Pokerwiner.com → 7 card stud guide
Study your players so that you’ll know what they tend to do. Some players never raise with a drawing hand, so a raise from showing an ace or a king usually means that they have a pair of that card or a hidden medium pair. It could also mean big trips. That’s a long shot, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen. If you put an opponent on a big pair when he really has trips, it will probably cost you some money.
That’s why they call it casino gambling. But most players won’t raise at third street with big trips. If an opponent raises at third street showing a high card, two out of three times expect him to have a split pair of that rank. If someone raises at third street showing a small card, you’ll want to know if he has a pair of that card, or a larger hidden pair. The smaller his upcard, the less likely he is to be raising with that pair.
Figure him for the large buried pair, or sf he is a player who raises with three-flushes, give him two big cards in the hole of the same suit as his upcard. With some players, a raise with an ace showing at third street strategy is actually more likely to be a pair of aces if there is another ace showing elsewhere on the board.
With one of his aces gone, the raiser feels even more compelled to protect his pair of aces because the chances of improvement are diminished. This same player will often be the type to not raise with aces if he figures they are all live, giving him a better chance of improving. This concept also applies to the other big pairs. Now it’s up to you to figure out which players do what.
If an opponent who has just limped in at third street is raised, and then he reraises, suspect a powerful hand, no matter what he is showing. He most likely has a big pair at the least, higher than any upcard showing, and quite probably three of a kind.
Again, reading hands is largely an art. It is difficult to formulate a lot of rules for reading hands, so I am showing you some examples that will give you the flavor of the reading process –some guidelines to help you in most situations. Now let me give you a few more examples and reading concepts before wrapping this up.
Some players don’t walk the way they talk.
Many players use table talk to mislead you. For example: It’s checked around to a player and he says, “We have to get some money in this pot so I’ll start the contributions.” He has a hand he thinks will be a winner. Or suppose that on a later street, a player makes maximum bet, firing his money into the pot while saying, “Call that if you don’t like money.” Would beat you? Certainly not.
This fits in with the central theme of Mike Caro’s The Body Language of Poker: Most players try to act weak when they are strong, and strong when they are weak. A player bets at seventh street without looking at his last card.
He’s trying to give you the impression with his blind bet that he is already so strong that the last card doesn’t matter . If that were true, would be want to announce it to you, cutting off your call? Certainly not. He’d be trying to look weak so that you would call his bet.
Instead he’s trying to look strong so that you won’t call his bet. He’s probably on a flush or straight draw, is hoping you won’t call, and hoping that he made it if you do call. Most of the time, he didn’t make it, so if there’s any money in the pot, call.
If a player just limps in showing the 10 with three or four more hearts showing on the board, unless he is a complete dolt, you can assume that he isn’t starting with three hearts. It is more likely that he has a pair or a three-straight. Trips are a possibility, but are a long shot.
If two other tens are showing on the board, he most likely has a small or medium pair in the hole. He probably wouldn’t be playing with a dead pair of tens. Say your opponent’s upcards at fifth street are 5-8-6, all offsuit, in that order.
He called a bet at fourth street, and now when he gets the six at fifth street, he raises. Most players will give him credit for a straigh. But wait-think back to third street. Would he have started with a 4-7 in the hole and a five showing? Maybe, if they were suited.
But then he got an unsuited eight at fourth street and still played. He probably wouldn’t call a bet holding only an 8-to-1 shot three-straight in four cards. He probably has two pair or trips. By the way, most novice to intermediate players will give you credit for the highest hand you could possibly be holding, and then play you that way.
Let’s say that an opponent calls your third-street raise showing a small heart. At fourth street he gets another small heart. You bet. He raises. At fifth street he catches a club. You check, and instead of the bet that you expect, he checks along behind you.
He probably has a flush draw. His fourth-street raise was intended to buy a free card on fifth street, which it did. If he catches a heart on sixth poker street, play him for a flush.
The following thoughts are for women. You men can skip Past this, or read it for your own protection.
Ladies, if you don’t get to see a male player’s hand at the showdown, try asking him what it was. That’s right: Just ask him. Ask him in a nonchalant, friendly, mostly-just-curious way, what he had. You’ll be surprised how many men will answer you.
Being a female player, you have an advantage in learning how your male opponents play. Male players seated around you will be more willing to show you their hands, or let you peek at their cards when you’re out of a hand. This allows you to get a line on their play.
Because there are many more men than women playing public poker, you will probably have a man seated on each side of you. Take advantage of both of them. Sounds like dirty pool, doesn’t it? But if you’re playing to get the money, take every edge you can get.
Many men (the predominant gender in public poker rooms) don’t expect you to be a good player – probably just a novice at public poker who has played only in home games on the kitchen table. You’ll have a surprise for them when you have mastered this course.
They will underestimate you. Good! Play solid poker and take the money. Be friendly at the poker table. Talk a bit, joke a bit, but lightly. Keep the mood jovial and you won’t be considered as a threat in the poker game. Then you male opponents won’t be upset when you beat them out of a pot. They’ll think you just got lucky.
Much of this advice will also be of value to a young male player, who will also tend to be underestimated as a threat by the older guys at the table. Generally, most of the men in public poker rooms will be approaching middle age or older, and have been playing poker for several or even many years. Pretend you are a novice who got lucky.
And now a final warning that applies to us all. At third street, you want to put a player on several possible hands. then, as the hand progresses, you can eliminate some of them on the succeeding streets, always thinking back to see if his previous actions fit your current assessment.
My warning is this: It’s a mistake to put a player on one specific hand, and then not be willing to change your assessment if his play warrants it. This is as much as I have to say on reading hands. I suggest that you study this Lesson in tandem with Lesson 2, There is no substitute for knowledge of your opponents when it comes to reading hands.
SOLID POKER GETS THE MONEY AT THESE LIMITS
One more important piece of stuff before we get to the strategies of seven card stud: Remove from your mind the idea that the consistent winners at low and medium-limit poker are the players with the smooth moves and sophisticated strategie.
It ain’t necessarily so. Solid poker is what get the money at these limits and the consistent winner are the players who make the fewest mistakes.
It doesn’t matter how good you can play:What matters is how good you do play!
Play solid poker as mistake-free as possible and you will be a consistent winner.