, you must know how much is in the pot. If there is $200 in the pot then you stand to win $200 for a $10 call or $200:$10 or 20:1. Since 20:1 is more than 11:1 you can call. If there was only $100 in the pot then you would be getting $100:$10 or 10:1. Since 10:1 is less than 11:1, you should not call.

Answer 2

If you are only drawing to an inside straight draw you can't take to much heat. If i have a gutshot i like to have a pair to go with it or something like a backdoor flush draw or over-cards to go with it. If you only have a gutshot then you only have 4 cards that will save you, that's only 8% on the turn and 4% on the river, not very good odds. But if you have over cards that are live to go with your gutshot then you are more like 40% to win. (that is if your over-cards are live).

Answer 3

Only if the pot is huge, and if you're reasonably certain that making the straight is sufficient to win.

Answer 4

If it doesn't cost to much to see the next card or if the value in the pot is worth chasing.

Answer 5

It is never a good idea!