Winning 7 Stud Play: Playing Pairs on Fourth Street

BY: Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud

How do you take advantage of a paired door card on fourth street?

I've found that the right play is not always the obvious one. Let's look at two common scenarios that exist when you pair your door card:

You bet your Premium Pair on third street and now have trips.

You called with a three flush or straight and now have a non-Premium pair.

If you raised or completed the bring in on third street with your split pair and you had the good fortune to pair your door card, you now have Premium Trips. You have an excellent chance of winning the pot. You want to maximize the amount you will win.

Conventional poker thinking dictates slow play here. The theory is that you don't want to be too aggressive lest you scare off all of the other players. Some experienced players and writers caution that you should bet the lower tier amount (you have the option of either the lower amount or the higher amount with a paired door card) or check on this street to avoid having everyone fold to your trips. They conclude that you want to win a large pot on the River, not just a small pot on fourth street.

I sometimes follow that advice. If I am playing against the truly clueless or with a maniac who bets just about everything I might just check here. Generally speaking, however, when I make Premium trips on fourth street (in the low and middle limit Stud games I play in), I make a full bet.

It's certainly true that everyone else may fold if you bet the complete amount. But, on balance, that risk is worth the potential reward which generally seems to accrue from the more aggressive bet.

In the typical low and mid limit game that I play in, players will often make this bet when they don't have trips. And since it's made frequently by players who DON'T have trips, players who would fold against trips will often call against a paired Premium door card. My opponents expect the higher tier bet, trips or not. So I want to take advantage of these expectations.

The typical early aggression, bluffing and semi-bluffing (or just over betting) in these low and mid limits is also accompanied by a fair amount of disbelief and calling. NOT betting this hand, or betting the lower tier amount, would raise more questions and doubts than the full bet. By betting at the lower tier amount, and raising these questions, I might actually slow down or stop their betting action as the hand progresses.

So, typically, when I bet with the Premium Pair, I am often called by at least one and sometimes two, three or four other players who think that I'm misrepresenting my hand (or who don't have the sophistication to suspect that I probably have trips). This is advantageous for two reasons. The pot I am the favorite to win is made larger by my larger tier bet and their call on fourth street. And, because the pot is now larger, they may be seduced by its size into making more bad calls as the hand progresses.

The size of the pot, after my fourth street double bet and their calls, will be larger than normal. Many of my opponents may use this as an excuse to justify "going to the River" with many drawing hands. If, for example, they called my larger tier bet on fourth street because they had a four flush, and they failed to get their flush card on fifth, they will conclude, erroneously, that it makes sense for them to call every bet I will make until the River. Since they didn't give me credit for trips (or, if they did, they didn't properly value it against their four flush) they mistakenly put themselves into a disadvantageous position for every street thereafter. Furthermore, they run the serious risk of making their hand, gleefully raising my bet on the River, only to be reraised by me when I make a full house or quads.

In fact, I have played in many hands with these typical loose low and mid limit players who will call me even when I have made another pair on board (and thereby my full house). If they reasoned at all, they probably thought that since this happened on six street, they were obliged to call until the River, having "gone this far." Even somewhat sophisticated players may have concluded that by betting the full amount on fourth street, I didn't have trips (if I made trips, they conventionally reasoned, I would have slowplayed my hand). So they didn't give me credit for anything better than two pair when I made my two pair on sixth street.

Ironically, then, slowplaying Premium Trips on fourth street, when you pair your Premium door card, often causes players who would call a full bet to fold, suspecting a trap. And if you check, and they check behind you, they will often fold as soon as you bet on fifth street, suspecting that you have the trips. The full bet on fourth street often doesn't raise these suspicions because it is the expected play. And that's why, in the games I usually play in, it is often the better play.

You called with your three flush or straight and now have a non-Premium pair.

Your hand has improved here, but only slightly. Conventional play would usually dictate a check and then a fold if someone bets into you. But what I do in this situation is usually dependent on how many callers there are on third street.

Against many opponents, I will usually do the conventional thing and check my low pair with the expectation that I will fold to a bet. However, sometimes, if I have a very tight image in a game and haven't played a hand for a while, I will try a different play.

I check, but if a player bets (and is a fairly solid player) and subsequent players fold, and I am the last player or the next to last player to act, I may try a check raise bluff. I do this just to win the pot. My reasoning is that a good player may well bet if he has made two pair or even a high pair, but if he is check raised by someone who has paired his door card, he will release his hand suspecting trips. I don't make this move often, and I only do it if I believe that my image at the table is very tight. But it often succeeds in winning me the pot right there.

Against one or two other players, I usually try something else (if I think they are at least slightly observant and less than completely loose).

Rather than just checking and folding, which would be my normal action, I might try betting the lower tier amount (but only after a slight pause). My goal is to pick up the pot right there. With a small pair and a three flush on third street I don't want to play the hand further. I will not call a bet if one is made into me.

That's right, I said the LOWER TIER amount, NOT the higher tier amount. Conventional thinking might dictate that you bluff with the largest amount possible. But I bet the lower tier amount in this situation for two reasons. First of all, if no one else has improved, any bet will win me the pot with my pair. So I am picking up the pot while only risking half a bet.

Against players who think they are sharp, my slight pause before the lower tier bet will often be enough to convince them that I really have trips. My lower tier bet is meant to be an obvious and deliberate enticement for them to call. If they are halfway decent, mildly observant, and have not greatly improved their hands, they will often concede the pot to me right then. But even if they do not do so, they will rarely, if ever raise me. This enables me, for the lower tier bet, to see fifth street. If I don't improve, I can check and fold here if they bet into me. But, more often than not, I find that I am NOT bet into by these typically weak and passive players. If they haven't improved, they usually don't bet. This gives me another card for free; and sometimes two more cards. All this for one half sized bet which had some expectation of winning the entire pot.

Of course, this play does not always work, especially not against very good players. The better, more observant, more aggressive players will sometimes see through this play and, with any hand, raise my half sized bet by the full bet. I have to give up on my gambit right there. But even so, it was a gambit waged cheaply, with only half a bet.

As you can see, there is nothing automatic about pairing your card on fourth street. Depending upon the type of game you are in, you may want to consider making a play which deviates from what conventional wisdom dictates.

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