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Important Fourth Street Concepts

There are two important concepts that will aid you when playing on fourth poker street.

The first of these is that you should tend to check hands with outs and to bet hands that, if already beaten, have no outs.

For example, suppose you holda third suited card comes on fourth street, and neither of your aces is of that suit.

Against a typical opponent, the correct play is to bet and then fold if you are raised. (Playing good hands when it is three bets before the flop.)

Notice that if your opponent does not have a flush, you are not giving him a free card that might beat you.

However, if he has a flush, you probably will be raised, and you usually can safely throw away your poker hand.

The reason you can throw away your hand for a raise is that when you bet, the third suited card on the board will look just as scary to your opponent as it does to you.

Consequently, it is unlikely for you to be raised (by a typical player) unless you are now against a completed hand.

Notice that this play takes you out of a guessing game. Poker basics.

Had you checked, you might have enticed your opponent to bluff, but it would have cost you two bets to keep him honest.

For similar reasons, you should bet an overpair against non-tricky opponents when a smaller pair is on board.

Again, if you are raised, you can probably discard your hand.

An exception to this (as discussed earlier) is when your overpair is either aces or kings and you think you can induce your opponent to bluff.

When you hold either of these high poker pairs, giving a free card is not as dangerous.

Now suppose that when the third suited card hits on fourth street, you make two pair.

In this case you have outs. That is, you can make a full house, which will beat a flush, so this situation is much different.

If you bet and are raised you can be fairly sure that you are up against a flush, and you’ll wish that you hadn’t bet.

Consequently, the best play is usually to check and call.Here’s an example.

Suppose you start with and on fourth street the board is If you are first to act, you generally should check and call.

However, you should not always check two pair on the turn when a third suited card hits.

Suppose your opponent checks to you, and you think it is unlikely that he would check a flush because he is afraid that that you would fail to bet.

In this second case, you should put your chips in the pot. So, if you are against three or more opponents and are first to act, a check is probably the correct play poker.

but if the pot is short-handed, and you are not fearful of the flush, you should strongly consider betting unless you have other reasons to check, especially if the action is checked to you.

You also need to consider, as usual, who you are against.

If you are against someone who plays as instructed in this text, it may be wrong to bet and fold when it appears that you have no outs.

They may now be raising with a pair and a four-flush so that now you are throwing the best hand away too often.

Plus, two aces will frequently make two pair which can beat two smaller pair that you may be up against.

A related holdem strategy occurs when you have two pair or a set on the turn, a third suited card hits, and your opponent bets into you. The correct play usually is to raise.