Flush draw vs. open pair in stud high

[dismalstudent99]

I recently had a bad run on at 2/4 Stud hi where, three times in a row, my flush lost to a full house. In both cases my opponents had open pairs, twice with a paired door card. Two of the three times it was three handed at showdown. One time I was against two opponents who both had open pairs. In all cases, the open pairs would always bet on that street and remain aggressive on subsequent streets.

After getting full housed three times, I began to wonder whether I should fold a flush draw when at least one of my opponents has an open pair, especially a paired DC. On the other hand, I could be missing out on a lot of value here, especially in a multiway hand against loose players.

So my question is, under what conditions (if any) should a live 4-flush be folded when an opponent(s) has an open pair early? Consider two cases: where the 4-flush was wired, and the case where the 4-flush was made on 5th street.

What do you think?

-ds

[beta1607]

In both cases it matters less what you have and more what your read on your opponent is.

[Andy B]

I don't think that when you make your four-flush is relevant. What's relevant is when the other guy hits his door card. You then have to consider how much is in the pot and how likely it is that the other guy has trips (or better)

I will fold four-flushes against paired door cards fairly routinely if trips is a likely hand for my opponent. If someone limped in with a King in the door and hit another King, trips isn't terribly likely. Even if he is the sort to limp with split Kings, he's likely to limp with all sorts of crap. Paired door cards are a lot less scary when the other guy is limping in with 60% of his hands. Also, say a good player limps with a Five and there's a Five out. If he pairs his Five, he's very unlikely to have made trips.

If you're going to play a four-flush against a paired door card, your hand had better be live. And if you're in doubt, lean towards folding. A four-flush isn't in terrible shape against two pair, but it is behind.

[Ray Zee]

pay attention to andy he is smart.

your value when facing open pairs is determined by whats in the pot as you usually are going uphill.

[dismalstudent99]

thanks a lot guys. That helped a lot.