7 Card Stud Fourth Street
Fourth street in 7 card stud is when a player is dealt a fourth card face up to his hand. After mastering how to play third street correctly, a player must then turn his attention to fourth street. On fourth street, it is important to take into account the amount of opponents in a pot as well as the up cards opponents are showing.
A great rule of thumb on fourth street is if a 7 card stud player has what he believes to be the best hand in the pot, he should attempt to narrow down the field and isolate a player. For instance, in a three way pot where a player is first to act, the second player is weak and the third player is likely to bet – the main goal is to check raise the third player to eliminate the second one.
A check-raise at PKR could sometimes be wrong in this position however. If the player has raised on third street and his fourth street is a scare card, his aggression and up cards may cause the third player to check in this situation. Players using this check-raise technique should consider how aggressive the third player is, as well as how their board and actions look to him. If they conclude he may be unlikely to bet, then it might a good option to raise to try to isolate.
Deception on Fourth Street
It is also very important to factor in deception into a player’s fourth street play. If they play every hand exactly the same way they will have an exploitable tell that could lose them money. If a player has a big pair but a weak looking board, a check-raise may give away that the player has a pair. Players should occasionally check and flat call. This should be a rare play but is important for a player to mix up his play on fourth street. The reason that check-raising is the superior play here though is because it gets more value into the pot immediately as well as isolating the players. As the pot balloons higher, it becomes much harder to an opponent to lay down what they probably know to be the losing hand.
Another play that a seven-card stud player should be looking to make on fourth street is a bluff if their opponent looks weak. If the fourth up card is a scare card but has not helped the player’s hand – but he looks over at his opponents and they have weak up cards, it is often worth putting in a bet. This is because the opponent is likely to fold enough of the time to make the bet profitable. Bluffing also allows a player to mix up his play further and make it much harder for his seven-card stud opponent to put him on a hand range.