7 Card Stud Rules to Live by:
Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2005 9:24 pm GMTSince I wrote a guide on SnGs when I was good at them, I figure I'm gonna post up some of my thoughts and rules of thumb to live by when playing stud.
1) Fear the opponent who pairs his door card. This sounds silly and obvious, and it is both, but it works well. If you see a player that often limps in with weak door cards (i.e. 7 - 10), and will fold 4th a lot unimproved, chances are this player is trying to limp with a weak pair, and hit the door card for dominating trips. Fear this in a raised pot too. If a player raises with a card such as a 3 or 4 in the door, then pairs that card on 4th, I'd say 90% of the time you're looking at big two pair or better. The other 10% is things like ace high flush draw, or three suited connectors. How a person plays against somebody who pairs their doorcard will tell a lot about them. If they are just calling down, they are generally more passive players. If you find them folding a lot, these players are cautious and usually have big hands when they raise.
2) If your opponent hits a big pair on the board on 4th or 5th, FOLD unless you have a live four card draw, or if you can beat big two pair at that moment. Simple enough. Calling a lot of bets from big pairs on the board will get you quickly labeled as a fish too, which you may/may not want.
3) Live cards, live cards, LIVE cards. Never play a flush draw with 3 dead in that suited. If there are two dead in that suit, it needs to be a 4 - 5 person pot, or you have to have an overcard (ace high ideally). If you're going to play hands such as (8A)8 against a player with a probable pair of kings, you need all your cards to be live, and two flushes help a bit too.
4) Choose the right pot size for your hand. If you have a big pair (aces or kings) on 3rd, then you need to RAISE to try to get the pot heads up. However, if you're in a game where a 3rd street raise still gets 4 or 5 callers, you should NOT raise. Hands like big two pair hold up sometimes in 4 person pots, but not enough to make them very profitable. If you have a flush draw hand, try to limp in and encourage action. Same thing with straight draws. The idea is that you can get away fairly cheaply when you miss your draws, but pull in a nice pot when you hit it. Increase your implied odds.
5) In a loose game, it may be best not to raise with big pairs till 4th or 5th street. This is because in a looser game, especially if the bring-in is half the bet, your raise will only increase the size of the pot, making future calls for your opponents correct. Read 7CS4AP for more details on this ...
6) Seven card stud is a drawing game. Remember this. You are going to get sucked out on a lot more than you will in hold'em. The idea is to not get so frustrated that you choose to call your villain down just to show they hit that one outer on you. A difference between a good 7CS player and a bad one, is how live the good players' draws are.
7) Ante-stealing is crucial to long term success. This is just like stealing blinds in hold'em, except the opportunities become more apparent. Try to steal with things like 3 big cards, ace high 3 flushes, etc. Something with a higher door card than most of the table is always required. The idea is, you're likely to get the antes, but if you don't, you can still catch a card on 4th to improve your hand enough to either continue with the hand, or get your opponent to fold.
8) Use scare cards to your advantage. Too often players dont bet when they catch a suited ace, a suited connector, or pair their door card. Don't be afraid to take a stab on 4th at a smallish pot. It's usually cheap, and usually worth it. Be careful about bluffing here. Strong players may call you down even if you're showing 4 of the same suit on your board if theres enough dead in that suit.
9) Hand reading is important in stud. Try to determine what your opponent likely has by 4th or 5th street. For example, if your opponent has a 9 of clubs showing, and three clubs are dead, his most likely holding is a pair of nines or a straight draw of some sort. This helps you when your opponent pairs their door card. If there's a lot dead in their door card suit, it increases the chances of them having trips or two pair drastically.
10) Ante structure changes your play a lot. At .5/1 games on poorly structured sites, the ante and bring-in is .25, which means you should loosen up your 3rd street starting requirements because otherwise the antes will eat up your stack anyways. Three big cards (9 or higher), one gap straights (9 8 6) and other such hands that aren't usually as playable now become necessary to win. However, you still need to fold these hands on 4th if you don't get help. Even adding a gutshot straight draw is usually good enough to go to 5th with in this case. I'd recommend switching sites though, PokerStars has the best ante structure at the micro limits.
11) Misc. points. 300 big bet bankroll is the 'ideal' bankroll but you can get away with 150 - 200 if you know what your doing, 100 is a gamble ... hope you don't go card dead for a while. Door card means your upcard on 3rd street.
I'd also like to point out that Diamond_Cutter has a very nice post on starting hands: http://www.texasholdem-poker.com/forum/ ... ting-hands
He also has a lot more insight into Hi/Lo than I do (infinitely more actually ...).
1) Fear the opponent who pairs his door card. This sounds silly and obvious, and it is both, but it works well. If you see a player that often limps in with weak door cards (i.e. 7 - 10), and will fold 4th a lot unimproved, chances are this player is trying to limp with a weak pair, and hit the door card for dominating trips. Fear this in a raised pot too. If a player raises with a card such as a 3 or 4 in the door, then pairs that card on 4th, I'd say 90% of the time you're looking at big two pair or better. The other 10% is things like ace high flush draw, or three suited connectors. How a person plays against somebody who pairs their doorcard will tell a lot about them. If they are just calling down, they are generally more passive players. If you find them folding a lot, these players are cautious and usually have big hands when they raise.
2) If your opponent hits a big pair on the board on 4th or 5th, FOLD unless you have a live four card draw, or if you can beat big two pair at that moment. Simple enough. Calling a lot of bets from big pairs on the board will get you quickly labeled as a fish too, which you may/may not want.
3) Live cards, live cards, LIVE cards. Never play a flush draw with 3 dead in that suited. If there are two dead in that suit, it needs to be a 4 - 5 person pot, or you have to have an overcard (ace high ideally). If you're going to play hands such as (8A)8 against a player with a probable pair of kings, you need all your cards to be live, and two flushes help a bit too.
4) Choose the right pot size for your hand. If you have a big pair (aces or kings) on 3rd, then you need to RAISE to try to get the pot heads up. However, if you're in a game where a 3rd street raise still gets 4 or 5 callers, you should NOT raise. Hands like big two pair hold up sometimes in 4 person pots, but not enough to make them very profitable. If you have a flush draw hand, try to limp in and encourage action. Same thing with straight draws. The idea is that you can get away fairly cheaply when you miss your draws, but pull in a nice pot when you hit it. Increase your implied odds.
5) In a loose game, it may be best not to raise with big pairs till 4th or 5th street. This is because in a looser game, especially if the bring-in is half the bet, your raise will only increase the size of the pot, making future calls for your opponents correct. Read 7CS4AP for more details on this ...
6) Seven card stud is a drawing game. Remember this. You are going to get sucked out on a lot more than you will in hold'em. The idea is to not get so frustrated that you choose to call your villain down just to show they hit that one outer on you. A difference between a good 7CS player and a bad one, is how live the good players' draws are.
7) Ante-stealing is crucial to long term success. This is just like stealing blinds in hold'em, except the opportunities become more apparent. Try to steal with things like 3 big cards, ace high 3 flushes, etc. Something with a higher door card than most of the table is always required. The idea is, you're likely to get the antes, but if you don't, you can still catch a card on 4th to improve your hand enough to either continue with the hand, or get your opponent to fold.
8) Use scare cards to your advantage. Too often players dont bet when they catch a suited ace, a suited connector, or pair their door card. Don't be afraid to take a stab on 4th at a smallish pot. It's usually cheap, and usually worth it. Be careful about bluffing here. Strong players may call you down even if you're showing 4 of the same suit on your board if theres enough dead in that suit.
9) Hand reading is important in stud. Try to determine what your opponent likely has by 4th or 5th street. For example, if your opponent has a 9 of clubs showing, and three clubs are dead, his most likely holding is a pair of nines or a straight draw of some sort. This helps you when your opponent pairs their door card. If there's a lot dead in their door card suit, it increases the chances of them having trips or two pair drastically.
10) Ante structure changes your play a lot. At .5/1 games on poorly structured sites, the ante and bring-in is .25, which means you should loosen up your 3rd street starting requirements because otherwise the antes will eat up your stack anyways. Three big cards (9 or higher), one gap straights (9 8 6) and other such hands that aren't usually as playable now become necessary to win. However, you still need to fold these hands on 4th if you don't get help. Even adding a gutshot straight draw is usually good enough to go to 5th with in this case. I'd recommend switching sites though, PokerStars has the best ante structure at the micro limits.
11) Misc. points. 300 big bet bankroll is the 'ideal' bankroll but you can get away with 150 - 200 if you know what your doing, 100 is a gamble ... hope you don't go card dead for a while. Door card means your upcard on 3rd street.
I'd also like to point out that Diamond_Cutter has a very nice post on starting hands: http://www.texasholdem-poker.com/forum/ ... ting-hands
He also has a lot more insight into Hi/Lo than I do (infinitely more actually ...).
