[AlanBostick]

There are two differences between aces and queens in stud/8. Both are huge.

First, there are no possible overpairs to aces. If you start with queens, and the villain on a low draw catches a king on fourth street, there are now 3 cards she can catch that put her ahead of you for high on fith or sixth in addition to the twenty cards that put her low draw in reach of scoring. And if the villain started with an ace in her hand, that doubles the number of cards she can hit to outdraw your high hand with just one pair.

Secondly, if you have two queens in your hand, those are two bricks your opponent cannot catch, and so her low draw is that much stronger. If on the other hand you have two aces in your hand, the deck is depleted of the two best possible cards she can hit. If she already has an ace in her hand, there's only one ace left for her to catch up to you for high. If she doesn't have an ace, there are only two left for her to fill in her low.

Aces aren't a royal road to scooping, or even to winning half a pot. But they are much stronger than queens or kings, because they make the best possible pair, two pair, etc., but because they are the lowest cards in the deck as well and are therefore a start to build the smoothest low. Queens or kings just can't do that.