The most important decision in 7 card
stud hi/lo is whether or not to play your hand on third street. A lot of
the value in this game is making a concealed high hand that appears to be
low. If you have the best hand, you almost always should bet or raise. You
should not slow play or try for a check-raise. Other players will be
scared of the best possible hand, and they will check along with you. Much
of your advantage will come from folding on 4th and 5th streets correctly.
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STARTING HANDS:
- Rolled up trips (AAA, KKK, JJJ,
...) - If your trips are high (KKK, QQQ), play fast by raising &
reraising. Build as big pot as you can. With (JJJ-888), play easier to
trap high hands. Lower trips are one of the best starting hands because
of it's deceptiveness.
- 3 card low Straight Flush (234,
345, 356, ... SUITED) - This hand play just like 3 low cards to a
straight. However, this hand is much stronger with its flush
possibilities.
- Two Aces with a low card (AA2, AA3,
...) - This hand do BEST in heads-up pots, raise or reraise to thin
out the field.
- 3 low cards to a straight & A with
2 low cards (A23, A35, 234, 345, ...) - In heads-up pots, these
hands are inferior to a high hand. These hands do best in multiway pots
when the cards fill the open ends are very live and when these hands are
not up against many other low hands.
7 Card Stud/8 or Better may look a lot
like its cousin 7-Stud, but there are some big differences between the two
games. One article can’t do justice to the entire game, but it can help
clear up some common myths that are the pitfall of many a player used to
playing 7-Stud and can help get you started on the path to success.
Myth #1: I can play the same hands I do in 7-Stud because the high hand
always wins at least half of the pot. This is a huge mistake. Starting
hand requirements differ greatly in Stud 8. In 7-Card Stud, you can often
play hands like 9-9-6, 3-3-K, etc. This is a sure-fire way to lose money,
because you are only going one way with the hand. The best hands are those
that give you potential both ways -- such as three small cards in sequence
(ex: 345) or three small suited cards. Here, you have a great shot to have
a hand develop into a powerhouse that will scoop (win the entire) pot
rather than just half of it.
Myth #2: Most big pairs are playable. If you are new to the game,
avoid going “high,” meaning starting with any big pair other than Aces or
three-of-a-kind. (As you become a better player you can include Kings and
Queens into your play, but if you're just starting in the game, these
hands are extremely dangerous.) Start with good low hands and try to
qualify for the low and “back in” to the high -- it’s much easier for a
low hand to qualify for the high than it is for a high hand to “back in”
to the low.
(Note: To "Back In" to a hand: When you start out trying for one hand and
end up with another. For instance, suppose I start with A-4-5 in a hi-lo
stud game. I'm going low. But then I get an ace on fourth street; I've
"backed in" to a pair of aces, giving me a decent hi hand to go with my lo
draw.)
Myth #3: Any three low cards are playable. Many players new to Stud
8 will play any three small cards, like 4-6-8, 5-6-8, and so on. While you
want to go low in this game, you want to start out with a quality low
draw. That doesn’t mean your three cards always have to be suited or in
sequence, but it does mean you want three cards of six or less or three
cards of seven or less with an Ace or two cards that are suited or in
sequence. When you’ve got the eight, you are drawing to one of the worst
lows, and may be setting yourself up to get trapped later on in the hand.
Remember: Just as you don’t want to be going only high, you’d like your
low draw to have some chance at the high too. A hand like As 3s 7s has
that potential; a hand like 3s 6d 8c has the potential to cost you a
stack.
Myth #4: Any flush or straight draw is playable. A common mistake a
stud player makes is to be looking down in front of him as the cards are
dealt, look at the doorcard, then quickly look at the hole cards, see that
they are all the same suit or in sequence, and toss out a chip or two to
see fourth street without looking around first. This is a big mistake in
7-card stud, and it’s an even bigger mistake in stud 8, because you may be
on a draw for just half of the pot and it may be a poor draw at that. When
you’ve got three cards in sequence or three suited cards, you need to
pause and look to see: 1) How many of the cards are eight or smaller and
2) What your opponents are showing. You always must be aware of what the
other players are holding. You do not want to be on a draw to a flush or
straight for just half the pot and have poor drawing odds.
Good guidelines to follow for those flush draws start with: Dump the hand
if you have no low cards and more than one card of your suit is gone. Or
if you have an Ace or two low cards, you can limp in as long as no more
than two cards of your needed suit are gone. If you’re fortunate enough to
have three suited cards of eight or less, you’ll be playing in pretty much
any circumstance, unless you have something like 5s 7s 8s, four spades are
gone and an Ace completed the bring-in. As far as straight draws are
concerned, if it’s a draw to a high straight, dump it. It’s just something
that will get you in trouble. For marginal straight draws like 6-7-8, or
one-gap straight draws like 5-6-8, limp in if all of the cards you need to
improve are live on the inside-straight draw and no more than one card is
gone for the open-ended straight draw. If it’s a beauty (any three cards
in sequence of six or less) you’ll be seeing fourth street no matter what.
Stud 8 is a lot tougher than it looks. The beauty of the game is many
people who play have no idea what they are doing, meaning more money for
the skilled player. The game takes time and patience to learn, as any
poker game does. More strategies on this game and Stud will follow in
future articles, but by eliminating these myths from your mind as you head
to the Stud 8 table, you’ll be heading to the cashier’s cage more often
than the ATM.
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