Stud/8 playing high cards
 

Do any of you like any of this?

#10

20/40 Stud/8, 8 players
V1 is solid, not much info yet.
V2 is really bad.

Bringin (xx) 4 -- folds
folds
Hero (Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]) J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] calls ($5) -- calls
folds
Villain #1 (xx) 6 -- calls ($5) -- calls
2 folds
Villain #2 (xx) J -- completes

4th:
Hero (Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]) J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] -- calls
V1 (xx) 64 --folds
V2 (xx) JK -- bets

5th:
Hero (Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]T [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]) J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 6 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] -- folds
V2 (xx) JKA -- bets

This weird hand turned into a stud high hand when V1 folded. His fold was strange to me.

I had a hard time committing to calling down V2 when the big bets came. A king and at least one heart were out. (I need to get better at remembering all of the upcards.) Calling $40 into a pot of $160 doesn't seem like bad odds in retrospect, and it was highly unlikely that I was drawing dead. Besides not playing this hand in the first place (I could try to argue that this is one of the few times that you could play a high 3- straight flush in Stud/8), do you think I should have played this out?

Should I be playing this 3-staight flush at all? I thought I could get away with limping, and then I called the completion based upon who was left in the pot. I know that the "book" basically says never to play it, but it seemed like a good spot to try it, and I did turn it over when I folded in an effort to advertise a bit.

I'm thinking that V1 made a bad fold. He either had one pair or two and didn't want to try to draw to a low or a better high. It seems to me that he had decent odds considering that there were two players going for high.

In retrospect, I'm thinking that I should have checkraised V2 instead of folding. She was really weak, but OTOH might have called me down anyway.

Input?

Re: Stud/8 playing high cards
 

I have a really hard time knowing whether V1 made a bad fold or not. I do think that your fold was pretty awful. Unless your cards are super dead, you basically have to have sufficient odds to continue. And yes you should play third unless your hand is dead. Get Ray Zee's book.

Re: Stud/8 playing high cards
 

I have Ray Zee's book. I do try to figure things out for myself before posting a hand. But so many decisions in this game are situational. And I watch the play of my opponents -- usually solid and winning players -- and it's hard for me to figure out sometimes what they are thinking. I want to think that they are making bad plays, which will add to the edge I will someday have when I get competent at ths game, but it seems arrogant of me to ajudge anyone's play in this game as poor at this point.

I will ask fewer questions and (hopefully) contribute more as I get more comfortable with this game.