Updated on May 23, 2025
The game of poker can be painful sometimes.
Getting stacked in an unexpected hand feels like a slap in the face - or a punch in the gut.
That’s why we have the poker term for a belly buster: gutshot!
“Gutshot” and “belly buster” are used interchangeably. Belly Buster Poker is as bad as it sounds. It can take your breath away!
Explanation of Belly Buster Poker
Playing belly buster poker is playing with fire.
Here’s what it looks like:
Your hand: K♥️J♠️
The flop: A♠️Q♥️3♣️
You need a ten to make a straight. If you hit it, then you’ve nailed your gutshot! That’s aiming for high-risk, belly buster poker right there.
But how likely is it to hit a belly buster?
Your chances are only 16 per cent if you see both the turn and the river. It’s a true gamble, probably no better than executing a poker bluff.
In truth, you should only draw for a belly buster/gutshot in these circumstances:
- The bet is tiny. Let’s say there’s $100 in the middle, and your opponent only bets $5. The price is so reasonable it incentivises you to hit your 16% draw.
- You have a combo draw. Trying to clinch a naked gutshot is a losing strategy… unless you’ve got more possibilities. What if you have a flush draw and a gutshot? Now your chances improve to near 50 per cent. Or, even if you have a backdoor flush draw with your gutshot, your likelihood will improve closer to 20 per cent. While a gutshot draw is rarely good enough to call a bet on its own, it can undoubtedly serve as a tiebreaker in a close decision.
- You can bluff if you miss. Remember that you can win without having to show the best poker hand. If you’re up against an opponent that you think you can pressure into a fold, there are now multiple ways to win the hand: (A) you hit your gutshot, or (B) you bluff on “scare cards.”
What might be an example of a scare card?
Let’s take that same example but switch up the suits.
Your hand: K♥️J♠️
The flop: A♠️Q♥️3♥️
If another heart comes, you can bet — representing a flush — and might convince your opponent to fold.
Bonus: Since you hold the king of hearts, they won’t hold a king-high flush. That’s called having a “blocker” ... but that’s another article!
Barrelling on the flop and turn also makes river bluffs easier. Opponents are more likely to believe you if you bet multiple times. (See more on barrelling in poker here.)
Double Belly Buster Poker
We now know what a belly buster in poker is — and the corresponding nicknames “gutshot,” “gutter,” and “inside straight draw” — but what is a double belly buster?
That would be a sneaky scenario like this:
Our Hand: J♣️T♣️
Board: K♠️A♣️7♠️8♥️
Look closely! What do you need to win? You have two concealed opportunities for nailing that straight draw—a Queen or a Nine!
(A Queen will give you the straight AKQJT. A Nine will complete the straight JT987.)
Since you have double the cards you can hit, you have double the poker probability.
- Hitting a belly buster/gutshot: 16%
- Hitting a double belly buster: 32%
Keep in mind that these statistics only apply on the flop when you see both the turn and river cards. If you want to know the percentage probability with just one card to come, you need to cut the percentage in half.
For example, let’s say you’re already on the turn card. You only have the river card left.
Now your percentage of hitting drops as follows:
- Hitting a belly buster/gutshot: 8%
- Hitting a double belly buster: 16%
As you can see, your chances are slim. You shouldn’t call any big bets with a belly buster draw — double or not — unless the previous rules apply:
- The price of the bet is cheap.
- You can hit more cards to give you the winning hand (a combo draw), increasing your equity.
- You intend to bluff your opponent.
Belly Buster Poker: Conclusion
Since belly busters are rare and hard to see coming, hitting one is a particularly devastating blow. It’s like landing a knockout punch!
Gutshots and belly busters are a high-risk proposition, and so they can be especially alluring. Gutshots can catch people by surprise and cost them their whole stack.
In your poker games, you must be on the lookout for players who like to hit gutshots. They might belly-bust you when you’re least expecting it.
See Also
Inside Straight Draw, Gutshot, Open Ended Straight Draw, Straight, Draw
