Recently a friend and I were having a conversation about various "moves" in No-Limit Hold'em Tournaments. In my previous two articles, I discussed several moves. In this article we will take a look at one last move, breaking it down to understand not only this move but the conditions for any move to work.
We had some fun trying to come up with a name for this very simple play when "The Fourth Street Thief" came up. The name fits since you will usually pick up the pot on the turn when used. In short, you call a raise from the blinds pre-flop, check-call on the flop, then take the lead by betting the turn. While there's nothing profound about the action, you can easily exploit many types of players.
It requires the following conditions:
1. You are in one of the blinds
2. Your opponent enters for a raise
3. You have a solid table image
4. There are no other callers
An example from a tournament I won last summer (when my best starting hand was pocket tens) comes from the middle stages. A player made his standard raise of three times the big blind. I was the lone caller from the big blind with an absolute trash hand-8-4 suited. The flop came down 10-2-6 rainbow. Unless he held an over pair, the likelihood that this flop helped my opponent was pretty slim.
Against a decent player, a check raise will pick up this pot right on the flop. However, in small stakes tournaments, you will find that many players will call your raise with overcards like AK or even KQ, leaving you with a much tougher decision on the turn. You do not want to get them pot-committed on the flop.
I checked and he made what I sensed to be a continuation bet. I called and the turn actually gave me a gutshot draw with a 3. I led out the betting with slightly more than he bet on the flop (which was actually a small amount in relationship to the pot size). The other player thought about it for a moment then exclaimed, "I hate this hand," showing A-K as he folded.
There are several factors that make this play successful:
1. You miss the flop with big cards more than you hit
2. Check-calling on the flop should put some suspicion in your opponent's mind
3. Taking the lead on the turn makes it easier to let go of the hand if you are raised (in case your read was wrong and they have an overpair)
4. Every once in a while you will actually flop a wacky two pair or hidden straight.
Questions to minimize your risk:
1. If your opponent checks behind you on the flop, is he slowplaying a set or merely taking a free card with something like AJ?
2. If a face card hits the board, should you still make the play? Sometimes this card scares your opponent as much as you.
3. Some bad players will not let go of AK, treating it as a made hand. Will my opponent?
A variation of the Fourth Street Thief comes from a recent tournament. Anytime the action was passed to the player to my right, he made a bet. This type of player is easy prey for The Fourth Street Thief. I was fairly card-dead, winning only one pot by the third level of the tournament. The blinds were 50/100 and I had 4200 in chips (we started with 3500). It was folded around to the player on my right who limped in on the button. I sat in the small blind with a very ugly Kh7d, but my cards really did not matter at this point as I felt like it was a good spot for making a play.
The flop came 9d2h3c and the big blind checked behind me. My opponent bet 250 into the 300 pot, I quickly called his bet, and the big blind folded. The turn card was a great card for this situation, another 9. Normally with this move, you want to take the lead on the turn. However, this presented a great opportunity to represent trips with a check-raise. Also, this nine decreases the probability of him having one in his hand.
I check-raised his 500 bet to 1100, fully expecting him to fold. I was a bit surprised when he called (I think it became a matter of pride for him to call my raise). But when the river rolled off another blank, I pushed my last 2300 into the pot, which had him covered by 400. He then put on a nice little acting display for the table, saying, "I think I'm making a great lay down."
The risk-reward level on this move means you have to tread very carefully, especially if you opt to check-raise the turn instead of taking the lead. I invested 1550 to win 1550 on a bluff-but it was a well calculated and well-timed bluff that ended up netting me a lot of chips. The Fourth Street Thief should be used sparingly in your tournament play, but when the timing is right, having one more weapon in your arsenal can mean the difference between playing at the final table or watching it from the rail.
