7-Card Stud Newbie Hand Question(s)/Analysis

[big e]

Thanks for all the feedback :-) .
I have tightened up my starting hands and that appears to be helping.

I will also give Pokerstar and Pacific a try I haven’t played at either of these sites yet, and look into the books you have suggested.
Does anyone have any recommendations for bonus codes or rakebacks etc. for Pokerstar's/Pacific.

[Eddie901]

I tried to send you a private message but it didn't seem to work. Anyway, here it is...

Pacific have a "refer-a-friend" sign-up which I would be delighted to invite you with. That's because I'd get $150 but you'd only get $25. To do this I'd need your email address.

I believe they also have a first deposit bonus of 50% up to $100. If it's like their usual bonuses, it gets credited to your account straight away with no need to "play it off".

I don't think PokerStars has any bonuses at the moment or referral bonuses. They occasionally have reload bonuses. Having said that, there is an icon on the 2+2 sidebar which says "PokerStars" free $50, so you could try clicking that.

I have always found the Stud games at Pacific much softer than (almost) anywhere else.

[Johnny#5]

If you're playing on party with the quarter ante and the quarter bring-in then you can't play too tight or you'll just be anted to death. When I was playing that limit I found that you could play all sorts of hands profitably.

For example, I would have played your hand if another player didn't have an A showing. Third and fourth street bets are so cheap relative to pot size that it pays to speculate with just about anything reasonable. Since completions are rare and calls aplenty at these levels I usually played things like one-gappers such as 679, any hand that had 2 overs to the upcards, almost any ace, any pair, even some 2-flushes that have something else good about them like an overcard or something.

The key is to take a cheap card or two and get out quick if you don't hit anything. They will pay you off (or suck out on you) if you do, and if you play too tight with the large antes you just won't make enough winners. This playing style won't work at all at, for instance, 5/10 and you'll have to learn more tight aggressive play to succeed there. But adjusting to your environment is what good poker players do and the Party micro stud games are just as beatable as anyone else's, if not more so ... but you will have to accept high variance as a side effect. These games are very swingy ... dropping 50 bets or 100 bets or even more is routine in Party micro stud. Though winning this amount is routine as well [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Johnny#5]

In your hand, I would have folded third.

As played, I would have folded fourth. You can't afford to chase that straight and with a pair already out there and 3 callers a straight will end up a loser often anyhow.

As played, check-call fifth. These players are usually pretty good about telling you what they have, e.g. if the guy with the 8s bets into you your jacks are no good and you will need at least jacks up to showdown.

The bet on sixth is fine.

On seventh the bet is good as you will get called by lower two pairs but you will virtually never be raised by a worse hand, especially with another player left to act. Thus you need to fold to this raise on seventh, regardless of how much it might pain you. Calling the raise is just throwing away a bet. River raises usually come from five-card hands (straights, flushes, boats) and trips will usually raise too. You will run into the occasional ambitious player that will raise you here with aces up, it doesn't matter, you are just as beat and need to fold.

When Seat 1 raised into your board I would have guessed his most likely hand to be a straight. He is raising expecting you to call with jacks up ... which makes this a definite fold. You might, if possibly folding the best hand scares you, check-call seventh instead. Some players will bet their two pair on the end, but a lot more will call a bet with their weak two pair than will bet when checked to. You can't check fold so you need to at least call here.

[Johnny#5]

Another thing: look at dead cards when evaluating what to play. You don't want to play 679, regardless of how cheap third is, if there are two dead eights and a dead ten. A hand like A44 is playable at these limits, even if there is a dead 4, but a hand like 448 is not if a 4 is dead. The kicker is important ... aces up will win frequently enough but 8s up won't. This kind of stud plays differently than a lot of people are used to. It's kind of a crapshoot really, you never know what you're gonna see on the end. If you play it enough, though, you will get a feel for it and realize just how exploitable it is.