PokerToast · study tools for mixed-game poker

In Stud 8 4th street, my A-5-3 caught a Queen; my opponent shows K-4 and bets. Call or fold?

Heads-up, PokerToast's limit Stud 8 solver calls with A-5-3-Q against K-4 showing 98% of the time.

The spot

Game: heads-up limit Stud 8, 4th street.
You: (A♠ 5♦) 3♣ Q♥ (down cards in brackets): A-5-3 and a Queen: still three cards to a low (with an Ace), 3-Q showing.
Your opponent: completed on 3rd street (you called), shows K-4 and bets (up: K♥ 4♣).
Pot before this street: 2.3 small bets.
Pot size and the numbers: the solver groups pots by size: its numbers here are averages over every pot of between 1.5 and 5 small bets at this point, so in exactly this pot they would be a little different.

The solver's numbers

The solver's answer
Play	How often (strategy)	Worth from here on (EV estimate, small bets)
Call	98.5%	+1.49
Raise	1.5%	+1.59
Fold	0.0%	+0.00

Measured on 329 play-outs of this situation. The highlighted row is the play that measured best.

Why, in plain words

Raise and call are worth about the same here (0.09 small bets apart, within the measuring noise of about 0.50), so neither is a real mistake; the solver's usual choice is to call (98%).

What popular strategy articles say

Fold in almost every case: a low draw that does not improve on 4th street should be folded to a bet.

What AI search answers said when we asked this question on 2026-10-08. They cited strategy articles written mostly between about 2007 and 2013, and most of that advice is for full-ring games with several players in the pot.

Heads-up, the solver disagrees: it practically never chooses the recommended play (fold); its main play is call (98%).

Measured value from here on: call +1.49 small bets, fold 0 (folding).

Heads-up vs multiway

The numbers above are for heads-up play (two players). Most published advice is written for full-ring games with several players in the pot, so part of any difference can come from that.

We also looked up a 3-handed version (the K-4 bets and a third player showing T-9 calls before you act) in PokerToast's 3-handed solver, but it has not measured that spot often enough, so this page makes no claim about multiway pots.

How these numbers were made

From PokerToast's own heads-up limit Stud 8 solver, trained 7,862,000 iterations, exported 2026-10-05 09:56:29, 47,383 situations (version E-7862000-20261005095629). It learned by self-play (Monte Carlo counterfactual regret minimization) for limit betting, at most four bets a street.

How often is the solver's average strategy for this situation.
Worth (EV) is an estimate measured after training by playing the situation out many times against the solver's own strategy: small bets won or lost from this decision on, compared with folding (0). It assumes an opponent who plays like the solver.
Hand groups: the solver groups similar hands, so the numbers are for the group (here: 1|A/D3a1|-1|M|b), not only these exact cards. For each decision it looks at the street; your high hand (and flush draw); your low (made, or how many low cards you have and how many of the ones you need are dead); your opponent's board (a pair or an ace showing, and how many high cards they have for the low); the pot; and the betting so far on this street.
Stakes: ante 0.15 small bets per player, bring-in 0.25, a completion or bet on 3rd and 4th street is 1 small bet, 2 from 5th street.
Looked up when this page was built (2026-10-19); a newly trained solver changes the page and its version number.

Practice it

Your equity with these cards Today's Stud 8 Daily Spot Open PokerToast

Part of: Stud 8 after 3rd street: one-way hands, scooping and splitting