Sixth Street

Usually Less Guessing

By sixth street you have seen enough cards and betting to make a much better estimate of where you stand. At low stakes many players still call with weaker made hands and weak draws, so straightforward poker is profitable. When your hand is probably best, keep betting. When you are drawing, count only the outs that are still live and likely to win, then compare them with the price the pot is offering.

Value Bet the Hands People Hate Folding To

Low limit players call too often on sixth street with smaller two pair, stubborn one-pair hands, and all kinds of curious bluff-catchers. That means your made hands should usually keep firing.

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

You started with rolled-up Queens and made Queens full of Tens on fifth street. The deuce on sixth changes nothing: keep betting this full house for value. Your exposed Q-T-T-2 board may still get action from a straight, a flush, or a lower full house.

Big Draws Need Real Equity

Sixth street is a dangerous place to continue with a draw that can only win sometimes and may still be second best when it gets there. The pot may be large, but the bet is large too. Draw because the numbers and the board support it, not because you are emotionally committed.

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

This hand missed on fifth and sixth street, but it still has a strong draw: any live heart makes a flush and any live King makes Broadway. Before counting dead cards, that is nine hearts plus three non-heart Kings, or twelve possible outs. Remove every heart and King you have already seen, discount outs that may make a second-best hand, and call when the pot offers a better price than your chance of getting there.

When to Shut Down

If you started with a pretty drawing hand and then caught garbage twice, do not keep paying rent on it.

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

The three-flush you started with needed two more spades to become a flush. After three off-suit cards, there is only one card to come, so the flush is no longer possible. You also have no pair and cannot complete a straight with one card. Unless there is an exceptional reason to believe Ace high is already best, fold to a bet.

Remember What Your Board Says

Your hidden cards determine the real strength of your hand, while your exposed board determines much of what your opponents will call or fear. Use both sides of that information. Expect loose opponents to look you up when your board looks weak, but do not assume that a scary board proves someone has the hidden cards needed to complete it.