How to play the 5th street
Introduction
In this article
- Hi-hands lose value drastically
- How to continue playing Hi-hands
- How to play strong Lo-hands
The bet size doubles to become a big bet on the 5th street and you’ll often be faced with the decision to either continue playing the hand or to give it up at this point. You have to give up many hands which you could call with on the 4th street because the bet size has doubled and one of your opponents could have improved his hand.
Hi-hands lose value drastically, since Lo-hands could be completed by now and Lo-hands can become the losing hand if someone has a stronger Lo-hand. Just as on any other street and with every additional card, you have to observe how your opponents’ hands develop, how they change their way of playing their hand, and how that fits your assumption about their hand.
Hands you should definitely give up are three-card-draws which haven’t improved to a draw at least. For example a flush-, straight-, or Lo-draw.
How to play Hi-hands
Hi-Hands lose a lot of their value on the 5th street, especially the relatively weak hands like a high pair or something similar. If you are playing against one or more Lo-hands, your opponents will have completed their Lo-hands on the 5th street or they’ll have a draw to a low, which decreases the chance of being able to make them fold.
The problem with weak Hi-hands is that you don’t really know where you are at in the hand: your opponent could already have a made Lo-hand or he could only have two pair, because his covered cards only paired, making it look like a low.
If your opponent shows an ace as one of his uncovered cards, there is a chance that he already has a pair of aces, making you fall behind. Should his cards allow it, he could already have a straight or a flush.
It often happens that you put these opponents on the wrong hand very quickly - this causes you to lose a lot of money. If you have a weak hand for the Hi-pot on the 5th street and your opponents show three small cards or an ace, you should think about check/folding. You should especially consider this option if the uncovered cards are suited or connected.
The problem is not that you are necessarily behind; it’s the fact that you can’t really estimate how strong your opponents are. They could raise because they already have the nut-low, but they could also get a better hand. You simply don’t know where you are quite frequently.
The situation is very different if your opponents got a high card (brick). In such cases, or in general, if you have the feeling that you could make Lo-hands fold, you should do everything to make all your opponents - or at least the Lo-draws - fold so that the only hands you'll end up being with in the game are weaker hi-hands.
Make use of all the options you have in such a situation: a check raise is a very strong weapon in situations like this; try to scare your opponents, convince them that you know they have nothing and that your are going to continue playing aggressively if they don’t complete their low on 6th street. You have to give them the impression that you'll continue making it very expensive for them to continue drawing.
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Opponent 1
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Opponent 2
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You basically have the strongest hi-hand in this scenario: opponent 2 or 3 is going to bet if you decide to check. If opponent 2 bets, opponent 3 is going to raise quite often enabling you to 3-bet. This will often make opponent 1 fold and sometimes opponent 2, if he doesn’t have a complete lo-hand and no strong draw.
It is even better if opponent 2 checks and opponent 3 bets so that you can confront two players with two bets, without them having invested any money on 5th street. This increases the chance of them folding even more. If we change the 8
to a 9 for opponent 2, our play is likely to be even more successful. However, such a way of playing is not possible in heads-up situations: your only option in such a scenario is to bet and hope that your opponent folds.
Your opponents are unlikely to fold with a strong lo-draw or additional outs for the hi-pot, so you should consider checking and hope that your opponents get a bad card on 6th street as well, so that they might fold if you decide to bet. You do give them a free card this way, but if you can’t make your opponents fold by betting, you'll only increase the size of the pot by giving your opponents better pot odds on 6th street. You can control the size of the pot by checking; furthermore, your equity increases a lot if your opponent gets a bad card.
How to play strong Lo-hands
Lo-hands, especially if they got completed on 5th street, greatly increase in value. The more options they have to win the hi-pot through straight or flush draws, the more aggressively you can play them. You shouldn't, however, overdo it: sometimes it is better, especially if you have the nuts in one direction, not to scare your opponents out of the hand. This doesn’t apply if they could be drawing to a better hand.
You should know your opponent very well and notice who could be a potential danger or who you should try to force out of the hand to scoop the pot if you have Lo-hands, Lo-draws or hands that could win the Hi-pot. Always consider which option benefits you the most, which options you actually have and how you can achieve your goal.
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Opponent 1
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Opponent 2 could be very dangerous: if he hits a low, it is likely to be much stronger than yours, so you should do everything to force him out of the hand. The best thing that could happen is if opponent 1 bets - you can then raise him. It's not a good option for opponent 2 to call in such a situation, because he has to call two big bets. Furthermore, he has to assume that either you or opponent 1 will raise again, forcing him to call additional bets.
You shouldn’t worry too much about opponent 1: even if he already has two pair, you still have a lot of possibilities to make a stronger hand, either by getting an ace, another pair or a straight. You should then try to force opponent 2 out of the hand and keep opponent 1 in the pot.
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Opponent 2
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You currently have the best possible Lo-hand but opponent 1 could be drawing to a 7. Opponent 2 bets. You put him on aces up (two pair aces and jacks) and you should raise in this position to protect your vulnerable low hand. Opponent 1 is going to have to give up his hand because your low looks very strong. You then have a free roll with your straight and backdoor flush draw to scoop opponent 2, because you are pretty much certain to win the Lo-pot.
If your hand was A 2 3 4 5, you could consider calling so that opponent 1 makes an incorrect call because your scooping chances are smaller, but it’s pretty certain that you're are going to win the low.
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Opponent 1
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Opponent 2
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In this case opponent 1 is going to bet with his likely trips with queens. Opponent 2 is going to raise quite frequently because he is scared of stronger draws and wants to get rid of you. You should simply raise again if you think you can get rid of opponent 1.
If you are not sure, you should simply call to disguise your flush and maybe get opponent 3 in the hand as well. If opponent 2 only calls as well, you should weigh whether it is better to get opponent 3 in the hand by calling or making opponent 1 fold by raising. A raise could also lead to another raise from opponent 1 causing opponent 2 to fold.
In general, you don’t have to worry too much about opponent 2. You don’t have a low yet, but any card smaller than an eight, which doesn’t pair your cards, gives you a stronger Lo-hand.
Conclusion
You have seen that Hi-hands lose value drastically on 5th street, especially when you are playing against several opponents with Lo-hands. Your best chance to get the whole pot was either on the 3rd or 4th street and the Lo-hands have improved or appeared quite often after two betting rounds.
You must therefore be able to fold weak Hi-hands: if you see a chance of making Lo-hands fold in order to play against a weaker Hi-hand, you should grasp it.
As long as they are strong, Lo-hands tend to gain value, especially if you have the chance to get the Hi-pot as well, for example with a flush or a straight draw - you should play these hands aggressively.
If there are opponents in the hand who are drawing in the same direction as you are, you should try to keep them in the pot as long as they are not drawing to a stronger hand than yours. You must be able to muck weak or average lows, 8- or 7-highs with opponents showing boards like A34 or 234. Don’t try to keep hands that can only win half the pot with a low probability - the second best hand in one direction is worthless. As mentioned before, it is ideal in Stud8 to have a lock in one direction and a good draw in the other.
The following article deals with playing on 6th street: 
Click here to go to the article
