Quiz #15, Question One

[Matt]

You open-limp from early position with K:diamonds:J:diamonds:. The cutoff calls, the small blind completes, and the big blind checks. The pot contains four small bets. The flop comes 10:clubs: 7:diamonds: 9:spades:, giving you a double-gutshot straight draw, two overcards, and a backdoor flush draw. The small blind checks and the big blind bets. What do you do?

[Matt]

Raise. You could have as many as fourteen outs--three kings, three jacks, four eights, and four queens. You also have a strong backdoor flush draw. Counting the overcards as half an out each, you have eleven outs. The backdoor draw is worth about 1.5 outs, giving you a total of 12.5 outs. See Ed Miller's Small Stakes Hold'em for a detailed discussion of counting outs. See King Yao's Weighing the Odds in Hold'em Poker for the mathematics behind backdoor draws.