Fourth Street

The Last Cheap Street

That is, unless someone has paired their door card in which case, anyone can make a double sized bet on this betting round which means you should be careful even if you've put the person who just paired on a flush, straight or low draw, because any other person who wants can now put that extra money in the pot. Although you will usually want to see the hand through to fifth street you will sometimes have to lay your hand down here if you catch a brick on this betting round.

You can also make an early laydown on this street if several of the cards you need to make a strong hand are dealt to your opponents. It is extremely important to pay attention to the cards on the board especially in the extremely multiway hands you will encounter in low limit seven card stud. This is not only to know when the cards you need are dead but also to note when cards your opponent needs are dead.

Pump Up the Pot

If you have caught a good card that gives you an open ended straight draw, flush draw with cards still live in your suit, or two pair or better then you want to be aggressive on this street and charge other hands that are behind yours right now.

For example if you have live outs to the Ace or Nine, or several spade outs left in the deck you should play this hand aggressively on the turn:

Hole Cards		Up Card	4th Street	5th Street	6th Street	River

There are a couple of reasons for doing this...

1. People tend to avoid laying down their hands on fourth street so you can often get hands to call multiple raises on this street cold in order to see where they stand on 5th street. Since you are drawing ahead of the rest of the draws you want them to commit chips to the pot now which will make them more likely to continue their weak draws on 5th street and beyond.
2. Someone holding QQ or KK or a small two pair will often help you to cap this street which will help put a lot of extra money in the pot from the people in between.

Simmer Down Now!

In contrast, if your cards are still live, but you did not catch a good card on 4th street you will want to continue on as cheaply as possible. Avoid getting in a spot where you are going to commit 4 small bets on this betting round to a hand you may have to dump on the next street! So if the person to your right bets and you call on fourth street with:

Hole Cards		Up Card	4th Street	5th Street	6th Street	River

and a later player raises and the person to your right re-raises then you should dump your hand! If, based on the conditions at your table, you suspect that you will see a lot of action on 4th street then you should dump your hand immediately to the first bet. Only call if you think there is a reasonable chance you can see 5th street for a single bet.