If you begin with 3 suited cards what % of the time do you make a flush by the river? Assuming that no other players have your suit showing that is. How many % does it adjust downwards for every card of your suit visible? I think I might be overplaying this starting hand and FDs.

Here is some useful info...

Basically it says if you have

T J Q you'll improve to a flush 16.5% of the time assuming that you see no clubs

It's not a lot... most players over value starting with 3 to a flush... you want high cards and connected cards so you can make big pairs, trips and straights as well as the flush...

What do you mean you are overplaying this starting hand? When you start with a three flush you generally want to get in cheap and see if you can improve on 4th... because if you get to 4th with a 4 flush your odds of making the flush (still assuming your clubs are live) increases to almost 50%

I don't suppose there's a site where I can get some good stud strat information? I think I'd really like to learn this game well, but its not like there's a Harrington's or SSHE (at least that I know of).

There are a few sites for sure... seven card stud strategy or something like that... google seven card stud and lots of stuff will come up

Read SuperSystem 1... Chip Reese wrote the stud hi section and it's fine for learing to play stud...

Once you have a general idea of playing it's just like all poker games, play a lot so you see lots of hands and make sure you pay attention... knowing what cards are dead is huge in Stud...

Post hands... there are some good players here who will help you

I have also read Ken Warren Teaches Seven Card Stud and it's another good book
Play Poker Like the Pros has a stud section, but I can't stand PH so I let that one collect dust

Ken Warren's was OK beginner stuff, but I'm still planning on sending him an email bitching about all the stupid mistakes in the book.

I've a few others at home, the names of which I can't recall right now. Ahh, thanks google:

Author Name: West, Roy Title: 7-Card Stud: 42 Lessons How to Win at Medium & Lower Limits - very, very good!

How to Beat Low Limit 7 Card Stud Poker by Paul Kammen - good

Liveness if your flush is a huge consideration.

There are 13 of any given suit in the deck.
You have 3, leaving 10 remaining.

The math depends on how many like flush cards are out, or "up". You can statistically estimate (roughly) the number of spent clubs in your opponents hole cards by adding up the total number of hole cards and assuming that one in four is a club (so, in a five handed game with 10 down cards, assume that another 2 clubs are gone)

Quick math- If there are no clubs showing, you should calculate your odds for hitting a club on 4th as being the remaining cards in the deck (37) \ 8 (13 original clubs - 3 in your hand - a presumptive 2), making it 4.63-1.
The math (as far as drawing to a suit) has to do with how many cards are left in the deck and how many clubs are spent. Dividing one by the other will give you a ratio to work with and the pot odds (not t mention your opponents upcards) will dictate whether it's appropriate to draw to it or not.

If you're playing 8/b and they're small clubs, you have a monster and should enter the pot under virtually any circumstance. If you're playing Stud Hi, then the rank (and liveness of the rank) is also important- 3 suited with middle and low cards definitely playable against light or no action, but it's not a bad idea to fold these against heavy action when you aren't playing against donks (if you're playing higher stakes where people tend to bet with hands). 3 suited with high (and live) cards is pretty strong and definitely playable unless you get some strong signal that you're up against a real monster.

Once you play a lot, you'll start to speculate on what sort of 'models' you hand might develop into, given what you were dealt on 3rd, what is out, what your opponents have- all contrasted against the math. Stud is the one game where math is the most important.

"modeling" your hands (using easy descriptors) .

It's essential on 3rd for you to quickly asses what general "model" your hand fits into, as far as its development on subsequent streets, and then assign a valuation to that model based on the math.

A real simple example; if you have 3/4/5 rainbow in an 8 handed Stud Hi game with two 6's and two 2's out, the core model of your hand is drawing kinda thin, since you know that there are only 4 cards left in the deck that would help develop your straight. This isn't a particularly valuable model to invest in, since your ranks are low and pairing them wouldn't have much showdown value and your straight is pretty dead right out of the gate. Generally, fold these. With higher ranks, they can become playable, since you're also drawing to pairs that might have showdown value in addition to the "bonus" of developing a straight, but for the sake of an easy example, lets focus on 3/4/5 rainbow and it's prospect development into a straight.

Now, lets say you have that same 3/4/5 rainbow in that same 8 handed game, only this time, there are no 2's or 6's out.
That leaves you with a presumptive eight cards that would develop your straight, however, it's wise to account for the potential of part of your draw being burned in the 14 hole cards that you cannot see. In this case, of a potential 14 unseen cards, eliminating one out would be OK, leaving you with seven prospective cards that would improve your model to a four-straight on a subsequent street.

In an eight handed game with a total of 24 cards dealt on 3rd, assuming that one of your required eight is already burned somewhere in the hole cards of your opponents- giving seven prospective cards that would improve your draw on 4th- you're about dead 4-1, or 25% to hit a necessary straight card on 4th.

Upon 4th being dealt, it's most likely (without getting into the math) that something you need is going to show up somewhere- you just hope that it shows up in your hand and not someone elses! Lets assume on 4th that you brick with a useless 10 of hearts, but two of your required 6's hit your opponents. Now, you're about a 4.4-1, or 23'ish% going into 5th, to catch an improving card.... but here's the catch (and one of the things that separates beginner play from intermediate play).

Have you also been paying attention to the Aces and 7's? After all, they're essential to the eventual development of your model too.

For the sake of argument, lets use an extreme example and say that on 4th street, two of your opponents broke into open 7's and two of your opponents broke into open aces. Ignoring all other considerations that would go into a situation like this and focusing solely on the boards general impact on your straight possibilities, here, your hand would be basically worthless, since all of your "straight making" cards are roasted, so even if you hit your 2 or 6, who ****ing cares since that particular model is totally shot with the aces and 7's being burned.

Extreme example (and a long walk for a short drink of water) to illustrate the importance of completely modeling your hand (and not just focusing on the odds of the "next card" improving your draw) but the general point is this.

When modeling your hand on 3rd and 4th (decisions made on 3rd and 4th being what separates a good stud player from a great one) you should mentally "track" *all* prospective cards that bear relevance to your model and adjust the math accordingly. Doing this is what will transition your play from beginner to intermediate.

More to come when I feel like it.