With two hole cards facing down and one face up Seven Card Stud is immediately different from Texas Hold ‘em. Learning the correct starting hands for seven card stud is essential to getting a good win percentage. By the time you read this article you will have a better idea on what constitutes a good starting hand in seven card stud.
In the low limit Stud games, lack of knowledge on your opponents part means that many hands are played all the way to showdown. This increases the need for selective starting hands to give you a good chance of getting a winning hand come showdown.
It is recommended that where possible the lowest card you hold is the highest card showing around the table. In stud games you are only making a hand with your own cards, there are no community cards. In seven card stud high (this article does not deal with Stud Hi-Lo) it therefore makes sense to have more than one way to win in the hand. An example of another type of strong starting hand in seven card stud is three cards to a flush. The higher the flush draw the better. Ah-Jh-2h is a strong starting hand. You could catch a Jack, Ace or flush cards. Count how many of the suit you hold is showing elsewhere on the table and then work out the odds of hitting your flush accurately.
Suited connectors or three cards to a straight give good open ended straight draw opportunities or back door flushes. The benefits of these starting hands are that when you are drawing to these hands, because two of the cards to the straight are face down they are concealed from your opponents rather than the having most of your straight in the up cards. You can also monitor which of these cards are dealt face up to your opponents so knowing when to fold becomes easier with more accurate pot odds. High connected cards also offer opportunities for hitting high pairs, which are likely to be strong hands.
Sets are good starting hands however you must be careful that straights and flushes do not hit later in the hand that beat you. Sets look incredibly strong when dealt as stud high starting hands and this type of hand will be the most common hands to be overplayed by intermediate players. Lower sets in particular should be approached with a degree of caution as they are beat by straights, flushes and better sets.
When your face up card is an Ace there are certain benefits to playing the hand. If there are no other Aces showing from your opponents then providing you have another positive reason to play the hand, whether that be a flush possibility or straight possibility then you can proceed in the hand. It is not a very strong hand, but certainly playable. Other poker strategy articles say that a hand like this can only be played if it is raise worthy. This follows the same lines as having extra strength in addition to the Ace in terms of potential flushes or straights.
Learning seven card stud will help you learn good hand reading skills and learn the changing odds better than Texas Hold ‘em can. As you can see your opponents up cards there are more calculations to make and tougher decisions during a hand. By learning to play only positive expected value starting hands like the ones mentioned above, then you improve your chances of beating the stud games significantly. This used to be the game that before No Limit Texas Hold ‘em hit the big time was the game of choice for poker players. When you play it you will see why that was.
By Malcolm Clarke
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