How to play the 6th street
Introduction
In this article
- If you are behind, you have to look at the effective pot odds
- Buy half of the pot if you can
- Vary your game with strong hands
There are a couple of basic rules you always have to remember when playing on the 6th street: you have to know how strong you are and which opponents can be dangerous in both directions. It’s also very important to know your outs if you are behind, and which options you have to win the whole pot.
Let's look at the situations on the 6th street in which you are behind but where you have outs to win half of the pot or even both parts. In such cases, it is very important to know which cards help you, namely putting your opponents on a hand and knowing their outs. If you have the correct pot odds to call, you call and if you don’t, you fold - it’s very simple.
Effective Pot Odds
Unfortunately it’s not always that easy, as we've said before. Calling when you have the right odds is only possible if you are the one who finishes the betting round. If you are not the one who finishes the betting round and you are playing against stronger hands for the Lo-pot and stronger hands for the Hi-pot, it is likely that there will be more raises. You always have to consider the effective odds, meaning all additional raises which might follow as well. You can only call if these odds justify calling with a weaker hand. You also have to consider that your pot odds decrease drastically if you are only drawing for half the pot.
You can’t simply look at the pot size, the size of the bet you have to call and calculate the pot odds using these numbers. You also have to consider that you don't know all the cards from your opponent and that you might have less outs than assumed or even none. You shouldn’t forget that your opponents can improve on the river as well, leaving you to guess where you are in the hand.
However, you can use this to your advantage, because your opponents are going to have trouble finding out where they are if you hit the nuts. You can then extract more than one bet from them.
Note that playing with draws (any kind of hand that hasn’t made the strongest hand yet) can be very dangerous and costly. If you don’t get the proper effective odds for calling and you don’t have the option of making stronger hands fold in order to be the only one with the strongest hand in one direction, you should fold.
In order to reach a decision, you have to look at ...
- … the probability of someone raising behind you
- … which outs are still alive
- … which hands you and your opponents are drawing for
How to increase your chance of getting half of the pot
Look out for options where you can force your opponents out of the hand on the 6th street as well: by doing this, you can basically buy half of the pot. An example of such a situation would be if you get a helpful card on the 6th street, which could make your opponents think that you made a flush or a straight even though you actually only have a weak Lo-hand with a pair.
You can raise in such a situation, to force stronger hands for the Hi-pot out of the hand. In order to do this, you have to know that your opponents are able to fold their hand. Furthermore, your uncovered cards should look like you’ve already made a strong hand.
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If opponent 1 bets in this situation, he usually has a low. Once the pot is large, you should try to force opponent 2, with what seems to be a pair of queens, out of the hand, in order to increase your chances for the Hi-pot. Failing to do so leaves you with outs for the Hi-hand by making trips or a straight and outs for a better Lo-hand than that of opponent 1.
Many players aren’t prepared to give up their hands on the 6th street - this is a major and costly mistake you should definitely try to avoid. If you are holding a hand that is the strongest in one direction with outs to win the other part of the pot as well, you have to evaluate how strong your hand really is.
If you are certain to win one half of the pot, you shouldn’t try to force the opponents out of the hand who are drawing at the other half of the pot in order to get as much money from them as possible on the one hand; on the other hand, you should try to ruin the pot odds for those who are drawing for the same half as you are.
The best thing that can happen to you is when you have a Lo-hand and several other opponents on the table are trying to win the Hi-pot - for example, when they’re all holding strong draws for the Hi-hand or when they think that they have the strongest hand already.
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You can re-raise as much as you want because you are certain to win half of the pot hoping that your opponents are holding strong hands such as a full house, a straight, or a flush, causing them to enter into a raising war which you would profit from. In such situations, you can reraise as many times as you can. Your opponents are going to call, increasing your profit.
A similar situation occurs if you have the only Hi-hand playing against several Lo-hands. However, you should be careful in such situations, because Lo-hands can often be a hidden straight, flush or another strong Hi-hand. Additionally, Lo-hands often have draws for the Hi-hands as well. You have to be certain that you are ahead with your Hi-hand and the reason your opponents are playing this aggressively is not because they have a higher Hi-hand or a strong draw towards one.
You’ll frequently encounter situations in which you are up against several hands that are partly going for the Lo- and Hi- pot. If you are likely to have the best hand on the 6th street playing against opponents with outs, it is your duty to make the next card as expensive as possible.
How to play a Lo-hand with Hi-potential
Your hand increases in strength when you have more options to win the whole pot. This is the case if you have an additional draw, for example a straight or a flush draw, to your Lo-hand. In such cases, you are free to choose your option: you can bet, call or raise. You should use these situations to vary your game, in order to confuse your opponents a little for future hands.
If you bet, you don’t have to be afraid of another opponent raising with a hand for the Hi-part of the pot and forcing other players out of the hand - simply raise again. You have enough options to win the whole pot and every raise increases your profit in the long run.
You could also try to check raise or simply call if someone bets in front of you and there is a high chance of someone raising behind you - the stronger your hand, the more options you have to play it. Make use of your options in order to alternate your game and confuse your opponents.
Conclusion
When playing on the 6th street, you should watch out for the following:
- The effective odds determine whether you should call or fold if you are behind.
- Decide whether you can get the best hand for one half of the pot by raising and making your opponents fold.
- If you neither have the correct pot odds nor the chance to buy the pot by raising, you have to give up on that hand.
- If you have the strongest hand at the moment for one half of the pot, you should try to make other hands, which could overtake your hand, fold or ruin their pot odds for calling.
- If you have the strongest hand in one direction and outs for another, you have a very strong hand, which you could play several ways - you should obviously always choose the one with the highest expected value, as you are certain to get one half of the pot in this case and basically get a free roll for the other half.
The next article talks about playing on 7th street: 
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