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Now look at this next hand. It's called a straight. Here we've got a straight to the
queen. Counting up, it goes eight, nine, ten, jack, queen. Now let's be honest about the
straight. There are some things you need to know. In Texas Hold'em, the straight is usually
a very good hand. If you're playing stud, a straight is a dicey hand, especially if
you're drawing to it and your opponent shows any pair in his up cards. If you draw into
a straight in that scenario, you probably are up against, very likely, a full house.
You don't want to be drawn into a straight if you have the possibility of losing to a
full house. Now, something also to be aware of with straights are that in Hold'em games,
whether it's Texas Hold'em or Omaha, we have what are called community cards. So it's very
important to consider what is called the sucker straight. The sucker straight is someone who
has the low end of this straight. If I have nine, eight and the board shows queen, jack,
ten, I'm actually worried about someone having ace, king on the other side. If someone has
ace, king they have the best possible straight for that hand and I have the worst possible
straight for that hand. I'm in trouble. I don't want to bet my whole stack on the low
end straight, the sucker straight. So watch out for that. Otherwise, straight's pretty
strong.