Low-limit players don't usually play that way.
They will keep drawing "on a hunch", or perhaps just in ignorance of the odds against them. Many players complain that they are always getting drawn out on, with the opponent hitting a miracle card on the river. In fact, that happened to me just last night.
I played JJ, and got another J on the flop of 5JK. I bet my trips, knocking out all but one player. One player called my bet. The turn was a Q. I began to worry about the other guy having AT for a straight. Still, I bet and he called. He didn't think he had me beat (or he would have raised) but didn't want to fold either. Then the river showed an A for a board of:
5JKQA
Any T would make a straight, beating my trips. I bet, and he raised. He could have been bluffing so I called, but asked "You have the ten?" to which he showed TT.
After the flop, with two overcards to his TT and a bet out, he should reasonably have assumed he's behind at that point. Only two cards could reasonably improve his hand, the other tens. There were 6 small bets (= 3 big bets) in the pot before the flop. After the flop, I made a small bet (total of 7 small bets). He had to call 1 small bet to continue. So, the pot odds for him were
7:1 pot odds
To improve his hand, he needed one of the remaining tens: 45 non-helpful cards remaining and 2 helpful cards remaining, so the odds of hitting a helpful card was 45:2, or
22.5:1 improvement odds
He was not getting nearly large enough pot odds to compensate for the 22.5:1 chance of improving his hand. Even if he thought there was a 50% chance I was bluffing, and he had the best cards, the odds against him were still 11.25:1.
When the turn hit, the math changed (remember... pros evaluate the profitability of a situation every time it changes). After his flop call, there were 8 small bets, or 4 big bets, in the pot. I made another big bet. He had to call one big bet to win 5 big bets
5:1 pot odds
My bet made a call for him relatively less profitable for him than after the flop. However, the "lucky" card gave him 4 more outs, the four aces. 46 cards remain, 40 are not helpful and 6 are helpful. This yields 40:6 or about
6.67:1 improvement odds
Although less of a longshot than after the flop, if he would repeat the situation 1000 times over and over, he would lose money in the long run.
In this case he did get lucky and hit a winning hand on the river. Did this upset me?
NO!
In fact, this is EXACTLY what I like to see. The math is simple, for every dollar I lose to a lucky draw-out, I make more than one dollar in profit when that miracle card doesn't come on the river. I love playing in games where I occasionally get beaten like this, because it means the other players don't understand when it's in their best interest to keep betting, and when it's best for them to fold.
Understanding Pot Odds
Let's say we're betting at "coin flip." I flip a quarter. If it comes up heads, I pay you $1. If it comes up tails, you pay me $1. This is an even game, and if we play for a long time, most likely neither of us will be up much.
Now let's change the game to "die roll." I roll a die. If it comes up 6, I pay you $1. If it comes up any other number, you pay me $1. This game is unbalanced, and if we play for a long time, you will go broke.
This is the same situation as when your opponent keeps drawing to miracle cards. Just like you can't roll enough 6's to break even in "die roll", they can't hit enough miracle cards to break even against you.
If they want to keep drawing against the odds, be happy. If you want to play "die roll" leave me a note here ;-)
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