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Playing Only Strong Starting Hands Playing Only Strong Starting Hands in Seven Card Stud The key to becoming a successful seven card stud player is to have the discipline to only play strong starting hands. By playing strong starting hands, it makes it easier to continue on with the hand on later streets and ultimately make a good profit in the long run. Marginal stud starting hands have the opportunity to only make a lot of money once in many hands if they happen to improve really well on later streets, but the chances of this are quit low and you will end up losing a lot of money if they are played wrong. Trips The most powerful starting hands in stud are trips. So two concealed aces and an ace window card, three kings, three queens, all the way down to three twos. These hands do not come very often, but once you are dealt trips, you can just bet all the way through every street. You might lose some hands doing this, but overall you will win much more holding on to this hand than ever folding it. High Pairs Next to trips, as the best starting hands has to be high pairs. High pairs means aces down to jacks. Whether these pairs are concealed or not, it is still difficult for a player to work out the strength of the hand. To have concealed high pairs is much more deceptive and players will have a very hard time putting you on such a big hand. High Suited Connectors These are next on the best starting hands. High suited connectors include These have the opportunity to make nut flush hands and also nut straight hands. If you continue to draw for the nuts in stud poker, you will be a very profitable player, since so many players draw for king high flushes or straights that will lose to your nut flush or straight. Make sure you play strong starting hands in seven card stud.

Stay In Until It Doubles Stay In Until It Doubles Some stud players like to play speculative hands like lower pockets, lower suited connectors and high connectors. These hands have some value if they manage to catch the right cards to improve on in the next street. Since stud’s first two rounds of betting are smaller than the subsequent rounds, it is cheap enough to take another card for a look at whether then hand improves, and how all the other stud players’ hands look like. If the hand fails to improve to a playable hand pass the fourth street, it is time to throw it away on the fifth street. The fifth street is where betting doubles and there is much higher betting, making it too expensive to chase a hand that is not already nearly there. Nut inside straight draws, and paired boards for full house can be chased since the implied odds are there, but medium pairs and busted flush or straight draws need to be folded. To help with the decision of whether to continue on or not, one needs to look at whether the cards that are able to help the hand win are still live or not. If you are drawing to a straight and one of the earlier stud players have already folded a few of the cards that you require to make your hand, then suddenly you are drawing slimmer. It is best to think that you still need about six to seven outs before continuing on if the betting is getting too heavy. The decisions for your hand are much easier in the first two rounds of betting since it is still low. If you manage to catch the required cards to make your hand strong, you can then proceed, otherwise fold it and lose very little.

Playing A Pair Playing A Pair During the first round of betting, it is important to know how far you are in front of your other stud players, and how far behind you are of your fellow stud players. By assessing the way they use their betting options with their up cards, you can then use this information on whether you should enter the hand. You are seated with other stud players and the cards are dealt out. If the up cards happen to be 3, 6, K, 4, 10, Q and yours J, and you happen to have another J and a 7 concealed, you have a pair of jacks. This is a good hand but not a hand to get too carried away with. One must have a keen eye on what the K and the Q decides to do. The 3 will make the bring in bet and the 6 should fold unless they have a big hand like trip 6. When action comes to the king or queen, if either one of them decides to raise, it will probably be time to throw away the jacks since they are representing a high pocket pair. The jacks is well behind a pair of kings or queens and will require considerable amounts of help to be able to beat the over pairs. Although playing optimistically is necessary, continuing on in this type of situation is more a statistically bad move than trying to be wishful about it all. If given the same set of cards like 3, 6, K, 4, 10, Q, and the king was to fold and queen was just to complete the bet, the queen is signalling that they actually do not have a pair. They might have suited cards, or have A, K, concealed, but the jacks are still ahead so it is time to raise and show some strength. Whether the Q calls or re‐raises your initial bet will give you more information on how you play the next rounds of betting. Always put more money into the pot if you are a favourite in the hand. Play your cards aggressively. If you are an underdog and behind, it is time to leave the pot unless there are good odds to actually improve.

Knowing The Live Cards Knowing The Live Cards Since there are no community cards in stud, all the information you can gain from what other people are holding and the outs that you have available to you are from the up cards of other players. This is a very important skill in playing stud since often cards that you might be drawing for might already be dead if they happen to appear as an up card in another stud player’s hand. It is easy to see when the up cards are still in play, but it takes a very good memory to recall cards that are folded previously. Good stud players will have very good memories since they know which of their outs are still live, and which of their outs are dead and buried. If you are starting out with low pocket pairs like pocket fours or pocket sevens, the only way your hand can really improve is if you catch another four or seven in the next street to make trips. But if another player has a four or a seven as their up card, then one of your outs is already gone, and you will be drawing to the case card and highly unlikely to actually improve. Knowing what has been folded is very important for chasing flush and straight draws. If you happen to make four diamonds by fourth street, you are going to stay in the hand to chase the flush draw. But if you remember three diamonds already appearing in the first round of dealing, then you are drawing to only six outs. Other stud players will also know this and will be keen to continually reraise you to ensure you stay out of the pot, or are drawing at the wrong odds. The same idea also applies to drawing for straight draws. Always know what cards have been folded when playing stud. Train yourself to make mental notes of this. More training will ensure you play better and make better decisions.

Playing The Draw Agressively Playing Aggressively With A Draw The way you play your flush draws and straight draws in stud poker will often determine whether you will be a winning player or not. Strong stud players will always continue to bet and re‐raise their opponents when they have a four card flush draw from fourth street. Since nobody is actually going to be folding the hand, it is better to put the pressure on the other stud players than to allow them to put the pressure on you. There are many cases where other stud players who might have a pair, who are actually ahead of you will give up their hand since they do not feel their hand is good enough to continue with. Aggressively play will eliminate them from the pot and deliver many uncontested pots rather than continually drawing to the last flush card and having to pay for the advantage. It is actually really bad play to have called down to the river and suddenly missed the last flush card to lose the hand. This is not considered unlucky since this is a situation that faces all stud players every time they sit down. It is considered good play to continue to re‐raise and stab at the pot. Often if you do not make your flush card by sixth street, there might be other cards that you get dealt that happen to scare your opponent. Cards like pairing the board or an ace that might represent a high pair and a flush draw. Timid stud opponents will just give up the fight and let you have the pot, which means you have played out the hand perfectly. Where as if it was just calling for the first four streets, your opponent would never have folded on four or fifth street. Always play draws aggressively, it is the best play to follow.

Opponent's Board Pairing When Your Opponent’s Board Pairs Many beginner stud players always make the mistake of underestimating the board pairing of a stud opponent. Beginner stud players will make too many loose calls with a big pair whenever their opponent shows obvious strength and end up losing a lot of money in a hand they could have played a lot more diligently. If an opponent starts of with a door card of 9, and decides to call and participate in the hand, they usually have a disclosed 9, to make a middle pair. Their whole purpose of being in the hand is to spike a third 9 to improve their hand to make trips. If another 9 comes on the fourth or fifth street, they have just hit their trips and are fishing for a full house. Many beginner stud players will make the mistake of continually betting into them or calling their bets thinking that their two pair is safe, or high pair like aces or kings is still ahead of what is a pair of 9s on the board, but is actually already trips. Drawing to another ace or king may help, but you will have to get very lucky to spike your trips card. Always look out for this in stud poker, beginners make this mistake all the time. Sure they might bet lucky and get dealt their trips card on later streets, but it is best to let other players get lucky, whilst good stud players focus on skill and making good decisions. A hand that does have the correct odds to continue on in this situation is if you still have a four card flush draw or straight draw, then it is worth continuing, but your opponent is not exactly going anywhere if they have made trips. Watch out for this situation next time you play stud poker.

Playing The Over Pair Board Playing The Overpair Board When ever a stud opponent manages to hit an over pair on their board, it is always time to throw your hand away if you are not drawing to the flush or straight. Many beginner stud players fail to see this and feel that since they are already in the hand, they might as well continue to draw for two pair, or trips. The danger of the over pair on the board is that your opponent probably already has a smaller pair in their hand and has made a very strong two pair hand to go with their baby pair. Now they have a higher two pair than the beginner stud player’s two pair. The beginner stud player does not realise the relative strength of the opponent’s hand and goes on to draw to some very slim outs. Always remember, that the stud opponent has the same possibility of drawing to that final full house card, as much as the beginner stud player with the lower two pair does. Since the stud opponent with the over pair board is so far in front now, the beginner stud player is about to lose a lot of chips and have a big lesson to learn from. Only proceed against the stud opponent with the over pair board if you have other redraws to be drawing for. If there are flush possibilities and open ended straight possibilities, the number of outs then increase and will allow you to be priced into the hand with a good number of outs. Know how to play against an over pair showing up on your opponent’s board. Many beginner stud players lose big pots to these hands, so only continue if you are priced into drawing to a flush or straight.

Razz Poker Getting To Know Razz Razz poker is a form of stud poker where the objective is to create the lowest hand. Razz has gained a lot of popularity of late featuring in many online tournaments, at the World Series of Poker and also as part of the very popular HORSE tournaments. The name razz itself is the lowest possible hand which is A – 2 – 3 ‐4 – 5. There are no flush or straight possibilities in razz since suits and straights do not actually count for anything. The razz hand is played out exactly the same as stud hi poker with the highest card having to post the bring in bet and with subsequent betting rounds, the player with the lowest hand acting first. Here are some strategies to learning and mastering the game of razz: 1) Know the hands Many beginner players do very poorly at razz simply because they forget about the hand rankings and bet with the second best hand. You will often find this in the lower limits of online ring games. Some players will over play a king in their hand and think it is the best hand. Actually knowing the rules will make you some profit. A hand like 8 ‐6‐ 5‐ 3‐ A is going to lose money to a hand like 8 – 6‐ 4‐ 3‐ 2. 2) Playing Good Starting Hands It is actually a very easy razz strategy to follow. Only play hands where all three cards are below an eight. This is mathematically sound and will allow for much easier decisions once the hand is played out and more cards are dealt. There must be no paired cards in your hand, since pairs mean that your five card hand becomes a four card low, which will always lose to a five card low. 3) Steal the Antes Many razz players make a living from just stealing the antes all day. When dealt with a strong up card like an A, 2 or 3, and everybody else has up cards that are eight or higher, it is time to raise pre flop to put the pressure on your razz opponents since they are all going to have to play a terrible up card against your strong up card. 4) Pay Attention To Upcards Since you are always trying to avoid pairing your up cards, noticing that other players have the same up cards as your two hole cards or your up card means that it is safe to proceed further with the hand. This reduces the possibility of you pairing your board. Practice using these strategies to play razz poker for profit.

Razz Bluffing With A Hidden Pair Razz Bluffing With Hidden Pair A hidden pair in razz is where you have paired your hand with a one of your up cards and one of your down cards. The pair is ‘hidden’ because your opponents actually cannot see that you have paired your hand and quite possibly behind them. The best time to bluff with this hand is when your opponents have only hit mediocre cards as well. If their up cards are showing 3 – 9 or 4 – J, and your up cards are A ‐ 5, but you have actually paired your 5s, it is still a good time to bet into your opponents make them possibly give up their hands and the pot. If you get called though, it will then be up to the next up cards for you and your opponent to determine how you proceed with the hand. If your opponents in the same hand have 3 ‐6, or 4 – 7, and you have paired your hand, it is best to either call a bet if the pot is big enough to draw to or fold if the raising looks very hot and your opponents are the tight aggressive type of razz players. The idea of it all is to represent the type of hand that your up cards are capable of representing and using this to attack your opponent’s bad hands. It takes a very skilful and cunning player to be able to bluff off players with better hands and increase your capability of winning a pot. Conversely look for the same type of play when your razz opponent seems to always be in a hurry to be betting into you, they might have also paired their hand, and a big re‐raise on your qualifying low hand will send them away.

Adjusting For Hi/Lo Adjusting For Hi/Lo The Hi/Lo version of Stud is played all over the internet and card rooms around the world. It is a very popular high limits game and playing it well requires a lot of in depth strategy and careful play. Often called stud 8/b, the difference in rules is that half the pot will be won by a qualifying low hand which needs to have five cards eight or lower, and the other half of the pot is won by the highest five card hand possible. There are many instances in a hand of Stud hi/lo that only a high hand wins. This occurs when there is no qualifying low hand and the hands showdown. In this instance, only the high hand wins, and the whole pot is shipped to the stud player with the high hand. Players can also win the whole pot by having both the highest hand and a qualifying lowest hand. This type of play is called scooping the pot and is the main strategy that most stud hi/lo pro players play with. Always aiming to scoop the pot if the are going to invest in a pot to the river. With the main aim of scooping the pot, the best start hands in stud hi/lo are very different to the starting hands of just stud. Always play hands like: 1. Trips like (A‐A)A, (K‐K)K, etc 2. (A‐A)x ‐ x = 8 or lower, all suited 3. (A – x) x ‐ x = 5 or lower, all suited 4. low suited connectors 5. (A‐A)x – x = 9 or higher 6. Three unsuited wheel cards with an ace like (Ad – 3c) 5h 7. Three unsuited wheel cards without an ace 8. Three suited cards with an ace, eight and a card above the eight The above starting hands give you the best chance to draw at scooping the pot. They give you both low hand opportunities, and also high hand opportunities so always stick to these starting hands to do well in stud hi/lo.