The Risks of Developing Value

  Unless you're holding a truly killer hand, you are often spending your time at the poker table trying to develop value. You want a strong hand because a strong hand can win a big pot - the stronger your hand, the bigger the pot you can win. In draw poker, you have a semblance of control over how your hand develops with your ability to flip cards, but this brings with it some risks. Developing value in draw poker can leave you open to your opponents and isn't a guaranteed process.  Developing value doesn't just happen in draw poker like it does in other variants. You have to take actions to develop your hand, and like all actions you take at the poker table, these actions reveal information to the other players. A player who is flipping his cards appears to have a weak hand, while the one who is simply betting and holding his cards appears to have a strong one. You can't improve your hand in secret in draw poker, and that changes your ability to bluff in some subtle ways. In stud and holdem, you can bluff a strong hand while waiting for it to develop, but in draw, you can't do so. The other players will know you're faking.  Flipping cards is also risky because you have no control over what you are going to get in return for your card. You may flip a weak card only to receive its double, and suddenly you've made the wrong move.  There's no way to calculate this, you can only use the very limited knowledge you can glean from your own hand, so it's something you have to do blind.