Poker Four Bet
In No Limit Hold’em premium hands like pocket Aces or Ace-King don’t come around that often so it is crucial that we get the maximum value from them when they do. It’s obvious that the initial step with strong poker hands is to raise before the flop, but things get a lot more interesting – and exciting – when another player puts in a three-bet. Now the action is back on you, and in most cases you are going to want to raise the stakes again by putting in a four-bet. While four-betting is a simple move in theory, many players make errors at this stage by either choosing the wrong starting hands or by messing up their bet sizing. Stay with us as we explore the key decisions you need to perfect before you become a Texas Hold’em poker four-betting expert!
When considering a four-bet for value the first thing to think about is the hand that you hold. There are generally two groups of hands to consider. The first includes AA, KK, QQ and AK – the strongest hands that you can be dealt. In almost all circumstances you should definitely be willing and excited to re-open the action with a four-bet when holding these hands. Your intention is to get all the chips in pre-flop as these hands are so strong they will be ahead of the range of hands your opponent might hold.
There are also times when it’s best to check instead of placing a bet. Only one in four poker hands makes it to show down, so being able to bet effectively has never been more important. 4-bet bluffing is really a counter-strategy to be employed in tougher games in which opponents are 3-betting light, either as bluffs or for thin value. The biggest challenge to an aggressive 3-betting strategy is the 4-bet. There are 13 cards of each suit, but you have two cards in your poker hand and there are two more cards on the board. That means there are nine diamond cards in the deck that will make your flush and win the poker hand. Meanwhile there are 37 cards that, by default, will help the opposition. That means you are 37-9, or more simply, 4-1 to win. In Stud Poker, if the limit is five in the first four betting intervals, it is 10 in the final betting interval (and often ten whenever a player has a pair or better showing). Pot limit Any bet or raise is limited to the number of chips in the pot at that time. Crazy 4 poker is also an invention of Roger Snow, and it’s similar to, but different from, Four Card Poker. Instead of an “aces up” bet, Crazy 4 Poker offers a “super bonus” bet. There’s also a side bet called “queens up.” The hand rankings are the same for both games. The dealer only gets five cards in Crazy 4 Poker, instead of.
The second group is those good-but-not-great hands such as JJ, TT, 99 and AQ. Your strategy with these hands must be dependent on the situation and your opponent/s. If you’re playing in a very aggressive poker game with lots of re-raising and bluffing then these hands are sufficiently strong to four-bet with for value. However, if the game has been quite tight and straightforward it makes more sense just to call a three-bet, see the flop and proceed from there. Always be willing to adjust your four-betting strategy and try not to play in a robotic manner – it could get you into trouble!
Once you have decided you want to put in a four-bet the next question is how much should you raise? In a tournament, you will sometimes be playing a 20-30 big blind (BBs) stack where the only raise size option available is just to shove all-in. But the more interesting situations occur when you are playing much deeper in a tournament or cash game.
Anytime you have more than 40BBs you should not be four-bet shoving your strongest hands, but instead making a smaller raise for a number of reasons. For example, let’s say you are playing a 100BB stack; you raise pocket Aces to 3BBs and your opponent three-bets to 10BBs. Shoving here would be a terrible mistake because you would only possibly be called by a hand as strong as Kings, which it’s unlikely your opponent holds. You would miss out on a ton of value. Instead, you should make a four-bet to an amount like 23BBs. By doing this you allow your opponent to make a major error that could benefit you. They are getting decent odds to now call with dominated hands, could think that you could have a weak hand and shove all-in as a bluff or or they may even shove a strong hand like pocket Queens in the false belief that it’s ahead. These are all great results for us!
By keeping our four-bet sizing smaller we give our opponent the rope to hang himself, either by bluffing or getting carried away with a weaker hand. If instead we just shoved we are now completely relying on a cooler situation – such as pocket Aces versus pocket Kings – which do not come around very often.
Much of the money you win or lose in No Limit Hold’em poker will depend on how you play your strongest hands. Make sure that you are giving yourself the best chance of success by perfecting your pre-flop four-betting game first.
Four Card Poker isn’t really a poker game at all. It’s a casino game like blackjack, but it uses poker-based thinking. (Real poker games force you to play against other poker players, not the casino.)
Roger Snow invented Four Card Poker, which is a trademark of Shuffle Master, a company known for manufacturing automatic shuffling machines.
You get to play an ante bet, an “aces up” bet, or a combination of both. You and the dealer each get 5 cards and get to make your best four-card hand from those cards. There’s also a sixth face-up card.
The casino has an advantage because the player must decide whether to fold before seeing the dealer’s cards. If he folds, he loses his bet, even if he has a better hand. Also, the dealer can use that extra face-up card to complete his four-card hand, giving him a further advantage.
The rest of this post describes in detail how to play four-card poker, what the odds of winning are like, and what the best strategy for winning is.
How to Play
You play against the dealer. There might be other players at the table, but how you compare with the other players doesn’t matter. All that matters is how you do against the dealer.
You start by placing an ante bet, which is required. You might also place an “ante up” bet.
After placing your bets, you get five cards, face-down. The dealer gets five face-down cards, too, but she also gets a single face-up card.
Based on the information you have — the cards in your hand and the face-up card — you must decide to raise or fold. If you fold, the casino gets your bet, and that’s it.
The “aces up” bet, on the other hand, stays in action regardless.
If you decide to stay in the hand, you must raise at least the same amount as your ante bet. You can raise as much as 3x the ante bet.
You then discard a card, leaving you with your best possible four-card poker hand.
The hand rankings for Four Card Poker are, from best hand to worst, as follows:
- Four of a kind
- Straight flush
- Three of a kind
- Flush
- Straight
- Two pair
- One pair
- High card
The dealer turns over her cards, too, and chooses her best four-card hand from the six cards she has available.
If you have a better hand, you win even money on both your ante and raise bets. If the dealer has a better hand, you lose your ante and raise bets.
You get a bonus if you have three of a kind or better, regardless of whether you beat the dealer.
The aces up bet pays off according to the pay table, regardless of whether you beat the dealer.
Poker For Beginners Rules
Four Card Poker Pay Tables
Here are the pay tables for the game. The first is the pay table for the three of a kind bonus; the second is for the aces up bet.
Three of a kind bonus:
- Four of a kind pays 25 to 1
- Straight flush pays 20 to 1
- Three of a kind pays 2 to 1
Some casinos pay more for four of a kind and less for a straight flush, 30 to 1 and 15 to 1, respectively.
Aces up pay table:
- Four of a kind pays 50 to 1
- Straight flush pays 40 to 1
- Three of a kind pays 8 to 1
- Flush pays 5 to 1
- Straight pays 4 to 1
- Two pair pays 3 to 1
- A pair of aces pays even money
This is only one example of multiple pay tables that are available to the game, but this is the most common one.
All of the pay tables pay 50 to 1 for four of a kind, but some of them only pay 30 to 1 for a straight flush. The payout for three of a kind can range from 7 to 1 to 9 to 1. Some pay tables pay 6 to 1 for a flush instead of 5 to 1. The straight pays off at 5 to 1 on some pay tables, too. Two pair sometimes only pays off at 2 to 1.
The House Edge and Strategy for Four Card Poker
The house edge is 2.79%, but that’s based on your initial bet. If you’re raising in the appropriate spots, you’ll put more money into action, which means that the actual house edge is 1.3%. That’s for the ante and raise bets combined.
And that assumes you’re playing with mathematically optimal decisions.
The simplest strategy for the game gives up about 0.5%, making the house edge slightly higher than 3.3%.
It’s an easy strategy to remember. If you have a pair of 10s or better, you should raise the max (3x the ante). If you have a pair of 2s through 9s, you should raise the minimum (1x the ante). Otherwise, you should fold.
You can find better strategies for intermediate and advanced players that will reduce the house edge further, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort.
Here’s why.
If you’re going to memorize some kind of strategy, why not memorize a strategy for a game where you can get a really low house edge?
If the best you can hope for is a house edge of around 3%, wouldn’t you be better off learning the basic strategy for a blackjack game where you can get a house edge of 0.5% or less?
You could even learn some video poker strategies which would result in a house edge of less than 0.2%.
If you’re willing to give up 1% or 2% because you love Four Card Poker so much, then you probably shouldn’t worry so much about the house edge anyway. Just have fun and don’t play with money you can’t afford to lose.
Poker For Beginners Game
The house edge for the aces up bet, by the way, is 3.89%. It’s a sucker bet, but it’s not the worst sucker bet in the casino. In fact, it’s still a better bet than a bet on an American roulette table, which has a house edge of 5.26%.
What About Crazy 4 Poker?
Poker Four Bet Range
Crazy 4 poker is also an invention of Roger Snow, and it’s similar to, but different from, Four Card Poker.
Poker Four Betting
Instead of an “aces up” bet, Crazy 4 Poker offers a “super bonus” bet. There’s also a side bet called “queens up.”
The hand rankings are the same for both games.
The dealer only gets five cards in Crazy 4 Poker, instead of the six cards she gets in Four Card Poker.
But in Crazy 4 Poker, the dealer must open with a king or better. The ante bet pushes if the dealer doesn’t open.
Also, instead of being able to raise, you have a “play” bet. It wins if the dealer doesn’t qualify.
Otherwise, these bets are resolved based on who has the better hand.
The super bonus bet pays off according to the following pay table, regardless of who won the hand:
- Four aces pay off at 200 to 1
- Any other four of a kind pays off at 30 to 1
- A straight flush pays off at 15 to 1
- A three of a kind pays off at 2 to 1
- A flush pays off at 3 to 2
- And a straight pays off at even money
Also, here’s the cool thing about the super bonus bet.
If you win or push (tie) the dealer with your hand, the super bonus bet isn’t lost. It’s treated as a push. But if you have a straight or better, you still get your big payoff.
The house edge for the game is similar to that of Four Card Poker, and this game also requires you to play with optimal strategy to achieve that. You can assume that you’re not going to play optimally, and you’ll sacrifice 0.5% to 1% to the house because of that, too.
Here’s the most common pay table for the queens up bet in Crazy 4 Poker:
- Four of a kind pays off at 50 to 1
- A straight flush pays off at 40 to 1
- Three of a kind pays off at 7 to 1
- A flush pays off at 4 to 1
- A straight pays off at 3 to 1
- Two pair pays off at 2 to 1
- A pair of queens or higher pays off even money
Anything else is a loss with the queens up bet. (Can you figure out how this bet gets its name?)
The house edge for the queens up bet is 6.7%. It’s a terrible bet, and you should never make it. You’re better off with the odds at the American roulette table, which has a house edge of 5.26% (and is still one of the worst bets in the casino).
Conclusion
Four Card Poker and its close relative Crazy 4 Poker are good examples of casino games based on real poker. They are NOT poker games, though — I reserve that category for games where you play against the other players and not the dealer.
The house edge for these games is high enough that it’s probably not worth your trouble memorizing an intermediate or advanced strategy. You can stick with a simple strategy and eliminate some of the house edge, though.
It’s fun to play on a lark, but I don’t recommend a steady diet of Four Card Poker. Instead, play one of the better video poker variations or stick with blackjack, where the house edge is REALLY low.
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