7-Card Stud Starting Hands

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

Via our discussion in the other thread, I thought it would be a good idea to have a topic about hand selection.

The most important decision to make in Stud is on 3rd Street, because mistakes early in the hand tend to be very expensive, as they lead to mistakes on the later streets. Most of the "proper" strategy involves knowing the other players, and observing players' door cards. From there, the decisions will get easier with time.

Categories of hands:


Rolled-Up Trips
A very rare hand. This is one of those hands that warrants an "always" statement, because you always want to play this hand, and you almost always want to go all the way to the river with it. You can play it slow (which I recommend with medium trips or when your opponent likely has a high pair), or you can play it fast, but however you play it, try to get as much money in the pot as possible. Occasionally, your trips will get beat, but that's Poker and you have to accept it... regardless, these hands are by far the most profitable in Stud.

High Pairs
"High Pairs" is a relative term, by which I mean "high pair" refers to having a pair that is higher than any of your opponents' door cards. You would never lay down KK in Hold'em pre-flop (at least, almost never), but I have done so semi-frequently in Stud. Imagine that I have (K2)K, meaning I have split kings. A 2 brings it in, and a Q raises, and then a tight player with an A showing re-raises. I would almost always fold me Kings here because they are so likely to be far behind. And if you convince yourself he doesn't have Aces, you're faced with calling bets on 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th streets. Not fun. With AA or KK, you usually want to play it fast, but I will occasionally wait until 5th street to raise if I have AA in the pocket (concealed) when I'm heads-up in a pot against a 3rd-street raiser.

With high pairs like QQ, JJ, and to a lesser extent TT, you want to gain information from overcards that have to act after you. You do not want to give an unpaired overcard the chance to catch up to you cheaply, so I would usually raise if no one else has. Some sticky situations can come up with TT or JJ, but I'll address those in another thread.

Long-story short--raise for value with high pairs, both to get value and to thin the field.

Middle and Small Pairs
Middle and small pairs are sometimes playable, but not always. In any case, you rarely have the highest pair compared to the door cards, so you usually want a high kicker (A or K, or sometimes Q) to get yourself extra outs to make the best two pair. Also, you want all your outs for trips to be live, especially when there are dangerous overcards out.

Example, suppose a 3 brings it in, a K calls, and a Q calls. I would be much more inclined to play 8-8-A than 8-8-6, because the A gives me 3 more outs to make the best two pair, as well as two eights to make trips.

I like to mix up my play with these hands, sometimes calling and sometimes raising (especially if I have a concealed pair an A showing). You must be prepared to dump hand like these on 4th street though if you do not improve, your opponent(s) catch scare cards, and/or there is a lot of action.

3-Flushes
3 flushes are very good to play most of the time. But not all 3-flushes are created equal. It should be obvious to you why A K J is a better hand than 10 8 2 . You would like to have some overcards to give you some additional outs if you do make a pair.

Some people will say you should always play 3-flushes, but in many cases you should not. You should not play them if more than 2 of your suit is out (unless you have some other outs like straight draws or overcards), or if you have a weak 3-flush and there is a lot of action before you.

It's important to mix up your play with 3-flushes as well. I frequently smooth call with them, but sometimes raise, especially if I'm showing a high card, or I have 3 to a straight flush, which gives me a lot of outs.

On 4th street, you usually need improvement (ie a pair or a 4th card in your suit) to continue, but sometimes you should take another card. Times you should take another card include: when there is a bet and a lot of calls, when there is only 1 or 2 (or none) of your suit out except in your hand, or you miss the 4-flush but get some other kind of help (a pair or a straight draw, for example).

3-Straights
By 3-straights, I mean 3 cards in direct sequence with no gaps. Like 3-flushes, high cards are much better, both because your straight will more frequently be the nut straight, and because pairing your cards may give you a winning hand as well. Be aware that you want as many live cards with 3-straights as possible. I wouldn't play a hand like 10-9-8, for example, if there are 2 dead jacks, a 7, a 6, and Q already out, because many of the cards that would help you are already gone.

Again, you usually want help on 4th street to continue with these hands, but I would say it's even more important for 3-straights than for 3-flushes.

High Card Hands
Some hands are worth playing because they have several things going for them. A hand like J Q A can be good if there are few high cards out (preferably nothing higher than a 10 or J), because you have 3 to broadway, 3 very good ovecards, and 2 to a straight flush. A lot can help you here on 4th street. A hand like J 10 8 can even be good to play if only one card bigger than a jack is out, the pot is multi-way, there is no raise, and almost all of your straight cards (especially all four 9's) are live.




Notes:
1. In loose games, which includes most online games even up to the $5/$10 level, your raises will usually not thin the field much, so most of the time when you raise, it should be a raise for value. In fact, I'd be more apt to raise with Q 10 9 than with Q-5-Q in some of these very loose games, especially if my hearts are live, because the former hand does very well in multi-way pots, but the latter does not.
2. You will frequently find it profitable to ante-steal in late position. Players seem to defend their bring-ins less frequently than players defend blinds in Hold'em, and they are more apt to fold to a continuation on 4th street than in Hold'em. Stealing the antes is essential to any winning strategy.
3. Obviously this does not cover the approximately 10-gazillion situations that can come up on 3rd Street, but it's a start.

Hope this helps someone.
Cheers.
8)
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[flafishy]

VNP (very nice post). And some very good starting-hand advice. I agree with most of it, a couple of small points I disagree with but more as a matter of preference than strategic disagreement.

I don't find play as loose as Diamond does. I think you can thin the field more than Diamond indicates here, but that might be a matter of what sites and/or stakes you're playing. I've been able to buy pots at 2/4, 3/6 and 5/10 with aggressive raising with frequency at Ultimate Bet, the Cryptos, Full Tilt, for instance. But it's not something you can get away with very often at Party and Poker Stars.

But it's situation-specific, so therefore not really a disagreement.

If you're a beginner at stud, you would serve yourself very nicely by following Diamond's advice as you're getting comfortable and developing your own strategies. It's a great starting point.

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

I'm bumping this to go along with the rest of my articles on the HORSE games. I'll probably also be adding some advice on later streets to this point relatively soon.
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[TheSalche]

If you're playing 1/2 or lower, a raise in early position is usually a bad idea with a "made hand" like a high pair.

However, I love raising in early position with an ace-high three flush, something like Q J 10 two suited, or you can justify raising a big pair with a suited connector.

When you're beginning to play stud, try not to play three straights unless under optimum conditions (totally live cards, and you have a likely overcard to your opponents hand) ... these hands look decievingly nice, but usually will end up costing you, three flushes are much more profitable.
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