12 replies to this topic

[RedBloch]

My comments will mainly be restricted to third street play, which is the most important street. If you can't play third street in stud you WILL lose money, period.Playing strong starting hands is essential. 3 high suited. 3 suited connectors, Any trips. Tens or better split. Nines or better wired.U have to adjust the hands you choose to play based on the situation though. U can raise with Jacks when 2 or fewer higher cards are behind you yet to act, but if there is a king, a queen, and an ace behind you, calling or folding is a better option, depending on whether you have a useful kicker like an Ace or a 2 flush/2 straight for backup.Another think to consider is how many people ARE in the pot, what your pot odds are, and whether or not u can eliminate other players from the pot. Completing with split tens from early position versus loose players is a very marginal play. If a lot of them call you to the river, you are gonna take the worst of it, regardless of what their upcards are. Also, Jacks, and queens do very poorly in multiway pots unless u can improve along the way.If you are playing in a loose game, raising on third with a medium pair is a losing play from late position on third street. With 4 people in the pot already NO one is going to fold to you, and the only thing you will accomplish is giving the loose players a good reason to call you on later streets because you are improving their pot odds with all kinds of strange draws.However, if you are in early position, raising with a medium pair is reccomended unless you are up against 3 or more higher upcards and you don't have a useful kicker (2 str8, 2 flush, or a kicker higher than the highest upcards on the board)The other think you wanna know about stud is that the swings are enormous. If you have ANY self-control problems in other games, they are gonna be ten times worse in stud. You will get drawn out on a huge amount of times and you will see your wired aces fail to improve by the river and lose to some crummy hand like eights up. If events like this are going to bother you a lot, do not play stud.Here's an incomplete list of various things that set people on tilt. Remembering this list might help you to 1) expect these things and 2) not go on tilt1. Raising with a pair of aces on third street, and getting a large amount of callers. Failing to improve by the river, and getting beaten by 2 small pair.2. Failing to make your super-live four flushes OVER AND OVER again, even when you should make super live 4 flushes more than half the time.3. Getting your flush beaten by a backdoor full-house.4. Bluffing someone who you know missed their draw only to get called and beaten by a pair of threes.5. Staring at trash starting hands for hours, only to find a wired pair of kings, that runs into a wired pair of aces.6. Staring at trash starting hands for hours, only to find a wired pair of aces that gets 5 callers and doesn't improve by the river. 7. Getting dealt rolled up jacks that get cracked heads up by some guys three flush.Ok, I could go on a really long time, but I don't wanna end up sounding bitter or making anyone scared to play 7 stud. The point is you should expect these things. Some of them, you can avoid. Some not. The good news is that once in a while you will run into an AMAZING 7 stud luck streak which is like the sweetest thing in all of poker.Random tips:If you are the bring in, take this opportunity to remember all the upcards before you bring-in. This way, no one folds before you see their upcard.If you are not this bring in, look at everyone else's upcard BEFORE you look at your cards. This will insure that no one can fold before you see their upcards. Take care to look at the upcards in order from the left of the bring-in onwards. That way, you will get a chance to remember everyone else's upcard.Sometimes, it helps to remember upcards in order. Higher to lower, or lower to higher can help. Also, remembering "trip sixes" or "Pair of aces" can help as opposed to thinking 6-2-a-6-J-A-6If you aren't very good at counting the upcards, don't worry WAY too much. The most important thing to remember is which cards are relevant to you hand. So, When you Have, say. K-K-7, 2 HEARTS, look at the board and say to yourself "One king, 2 hearts, no sevens," or whichever the case may be.There are major advantages to remembering all of the upcards though, because that way you will know whether of not your opponent has a hand.If you Have Aces up, and your opponent has an open pair of Kings, you can feel pretty safe your opponent doesn't have trips or better when you remember that one king was folded earlier.Also, you will also know whether it is safe to bet into overcards with more accuracy. If you have JJ in the hole and on fifth street you opponent is showing 7-10-K, you will not really know how safe it is to bet into him if you don't know if kings are live or not. By knowing the cards that are out, you can 1) Bet for value with more safety2) Raise back a bluffer3) Consider you own outsLearning to count cards provides a tremendous advantage. For those of you who are still practicing this, maybe try to play shorthanded. Its easier to remember 5 cards than it is seven. Also, for online players, stick to one table at a time before you try to count cards at multiple tables.Anyway, that sorta finishes up the few tips I have for you guys. For anyone serious about learning to play 7 stud, I highly reccomend the chip reese section in super system, but what you really need to read is 7 card stud for advanced players by Malmuth/Sklansky/Zee.I really hope that the tips that I have written down here will win you guys some money. Happy fishing.

[mb5322]

I just found this cruising through old pages, what great information for the new stud players, I felt this needed a bump.

[KowboyKoop]

Playing strong starting hands is essential. 3 high suited. 3 suited connectors, Any trips. Tens or better split. Nines or better wired.

Limiting your starting hands to these hands in loose and passive games..which most low limit online games are...is WAYYYYYYY too tight. There are a LOT of hands you can play in loose/passive online games since there are rarely more than one raise on 3rd St.

[mb5322]

Playing strong starting hands is essential. 3 high suited. 3 suited connectors, Any trips. Tens or better split. Nines or better wired.

Limiting your starting hands to these hands in loose and passive games..which most low limit online games are...is WAYYYYYYY too tight. There are a LOT of hands you can play in loose/passive online games since there are rarely more than one raise on 3rd St.

I agree completely but for beginner's this thread was pretty sound, and hard to get into trouble with.

[KowboyKoop]

Playing strong starting hands is essential. 3 high suited. 3 suited connectors, Any trips. Tens or better split. Nines or better wired.

Limiting your starting hands to these hands in loose and passive games..which most low limit online games are...is WAYYYYYYY too tight. There are a LOT of hands you can play in loose/passive online games since there are rarely more than one raise on 3rd St.

I agree completely but for beginner's this thread was pretty sound, and hard to get into trouble with.

true. Playing this tight will still probably lead to winning..just not NEARLY as much as you could be.

[dreamcrusher28]

Playing strong starting hands is essential. 3 high suited. 3 suited connectors, Any trips. Tens or better split. Nines or better wired.

Limiting your starting hands to these hands in loose and passive games..which most low limit online games are...is WAYYYYYYY too tight. There are a LOT of hands you can play in loose/passive online games since there are rarely more than one raise on 3rd St.

Anyone care to elaborate? I'd be curious to see what good low limit stud players would add to OP's guide.

[KowboyKoop]

Playing strong starting hands is essential. 3 high suited. 3 suited connectors, Any trips. Tens or better split. Nines or better wired.

Limiting your starting hands to these hands in loose and passive games..which most low limit online games are...is WAYYYYYYY too tight. There are a LOT of hands you can play in loose/passive online games since there are rarely more than one raise on 3rd St.

Anyone care to elaborate? I'd be curious to see what good low limit stud players would add to OP's guide.

Basically...in the low limit games..the players are WAYYYY too passive and play WAYYYY too many hands. That means that you can get in cheaply with WAY more hands profitable. Notably..pretty much ANY concealed pair is worth playing IF both outs are live as long as you can get in for one bet in a multi way pot (which happens all the time...). Also, hands such as 4-5-6 with two suited cards are good too to take a couple cards in multiway cheap pots. Stuff such as that. Read Sklanskly's books in the section on "loose games"...that works pretty good for me.

[mrfrankhg]

This is great stuff. I am starting to get into Stud Hi/Lo and this was exactly what the doctor ordered. Mods, this should be stickied.

[Deepkoncntrtion]

This is great stuff. I am starting to get into Stud Hi/Lo and this was exactly what the doctor ordered. Mods, this should be stickied.

need to pm them if u want it stickied

[WeAllHaveToBleed]

Playing strong starting hands is essential. 3 high suited. 3 suited connectors, Any trips. Tens or better split. Nines or better wired.

Limiting your starting hands to these hands in loose and passive games..which most low limit online games are...is WAYYYYYYY too tight. There are a LOT of hands you can play in loose/passive online games since there are rarely more than one raise on 3rd St.

Anyone care to elaborate? I'd be curious to see what good low limit stud players would add to OP's guide.

Basically...in the low limit games..the players are WAYYYY too passive and play WAYYYY too many hands. That means that you can get in cheaply with WAY more hands profitable. Notably..pretty much ANY concealed pair is worth playing IF both outs are live as long as you can get in for one bet in a multi way pot (which happens all the time...). Also, hands such as 4-5-6 with two suited cards are good too to take a couple cards in multiway cheap pots. Stuff such as that. Read Sklanskly's books in the section on "loose games"...that works pretty good for me.

Agreed. You play so many multiway pots in low limit stud that chasing is a viable option (sometimes.) The OP's suggestions are too conservative for low limit stud compared to the money you make by opening up a bit.

[soccersox8]

Can anyone give some reading material suggestions for those of us (i.e. me) who are just starting to learn to play stud and stud hi-lo at low limits online?

Thanks,
Matt

[bdc30]

Can anyone give some reading material suggestions for those of us (i.e. me) who are just starting to learn to play stud and stud hi-lo at low limits online?

Thanks,
Matt

Read the very bottom of the OP. He gives two great suggestions.

[Napa_Don]

Can anyone give some reading material suggestions for those of us (i.e. me) who are just starting to learn to play stud and stud hi-lo at low limits online?

Thanks,
Matt

I found the Stud H/L section in SS2 extremely helpful as I am in your shoes. Also, people made a lot of good suggestions in the thread "my beginning strategy for stud h/l"