Drawing Dead

A player is said to be 'drawing dead' when there is no chance of them winning the hand - in other words, there are no cards that could be dealt that could give them a winning hand. Poker is one of the few games that even without the best hand, a player can still win the hand. Mid way through a hand, a player won't know exactly where they are in the hand - it's far easier when you're watching poker on ESPN, as you get so see all players cards, along with the percentages. It's not uncommon for a player to fold the best hand in the face of a monster bet.

Let's look at an example. You hold 10 J and the board comes 6 6 10 . This looks like a very good flop, especially against one other player. Your opponent bets and you call, the turn is J making you top two pair. Unknown to you, your opponent has 6 6 making him quad sixes. Now you are drawing dead in this situation as there is no card that you can hit to beat four of a kind. Even if another 10 or Jack comes off, you will have a full house and your opponent will take the hand down with quad 6's.