Straight draws are among the trickiest draws in Hold’em because you’re going to be dealing with two types; open-ended and inside straight draws.  Your chances of winning with an open-ended straight draw are noticeably better since you’ll have 8 outs while an inside straight gives you 4 outs.

Of course both types of straight draws have even more value when you pair them with a pair, overcards, and/or a flush draw.  But not all straight draws are going to have such value so you’ve got to look at additional factors before deciding whether or not to continue on in a hand.

Open-ended Straight Draw

Since flushes beat straights, you’ll definitely be hoping for a rainbow flop.  This way you won’t have any anti-outs that will help your opponent(s) more than they help you.  Assuming you do get a rainbow flop, your decision to draw for an open-ended straight becomes much easier.  However, you should beware of flops where there is a pair on the board as well since some players could be drawing for a full house.

Another thing to watch out for with open-ended straight draws is when you’re only using one of your hole cards for the draw.  The reason being is that there is a good chance someone else will be drawing for a straight in this instance, and will have a higher straight.

Inside Straight Draw

Your outs are cut in half with an inside straight draw so you will be drawing a lot less in these instances.  In fact, unless there are several limpers before you, there will rarely be correct pot odds on the table to draw for this straight.  When you have a hand that has a lot of additional value such as Q-J suited, you will be getting much better odds since your outs will improve significantly in this case.