Flush Draws on Fourth Street
On Fourth St., say your three-Flush is still a three-Flush — you've busted out. The major rule to follow here is: if the pot had NOT been raised or raised only one time.. .you should pass. If somebody bets into you, throw your hand away. You deviate from this rule only when you've had to put in two or more bets on Third St. In that case, you can take another card if it doesn't seem likely that you'll again have to face the prospect of more than one bet.
If on Fourth St., you have not completely busted out, it means you've made a three-Straight or a Pair in addition to your three-Flush. If you've made a big Pair, you can begin to play your hand by thé guidelines for premium Pairs. But if you've made a small Pair and suspect a double-raise. . .throw your hand away.
The best possibility, of course, is that you make a four-Flush. Even if you do, you'll make your Flush less than half (47.16%) of the time. Before you get excited at the prospect of 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 odds on an almost 50-50 proposition, you must ask yourself if your opponents have a pretty good idea as to the quality of your hand.
If you came in for two raises with nothing more than your ante invested, and in your own mind you feel that your opponent(s) have guessed you have a four-Flush, you must proceed to bet, because the likelihood of any continued deception is small. Or, if your opponent bets, you should go ahead and raise him.
However, if you merely called in an early position (a position in which you could have had a small Pair instead of a three-Flush) and in a head-up situation, your opponent bets, do not raise. Just call behind him in a late position — for two reasons: despite the promising possibilities — you're still a small underdog. By not raising you create some deception because many players think they have a license to steal money with a four-Flush after four cards. They don't use good sense and they overplay their hand. You must proceed cautiously but confidently, because you know that you'll be playing this hand until the end unless your opponent makes something extremely threatening like Two-Pair or Three-of-a-kind in-sight on Sixth St.
I don't recommend, if big cards are raising, playing a three-Straight in a double-raised pot, unless you've got all big cards — such as J^?-QO-K<> with a two-Flush in your three-Straight. I would throw a small three-Straight away unless my cards are bigger than the cards they're raising with. But I'd call with three starting cards like the J^-QO-KO- I might not only catch another Straight card, but I could catch a Jack, Queen or King — or another Diamond — which gives me a lot of flexibility at this point. The following illustration is two examples of the points I just made.
AGAINST A DOUBLE-RAISE
Playable NOT Playable
BIG 3-Straight/2-Flush small 3-Straight/2-Flush
There's another three-Straight situation — a three gutshot Straight like a 6-7-9. The only time I would play a split Straight draw like that would be when everybody had small up-cards. If the highest card is a Seven and I have a Nine, I'll take a card if I'm fairly certain I'm not going to be raised.
A gut shot Straight that is a pretty good hand is a 9-10-Q. . .if everybody else has smaller cards. If I feel I won't be raised, I'll put the minimum bet in and draw to it. I might catch a Jack right in the middle, and if I do I've got a powerful hand. But there's a big difference between playing a 6-7-9 and a 9-10-Q. A 9-10-Q is obviously a better hand because you've got three big cards you can catch to make a decent Pair — depending upon what the other people have. (And if you've got a two-Flush with your split Straight draw, it's even stronger, because you have a chance to make a Flush.)
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