Straight on the River

[Bartholow]

I agree with Wilson here, as I mentioned in my first reply.

Raising 3rd should make it harder to get the pot headsup on 4th, not easier.

Page 55 of Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players, 21st century edition: [ QUOTE ]
A deuce brings it in, a five calls, a seven calls, and a nine calls. You have (Qc 8d) Qs and are next to the bring in. You should just call....If one of your queens were dead, you'd be back to just calling even with a straight flush kicker.

[/ QUOTE ] Awfully similar to your hand, eh?

Your dead pair has a decent shot of not really having an equity edge here on 3rd, and if does have one it's not huge. So your raises really need to be designed to raise your equity, and raising 3rd doesn't do it, it actually ties people on to the hand. Even a live pair of queens would be very close, but this hand should be just called and you should even be pretty willing to give it up on 4th.