[Phat Mack]

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I've been treating straight-flush hands like the Holy Grail, jamming with them on third street and playing them fast on later streets. It would seem that, while small straight flush starters can win some big pots, they often win or split small ones, and in addition, because I have been playing them so strongly, I have to peel when I catch bad, and the pot gets big enough that I have to call down with mediocre finishers. I wind up losing significant amounts in the hands that I lose. Straight flush starters tempt me into violating stud/8's cardinal rule: get away from your hand when you catch bad.

Ray Zee says in his book that straight and flush starters like to see multiway pots for cheap, because of their significant implied odds when a couple of hands get there on the later streets and the betting gets jammed. I have been playing straight flush hands like they are the holy grail, front-loading the pot, tying me to it. Maybe I should be a lot less aggressive with these hands.

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Just to re-sate the obvious:

Rolled trips are made hands; 3-card straight flushes are draws.

It's also harder to have dead cards when you're rolled up.

At first I thought this might be a dead-card issue, but from the hands you posted, the number of dead cards seems to vary greatly. So now I think it must be a matter of expectation; baby SFs have scoop potential, but having potential is different than actually making a hand.

FWIW, I love these hands, but usually wait for a really good 4th street (a hit for me and/or bricks for villains) before I start jamming. If I don't get a "scoop" card on 4th, I wait a little longer. I'm not afraid to throw these hands away early if enough of my outs die.

Cliff notes: Draw != made hand. Slow down.