A Quick Guide to 7-Card Stud

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

Due to popular request, I’ve decided to write a guide for 7-Card Stud to go along with some of the other HORSE game articles I’ve written. I’m assuming that most players in today’s world who are thinking about playing Stud are likely playing it in a HORSE format, and are probably most familiar with Hold’em, so I will be making some references to that game as a means of comparison.

Concept #1: Differences Between Stud and Hold’em
Well, the first major difference is the amount of available information. In Hold’em, the most cards you ever see are seven: your two hole cards, and the five community cards. In Stud, over a quarter of the deck may be face-up for everyone to see. This means that players who are more able to read situations and use information correctly are likely to be very good Stud players. For this reason, in my opinion, Stud high is the most skillful form of limit Poker. It is often much easier to see what types of hands your opponents have or are drawing to based on their up cards and the way they play hands.

It’s very important you keep track of as many of the up cards as you can. Some players have trouble memorizing every single card that comes up, and that’s OK. You do want to make sure you’re keeping track of the important cards, however; if you start with two 7’s, and you’re looking to hit your set, you won’t have much luck if the other 7’s are already out on the boards. Likewise, if someone has 3 diamonds up, they may have a flush, but how do you know? The up cards often give you some clue. If 4 players started with a diamond up, it’s unlikely that the guy decided to play a 3-flush in the hole because there were so many dead diamonds out. Additionally, when you’re drawing, you now have a better idea of where you stand because you can get a much more accurate count of your outs than you can in Hold’em.

Another important difference is position. In Hold’em, having position is crucial, because you always get to act last. It’s a little bit different in Stud, since you might act first on one round, but act last on another, because the best hand showing acts first on each street. All things considered, it’s probably better to act last, but there are advantages to acting first, because it means you have the best hand showing. You can often use this initiative to represent a stronger hand than you may actually have, and gain some fold equity in the process.

Finally, you will probably face more suck-outs in Stud than in Hold’em. This is just part of the game. You will find that you will start with a big pair and lose more often than you would in Hold’em. Nevertheless, I believe that a skilled player can still show a better win rate in Stud because there is an extra big bet street in which the better player has an opportunity to win or save additional bets.

Concept #2: Your Starting Hand
Whether or not you decide to play your initial three cards is by far the most important decision you will make in a Stud hand. Someone could probably write a whole book just on starting hands in Stud, because there are so many possible situations and combinations available; it’s not as simple as a Hold’em hand chart where you have a rough estimate of what constitutes a good hand in each position. There aren’t any hard and fast rules to Stud starting hands, but your decision to play or not should be based primarily on 3 factors: your position relative to the bring-in, the up cards, and the antes.

Just like in Hold’em, the later you get to act on the initial round, the more hands you can play. You might not play a small pair from up front, but if it folds to you and you’re heads-up against the bring-in, even a lowly pair of deuces should probably be played for a raise.

The up cards make a big difference in deciding whether to play your hand. If you have a pair, you don’t usually want to play if your pair cards are duplicated on the board, since it greatly reduces (or eliminates) your chances of making a set. There are exceptions, but this is the general guideline. Likewise, you don’t want to be playing 3-straights or 3-flushes if you see a lot of your outs dead already.

The size of the antes makes a difference, too. The larger the antes, the more hands you should play. The smaller the antes, the fewer hands you should play. I can’t cover every situation here, but the guidelines I’ll give for hands can probably be adjusted with some experience.

So, without further ado, here are the hands you should be looking for, in rough order of strength:

1. Rolled up Trips
Starting with trips is the best possible situation. Here, you’re going to play the hand no matter what, and you’re almost always going to go to showdown. As Chip Reese, one of the greatest Stud players who ever lived said, “you’re always going to play rolled up trips; if you get them beat, well, you’re just going to have the get beat.” More often than not, though, you’re going to win the pot, even when you don’t make a full house. There isn’t really a wrong way to play trips per se, but you usually don’t want to reveal your hand too obviously. If you usually come in for a raise, it’s not a big deal; what you don’t want to do is do something uncharacteristic. If you never raise with a Jack up and a King and Ace still to act, it’s going to look suspicious to an observant opponent. Often, you can go for a raise on a big bet street with this kind of hand, unless your opponents will give you a lot of action early.

2. Big Pairs
“Big” pairs is a relative term in Stud, since if you have two Tens and no one else has a door card higher than a 6, your hand is relatively strong. By contrast, if you have two Tens and there is a Jack, Queen, King, and Ace still to act, your hand is relatively weak. Still, some generalizations can be made. A pair of Aces is always a premium hand. A pair of Kings is almost always a very strong hand, and so are Queens to a slightly lesser degree. There are a few things we need to note on pairs:

-Kickers matter, especially when you do not have a pair of Aces. They don’t usually make or break the hand like they do in Hold’em, but they are highly advantageous when you’re trying to make two pair. You would certainly be a lot more confident with a pair of Jacks and an Ace kicker against a King and Queen left to act than if you had a pair of Jacks and a 5 kicker. A kicker that gives you a 2-straight or a 2-flush is also slightly more beneficial than a non-connected kicker.

-Wired vs. Split. A “wired” pair means your pair is in the hole and your kicker is your door card. “Split” means one of your pair cards is in the hole and the other is the door card. All things considered, having a wired pair is better than having a split pair, because when you hit your set, it is a lot more concealed. This is especially true when you have an Ace kicker, for the reason that your opponents may be wary that you have a pair of Aces if you bet aggressively on the early streets.

When you have a big pair, the standard line is to raise and reraise on the early streets for value, and to thin the field. However, there is a slight variation on a play you can do with a wired pair of Aces and you are heads-up: you might consider going for a fifth street check-raise instead of reraising on third or fourth street.

3. 3 Big Flush cards
Again, “big” is relative, but I am primarily considering this category of hand to be 3 cards to a Royal Flush, especially those that include an Ace. I would count these in a separate category from other 3-flushes, since they are strong enough to played aggressively even on early streets. The great thing about these hands is that in addition to making a flush, they can make a broadway straight, and they frequently include overcards to opponents’ pairs, giving you additional outs. In general, I advocate raising these hands for value on early streets, especially when you have an Ace in the door, because you may gain additional fold equity by representing a pair of Aces. You should also be aware, though, that these hands do play better multiway than pairs, so it isn’t as imperative to thin the field.

4. Small Pairs
Small pairs are much more vulnerable than big pairs, and you should play them more cautiously; you are really looking to hit a set with these hands. What I said about kickers goes double for small pairs because of the value of making a hand like Kings-up or Aces-up. I would not play a small pair if any of your outs are dead and several players are still left to act. Likewise, I would probably not play a small pair with a bad kicker when there are some big cards to act after me, because my hand will be tougher to play if they raise. Remember that in Stud you only get one card on the next street, unlike in Hold’em, where you get to see three cards. This means that you need bigger implied odds to pursue your set, or you need additional outs or ways to win (hence the importance of a big kicker or having a high door card).

For instance, say you raise with a pair of 7’s and a Queen reraises you. Unless you have a King or Ace kicker, you should consider folding, especially if your pair is split (this is because your set will be harder to conceal and you may not make as much as if your pair were wired).

5. 3-Flushes and 3-Straights
I will count these hands in the same category, even those 3-flushes are definitely better than 3-straights, all things being equal (though you could make a case that a hand like [Jc][Tc][9h] is better than [8s][5s][2s]). With these hands, it’s all about having live outs. Unless you have a lot of other ways to win (like having both a straight and flush draw, or overcards), I would not play a 3-flush if more than two of your suit is dead on third street. The same goes for 3-straights if more than one of your outs to an open end straight is dead. With straight draws in particular though, you need to consider the cards that will complete your straight in addition to the cards that you need to make the open end draw. For instance, with 7-8-9, you need to be on the lookout for 6’s and T’s, but you should also make sure there are not many (preferably any) 5’s or J’s, since you will eventually need one of those cards as well.

In general, people tend to overestimate the strength of 3-straights, and many people do not take advantage of fold equity when they have a 3-flush with a high door card. If you have a Q-high 3-flush, for instance, and you have the highest door card (the Q), you should play the early streets aggressively in hopes of picking up the pot; if you play passively, not only do you risk giving away that you’re on a draw, but you lose the opportunity to pick up the pot without even making a hand.

6. Other hands
A few other hands might be useful in stealing the antes or defending against a steal, like 3 loosely connected big cards (ie 9-J-K), 2-flushes with an overcards, or overcards to an opponent’s door card. However, these hands are usually only playable in very specific situations, and you shouldn’t make a habit of playing them, especially when you are first starting out.

Concept #3: A General Strategy for the Early Streets
So far, there are a lot of similarities to Hold’em. A lot of the general concepts are similar:

-You should play tighter the more people that are left to act.
-You should play aggressively to maximize your chance of winning the antes on the early rounds.
-You should be mindful of your relative hand strength. Don’t overplay a pair of Queens or even Kings when an Ace door card gets very aggressive. Don’t chase sets when you suspect you are behind.
-Pay attention to dead cards. At first, you will probably focus mostly on the outs you need to complete your hand. As you progress, you will start to notice the way your opponents play their hands and you should be mindful of the outs they need to complete their hands. If you know that your opponent chases straight and flush draws when there are a lot of dead cards, you can play more aggressively.

In Rounders, Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) recommends to his law professor that he only play “nines or better wired, Jacks or better split, or 3 high cards to a flush. If it’s good enough to play, you gotta be in there raising.” That strategy is probably a little too snug, but it is probably a winning strategy, and it seizes on the main tendencies you should follow: tight and aggressive. Stud is a war for the antes; the bigger the gun you bring, the better. A lot of reasons you will play more or fewer hands in certain situations will come with experience. But when you’re starting out, when in doubt, fold. Know exactly why you’re playing a given hand, and the set of criteria you have for playing it. I will be giving some guidelines for third and fourth street play that do not even begin to get at the complexity and richness of the game, and they certainly do not comprise an unexploitable strategy. However, these guidelines should prevent you from making some of the most serious mistakes (namely, calling too much), and should make you a winner in the low limit games while you gain the experience and feel that is necessary to make you a winner in tougher games.

Third Street: To start with, I’m going to recommend that you complete the bet any time the pot is unopened and you have decided to play your hand. If there are so many big cards behind you that this worries you, you probably shouldn’t play the hand to begin with. The only type of hand that you might limp with in early position is a 3-flush, but don’t make a habit of this; the only reason you might do something like this is to make sure a big card doesn’t reraise and isolate you, but even that wouldn’t be the end of the world if you have something else going for your hand.

-If there are big cards left to act and you have a small pair with a bad kicker, you should probably fold, or if there are only a couple players left to act, consider raising and folding to a reraise. At the low limits, your opponents aren’t going to bluff raise after you open as often as you think.

-If you have a big pair or rolled-up trips, just raise and reraise for value. As long as you’re consistently raising with the hands you choose to enter the pot with, you don’t really give much else away. Your opponents know you’re playing tight anyway. Occasionally, when you open raise with trips or a wired pair of Aces, you are reraised, and it is folded back to you, consider slowplaying and going for a raise on fifth street.

-If you have a 3-flush with the best door card, consider raising and reraising an opening bet in the hopes of getting an opponent to fold on fourth or fifth street. This may also help conceal your hand when you do make a flush.

-If it has been raised already, you should reraise with your best hands (trips, big pairs, and big flush draws), call with some of your better hands (wired pairs with bigger kickers than opponent’s door card, 3-flushes and 3-straights with live cards), and probably fold everything else, occasionally reraising, and sometimes slowplaying a pair or Aces or trips.

Fourth Street: The biggest thing to be wary of is a door card pairing. This can easily mean that an opponent has two pair or trips. In absence of other information, you should usually fold in the face of aggression (unless you have a very strong hand yourself). There’s no sense trying to play guessing games when you don’t improve or only have one pair, and your opponent puts in the double bet after he’s paired his door card. By the same token, if you were aggressive on third street and you pair your door card on fourth street, you should put in the double bet. Don’t get fancy and only do it sometimes. It’s one thing if you were the bring-in and now you made open deuces—checking there is fine for the most part. But even if you only made one pair (say you raised on third street with [8s 9s Qs] and you made open Q’s on fourth street), you should double bet to maximize your chance of winning the pot and to keep your opponents guessing. The only time you might stray from this is if you started with trips and made quads on fourth street. It looks terribly obvious to check your hand, but you probably won’t get action if you bet, and it might be worth it to give your opponent some free cards in the hope of making one or two bets on the later streets. Here are some other guidelines:

-If you make a 4-flush or an open end straight draw, you should play it aggressively. Against a pair of Aces in Hold’em, a flush draw is about a 2-to-1 dog on the flop; in Stud, a 4-flush is about even money against a pair of Aces on fourth street. This means you can play your draws aggressively, especially when you have overcards or other back door outs.

-If you started with a hand like a small pair or a 3-flush and were just calling third street for implied odds types of hands (sets or flush draws), you should generally not chase if your opponent catches a good card and you miss. If the pot is really large and you only have to call one more small bet, you can consider taking an extra card off the deck; but don’t get in the habit of chasing draws too far, since as the pot gets larger, you start thinking that it’s only “one more bet,” when it might really be 2.5 or more big bets that you never had to invest. If you catch an otherwise good card and your opponent catches bad, you might also stick around to see if you can take the pot away on fifth street if you make a pair or a good draw and he slows down.

Concept #4: A General Strategy for Later Streets
Starting with fifth street, the bets are now double, so it’s time to either go big or go home. There is an extra big betting round as compared to Hold’em, which favors the better players, so don’t lose your head on the later streets or you might lose your roll, too!

Fifth Street: By fifth street, you should make a commitment decision for the hand. That means, you should generally either commit to going to the river, or just get out now, because playing guessing games will simply be too expensive. If you made a 4-flush or 4-straight by this point, you are probably going to the river, barring something like your opponent making open trips. If you have two pair or trips, or you have an overpair, you are probably going to go to showdown one way or another. If you don’t have one of these hands, it’s probably best to fold.

Fifth street is a good time to try and get an extra bet if you think your hand is good, since it’s worth twice the fourth street bet. If you slowplayed on an earlier street, now is the time to raise or check-raise. If you made a straight or flush and your opponent bets, go ahead and raise, because he will probably check on the next street if you call with a dangerous board anyway.

You can also make a lot of successful semi-bluff raises on fifth street because opponents will often be wary of the prospect of having to call two more bets on the later streets. A flush draw with overcards can still be a favorite over a lot of hands on this street, and betting aggressively may win you the pot even when you miss your draw.

Sixth Street: This round is pretty easy to play, because not much is likely to change. If you were drawing and you missed, you’re not usually going to fold unless it’s very likely that you could make your draw and still be beat. If you had the best hand and decided to go to showdown, you’re usually still going to bet (if you think you have the best hand) or call (if there is a decent chance your opponent is bluffing or you have outs). Just like on fifth street, if you made your draw, go ahead and bet and raise. You don’t want to miss a street of value here.

The River: The last street is a little more complex because you can’t see your opponent’s card. With some hands, it’s easy to know what to do. If you had a draw and missed, the default play is to check and fold. With a big hand, the default is to bet or raise. The tricky situations come up in marginal spots with hands that have some showdown value, but hands you don’t want to play for multiple bets.

For instance, the conventional wisdom is that when you have a hand like two pair and you were pretty sure your opponent was on a draw, you should probably check and call to bluff-catch. After all, if you bet and get raised, you hate your hand, and if you bet and he missed, he is probably going to fold anyway. However, I think there are some situations where you should bet a moderately strong hand like two pair on the river.

Consider a hypothetical situation where you have Aces up and you somehow KNOW that your opponent is on a flush draw. What would the correct play be? It would be to bet and fold if raised (assuming you didn’t make a full house). The reason is that while he will raise if he made his flush, he will call with some number of worse hands as well, like a small two pair that he feels compelled to call for just one extra bet. Obviously, you will almost never know what an opponent had going into the river, but hopefully you can see the basic principle. With a fairly strong hand like Kings-up, Aces-up, or trips, it’s frequently worth it to bet against a non-creative player because he will call with some worse hands. Plus, if you bet two pair/trips in addition to betting those times you make a full house, you make it just a little scarier for an opponent to raise with a straight or flush because he may get 3-bet.

The exact specifics to when you should check/call, bet/call, bet/fold, and bet/raise vary by opponent and will come with experience. Below the $5/$10 level, though, I’ve noticed that there is very little pure bluffing on the later streets. So consider that when deciding whether to call the last bet with that marginal hand you have.

Miscellaneous Concepts
There are a lot of other aspects to good Stud play that would require an entire book to detail. If you’re interested in that, I would check out Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players from 2+2 Publishing. I will just say a few things about being the bring-in.
A lot of players feel the need to defend against a raise from a later position when they are the bring-in. I would go so far as to say that players in the low stakes games often over-defend when they just don’t have the hands to justify it. You probably aren’t giving a lot up if you never defend your bring-in without a solid hand, like a pair or a 3-flush.

One thing I would do to stay consistent, however, is to always bring-in for the minimum, never a full bet. The reason is that it keeps your hand concealed, because you can always reraise an opening raise when it comes back to you. I frequently use such a tactic when I hold something like wired Aces with a deuce in the door. Against a chronic stealer, you can even reraise with some weaker hands, like 3-flushes and small pairs, since your opponent’s range is fairly wide (many low limit players also attempt to steal more often than they should). Doing this even a small amount of the time will keep some of the more aggressive opponents on their toes.

To close, I will just offer some final advice. Whenever you’re playing, think about the hand you’re representing in addition to the hand you actually have. Stud is a great game for second and third level thinking, because you can often deceive your opponents when you play your hands consistently. If you never limp with a pair of Aces, and you limp with an Ace in the door, your better opponents will always call you down much lighter, and it will be tougher to succeed in your semi-bluff attempts. This is one reason I recommend to beginners that they play comparatively fewer hands, but that they really jam the pot with the hands they come in with. Your opponents already know you’re playing tight if they’ve been watching. Playing consistently helps you represent a wider (but still strong) range, and will make you a better player. I can’t stress enough, though, that the only way to become a good Stud player is to watch your opponents carefully and gain experience. The game is much more dynamic than Limit Hold’em, so you will have to be as well if you want to be a winning player.

[crack]

I just want to add my two cents. I only skimmed this thread so apologies if it has been mentioned.

I'm not always going to open raise. For example if I have Ac 7s 7h and there is a K and Q to act behind me, it's likely I am going to just limp. If it goes re-raise and 3 bet by the Q and K I don't want to be facing 2 bets back to me to play this hand. Also, I don't really want to be playing small pairs v big pairs in HU pots. An Isolation re-raise from one of the big cards will probably turn what could have been a multiway pot into a HU pot.

DC is right about the big kickers making a difference to your hand. Take these two examples from twodimes.

Code: Select all

7s Ac  7h  140743  28.15  359250  71.85    7  0.00  0.281
Ks Th  Kc  173188  34.64  326805  65.36    7  0.00  0.346
8s 4d  4h   92491  18.50  407497  81.50   12  0.00  0.185
6s 6d  2h   93559  18.71  406429  81.29   12  0.00  0.187


Code: Select all

7s 3c  7h  108475  21.70  391523  78.30    2  0.00  0.217
Ks Th  Kc  191205  38.24  308792  61.76    3  0.00  0.382
8s 4d  4h  101117  20.22  398879  79.78    4  0.00  0.202
6s 6d  2h   99197  19.84  400800  80.16    3  0.00  0.198

In this spot if the K raises and you get two callers from the 4 and 2, you can almost re-raise for value with A77.

Just another point I would like to add. Just like in Hold'em, certain hands can be played depending on the game. If the game is an aggressive game, then you can pretty much ditch a lot of hands in EP, like baby pairs. If the game is a loose passive game (Generally low stakes), then you can maybe limp a few more hands. Baby pairs are just not profitable unless you can get in for cheap.

On the subject of types of games

If you have a 3-flush with the best door card, consider raising and reraising an opening bet in the hopes of getting an opponent to fold on fourth or fifth street. This may also help conceal your hand when you do make a flush.

This is an excellent play to make. The only problem is, it's not that great in the low stakes games. I am assuming that most people who read this will want to start out at small stakes. If an 8 raises and you re-raise with 53Qs representing a pair of queens, you just won't get that opponent to fold often enough. I have played enough small stakes game to know that generally, they will call to at least 5th and then probably continue if you don't make an open pair. In the lower stakes game, you really are best just calling the raise and hoping some people come with you to create a big juicy pot.

Bad players are just not capable of folding in that spot where as a good player might assume you must have Queens and muck on 3rd.

This situation could change however depending on what cards you are dealt. Again, look at these two examples.

Code: Select all

8s 8d  7h  298791  59.76  201179  40.24   30  0.01  0.598
4s 5s  Qs  201179  40.24  298791  59.76   30  0.01  0.402

Code: Select all

cards         win   %win    lose  %lose  tie  %tie     EV
8s 8d  7h  240220  48.04  259750  51.95   30  0.01  0.480
9s Ts  Qs  259750  51.95  240220  48.04   30  0.01  0.520

As you can see, your over cards which are connected have improved your hand greatly. In this spot you may want to isolate because if they do call and you play the pot HU, catching just a 9 may win the pot for you.

The most important advice I think I can offer is to just pay attention to the dead cards. If you are going to play small pairs, you must make sure your pair and the kicker you have is live on 3rd street. Otherwise you are just spewing money.

Even if your kicker is live along with your pair be careful. For example, if you have 668, it's been raised by a T and you are wondering if you should call, have a look at who is left to act and what their up card is. If there are K's, Q's, A's or J's behind you, you may be best just mucking the hand. It's not too bad playing that hand multi way for 1 bet, but you don't want to find yourself sticking in 2 bets against what you believe is two big pairs.

Those sort of hands are best to be played in late position when there is little chance you can get raised behind you.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Another excellent guide DC. Well done.

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

Thanks crack. Always helps to have a second experienced pair of eyes look at it!

[crack]

No problem.

[clarky]

Just stick to flush cards that are 8 or higher and most of the times don’t even play those, the best are those containing face cards or an Ace.