When you have A-x suited and you hit your nut flush draw on fourth street, you may want to smooth-call someone else's bet in order to win the maximum with your hand. Let's say there are four opponents in the hand against you. The first opponent bets out into you, and you decide to raise him in order to build the pot. Now the next two opponents fold, and the original bettor looks you in the eye and says, "I know you wouldn't raise me here unless you had a flush, so I fold." How much money have you made after hitting your nut flush? One big bet! Why did you raise out the two opponents behind you?

If you were the last person to act and someone bet out into you, then I can understand the raise, because you would already have several people in for one bet, and people who have called one bet rarely drop out for one more. Now suppose that instead of raising, you smooth-call your opponents' bets. Now one of the two other opponents behind you calls the bet as well. On the end, the first opponent bets into you again, but this time you raise (smooth-calling the river bet is rarely if ever a good move), and you get called by both of your remaining two opponents. How many bets have you won this time? Six big bets! All because you smooth-called the bet on fourth street, and, presumably, allowed your opponents to hit good cards for their hands on the last card. (Of course, it's actually a bad card for them, because it didn't improve them enough to win, only enough to lose more money!)

In 2001, in the $7,500 buy-in no-limit Hold'em championship event at the U.S. Poker Championships at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, a smooth call worked for me to perfection. I called a $200 bet with A-A in the first position before the flop. Now Men "The Master" Nguyen, in the small blind, called with 5-6 off suit, and the big blind checked. The flop was A-7-3, and we all checked again; this was the second time this hand that I checked with the best possible hand in order to "trap" my opponents. The next card was a 7 for A-7-3-7, and I had made top full house (aces full of sevens).

My opponents both checked to me again, and now I bet out $200 into the $600 pot. Men called the $200, trying to hit a four for a straight, which would have cost him thousands of dollars more if he had hit it, since I already had a full house. The big blind now raised me $500 (this hand was developing beautifully for me). I decided that I needed to reraise right here in order to give the big blind the chance to give me all his chips (in case he had a seven in his hand), but I didn't want to reraise too much and lose him either. So I reraised $1,000 more, Men folded, and the big blind called me.

On the end, a harmless card came off the deck and my remaining opponent checked to me. I went ahead and bet $2,000, hoping for a call, and my opponent called me very quickly. So I won the hand, and it's very unlikely that I could have extracted another $3,000 from this opponent if I had bet aggressively from the beginning. In fact, if I had raised before the flop in this hand, all my opponents would have folded their hands then and there.

Tricky plays like smooth-calling and slow-playing generally offer bigger payoffs in pot-limit or no-limit than they do in limit, where you can't grab one giant bet from someone on the end; but even in limit these plays are an important part of the good player's arsenal.

• Poker – How To Play The Majority Play Hands On Fourth Street (0)
• Playing Poker A-x Suited: Strong Flops – Slow Play (0)
• Playing Poker A-x Suited – Strong Flop Slow Play Or Not (0)

If you have made it to fourth street with any of these hands, then presumably you've hit something on the flop. Fourth street is the time to dump those hands that you decided were no good on the flop, now that the bets have doubled in size. This discussion will be rather short, since judgment is now the key to whether or not you continue to bet, call, or raise with your hand. Obviously, if you've hit a strong hand or a good drawing hand on the flop, then you'll continue to play the hand in some manner. If you flopped a set, two pair, a straight, or a flush, then you'll be doing a lot of betting and raising (jamming the pot) on fourth street. If you have flopped a strong draw, then you'll either be in the lead in the betting or just calling other people's bets at this point in the hand, depending on how you played your draw on the flop.

Fourth street is also the time to evaluate whether or not your opponent has hit his draw. Sometimes it's obvious that he's hit his hand; he'll reveal that by being easy to read. Perhaps he'll all but jump out of his seat when the card comes off the deck! At other times, the card that comes off the deck is the one you knew would be the worst possible card for you, and now you're almost certain you're beaten.

Sometimes, of course, you're the one who hits the draw on fourth street, and now you have to decide how to win the most from your hand, from here on out. Of course, this is a nice problem to have! Maybe you need to jam the pot, or perhaps you need to "smooth-call" someone else's bet—merely call when you have a raising hand—in order to lure other players into the pot at this point.

Examples
The following are examples of smooth-calling, jamming the pot, raising to protect your hand, and folding.

• Poker – Smooth-calling (0)
• Playing Poker A-x Suited: Strong Flops – Slow Play (0)
• Playing Poker A-x Suited – Strong Flop Slow Play Or Not (0)

I consider K-Q the weakest of my "majority play hands." Some pros may consider A-6 suited the weakest, because one might make a straight with A-2 suited. Others may consider 2-2 the weakest. A good argument can be made for any of these hands being the weakest of the majority play hands. Be that as it may, K-Q gets my vote for the weakest hand of the lot. This is a hand you need to hit on the flop if you are going to continue playing it.

Of course, when the flop is 4-10-J, and you hold K-Q, then you have an open-ended straight draw. In this case, you need to play the hand all the way to the end, in the hope of hitting your straight. The trouble flops for K-Q are something like A-Q-2 or A-K-5. You have flopped second pair (the kings or queens) with top kicker, and this hand is just strong enough to get you into trouble. You can't beat any ace, but you can beat almost every other hand.

Of course, it's always nice to see K-Q-4 (top two pair) or 10-J-A (nut straight) when you have K-Q! (Andy Glazer just elbowed me in the side and told me that the first time he ever played no-limit in a live game, he had K-Q and the flop came K-Q-4. His opponent had been holding pocket fours, and you can probably envision the ensuing carnage. Notwithstanding Andy's traumatic introduction to no-limit, if you flop top two pair in limit poker, you should push pretty hard.)

When you do hit K-Q, it is important to protect your hand by jamming the flop. K-9-2 and K-J-4 are pretty strong flops when you have K-Q. Without going into any further examples, suffice to say that K-Q is the kind of hand that you fold if you miss the flop, but jam with if you hit the flop, period.

• Poker – Smooth-calling (0)
• Poker – How To Play The Majority Play Hands On Fourth Street (0)
• Playing Poker A-x Suited: Strong Flops – Slow Play (0)

When you have 0"0, ar,d the flop is [0-0-0, you want opponents in the pot, but you want to make sure that you protect your hand as well. In other circles, this would be known as wanting to eat your cake and have it too. Suppose that four people are in the pot, and the player in front of you bets out. What do you do? You could just call and let people in for one bet, but you might then let 0-0 in the pot for one bet and then lose the pot to the 0-0 when an eight comes off (in this case you'd lose a lot of chips as well!) or lose it to a heart-heart finish. I would raise on the flop to protect my hand and build that big pot right there and then. Maybe your surviving opponent has 0-0, and maybe he'll reraise you on the flop.

When you flop the nut flush or a full house with your A-x suited, it's time to try to extract from your opponents all the bets you can. This may well include slow-playing your hand on the flop. When you flop two pair with your A-x suited, then it's time to protect your hand by jamming the flop as much as possible. You've flopped a strong hand, but it's still much too vulnerable for slow-playing. If you flop trips (three of a kind) when it comes 7-7-J and you have A-7, then it's time to examine the situation more closely. Should you slow-play or not? How many opponents are there in the hand? Are there two to a suit on the board on the flop? Generally, I will jam it with my trips in order to protect my hand.

Most people slow-play too much, and they risk letting opponents back into positions where they can beat the slow player. Not only is this a big financial setback; it's the kind of defeat that can put a player on tilt. (You will hear the word "tilt" every time you play poker in a casino. It is a very common poker word that means being too troubled to play your usual game.)

We could talk all day about how to play your A-x suited after a marginal flop. What it really comes down to, though, is this: when you have a marginal flop with A-x suited, try to read your opponents to decide what to do with your hand. If you feel that they are weak, raise. If you feel that they are strong, fold. Don't forget to raise to find out where you are at if you aren't quite sure. This play is a great way to sort things out in your mind.

• Poker – Smooth-calling (0)
• Poker – How To Play The Majority Play Hands On Fourth Street (0)
• Playing Poker K-q On The Flop – Hit It Or Fold It (0)

Suppose that a jackal in the first position raises and you call with 0-0 in the third position (even in this early position, this is a pretty easy call against a jackal). Now the fifth position and both blinds call the raise as well. The flop comes down 0-0-0, and now the big blind bets out and the jackal raises. What do you do now? You have flopped the nut flush! The others can't beat you unless they flopped a set and the board gives them a pair, or unless they catch perfectly on both of the next two streets (you can't live in fear of runner-runner).

If you reraise and make it three bets to go on the flop, you might drive out the fifth-position player and both blinds, and that's not what you want. You're not going to drive out anyone who flopped a set (that is, anyone who has a reasonable chance to beat you); you're going to drive out only people who need a miracle to beat you. This is the time when you should just call the two bets and hope that everyone else calls as well. Or better yet, just call, hoping that everyone else calls, and hope that the big blind reraises it. This is a time to keep as many players in the pot as you can on the flop, because in the next two rounds of betting the limits are doubled.

If everyone checks to you on the flop, then you should bet out one bet rather than checking. After all, you have to give the other players a chance to check-raise you on the flop! You have to start building a pot sometime, and the flop is the place to make sure that you get at least one bet in the pot. Making the pot larger now may encourage people whose hands are still trailing badly to call for the size of the pot later (they may call bets later because they want to try to win the big pot out there), when they (although they won't know it) have little or no chance to win.

Trying to lure in the maximum number of bets in a hand is a nice problem to have, but doing it well every time can be tricky. Most of the time, in most pots, no one gets the maximum anyway when playing with a monster hand. After all, we can't see everyone else's hole cards. So just' strive to get as close to the maximum as you can.

• Poker – Smooth-calling (0)
• Poker – How To Play The Majority Play Hands On Fourth Street (0)
• Playing Poker A-x Suited: Strong Flops – Slow Play (0)

When you hit a really strong flop for your A-x suited hand, you have to decide how to collect the maximum number of bets. Usually, you can win the maximum by jamming the pot (putting in as many bets and raises as you can) after the flop. But sometimes, in order to give the impression that you're weak, you need to slow-play your hand—put no bets or raises in on the flop. If you've just flopped a "monster" (a huge hand) and someone bets out into you on the flop, you might want to just call one bet in order to draw your other opponents into the pot. Why raise everyone out of the pot when you flop a big hand?

If your table image is weak or wild, you can raise on the flop because no one thinks you have anything anyway. If your table image is strong or tight, you're better off letting someone else bet your hand for you, even at the cost of missing some bets on the flop, in order to increase the chance that you can collect lots of bets on the last two rounds, when the limits are doubled. Let's look at some more examples.

• Poker – Smooth-calling (0)
• Poker – How To Play The Majority Play Hands On Fourth Street (0)
• Playing Poker A-x Suited – Strong Flop Slow Play Or Not (0)