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Third
betting interval, after five cards. By this time, much depends on
how the others are betting and what sort of hands are showing. A
low pair is a doubtful proposition if anyone is betting seriously.
Stay normally with a high pair, and even raise if it looks as if
you have the best hand so far. In assessing the value of a pair
at this or any other time, you must take note of whether there is
or has been another card of that denomination showing. If there
is, that cuts in half your chances of making triplets. Raise with
two pairs: you won't win unless you can keep down the number of
competitors. Raise also with a four-card straight or flush.
With a four-card straight or flush at this stage you have a problem.
In two discards you have a fair. Chance of filling, roughly twice
as good as drawing one card in Draw Poker. But in a Pot Limit game
you may be asked to pay too heavy a price. Against one opponent
who bets the limit now, and will presumably do the same after the
first discard, you had best fold. If you have several opponents,
or if no one is betting aggressively, then a straight or flush is
worth pursuing.
After the bets have been equalized in this round of betting, you
have to make the first discard. When you have a pair and also four
cards to a straight or flush, split your pair if you suspect an
opponent has a higher pair. You have as good a chance of improving
and, more important, if you do improve you will probably win. However,
the move is less sound if you have to split an open pair. You give
away your intentions beyond the shadow of a doubt, and if your first
discard doesn't help you, your opponent is going to make you pay
heavily for a second chance.
In discarding from a pair, you occasionally get a minor problem
over which card to throw. Normally choose the lowest, but discard
any odd card, even an Ace or King, if you have seen others of the
same denomination on the table. And if there is no particularly
obvious choice, prefer to discard a useless up card than a useless
down card so that you can take your last card face down.
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