[SA125]

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There are basically four kinds of playable hands:

Rolled-up trips
Three-card flushes
Three-card straights
Pairs

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I think the premise of the thread is an excellent one for discussion on thoughts for differnt ways of playing the game. I disagree with only those hands being playable.

Wise men like Ray have said that, if you start from the foundation of believing in the TAG way, the amount of hands you play starts to correspond with the degree of your believed improvement. The better you think you are, the more hands you start playing. It's said that for most it's -EV. Hence his excellent "The 3 stages of a poker player".

I think that belief is much less the case in stud than in holdem. The reason being the odds for chasing in stud are much better and therefore better players are able to play a wider range of marginal hands for profit.

I've found that MM nailed it when he said you can be a winner at stud but the variance is beyond ridiculous. I believe that in games full of bad players, very good stud players can play many more hands that those listed above. It's impossible to try and list what they are. I just believe the pot odds lay a price that leaves the good player a pretty wide range of hands to play against the right opponenets in the right spots.

It's not necessarily a case of outplaying them directly. Rather it's playing your marginal hand in the right spots better than they do.