7 Card Stud Poker Strategy
There aren’t a thousand and one ways to win at 7 Card Stud poker, but… two! You either have to have a strong hand or make your opponents believe it’s so and be persuasive enough to make them fold. From memory of 7 Card Stud poker players, there are no other options. So the principle here is to determine which of these two situations you find yourself in. Then, things happen fairly simply as we will see in the following article.
Analysis of the starting hands
We will see here how to determine if a starting hand is good. By default, if it is not, the player will automatically be in the second situation and will have to make his opponents believe that he has a good hand.
The quality of a hand depends on the position of its owner. If you are in the top two players after the “bring in”, then consider all three of your cards (the two cards that are face down and the one that is face up). The further you are in the hand, the more options there are. If everyone lies down before you, the consideration of your only visible card is sufficient. However, if other players have already completed the bring in and raised, all three cards in your hand count and must be excellent.
We won’t discuss rolled-up, which is the rare situation where you receive a three of a kind directly. We prefer to give an example of what has been stated above.
Example
Consider a hand consisting of two hearts, a nine and a seven, and a king of spades which is your face-up card. If you play immediately after the bring-in, forget it this time, your hand is very bad. Fold down. But, if you play in the last positions, your king can be a good deal. Assuming that other players have folded and you stay at three in the game. If the bring-in has an eight of diamonds and the other player has a four of spades, go ahead and raise, you have a chance to win.
The above example illustrates the variation in quality of a hand depending on the position of the player. Now let’s look at the option of “bluffing” if you don’t have a good hand.
“Bluffing effectively”
We are here in the second option when you want your opponents to think you hold good cards. How do you make them believe it? Just consider two variables: the number of players still in the game and the cards dealt on Fourth Avenue.
To simplify things a bit, if two or more players follow, don’t try anything except in exceptional cases. If only one player decides to call, however, look at what he or she gets, you could find yourself in a very favorable situation.
Be careful – and beware – of cards that are scary.
A scare card is a card that either improves your hand or allows you to catch another card that will improve your hand. For example, catching an appropriate jack on 4th Street to accompany a king adds tremendous value to your hand. Your opponent then has to worry about a possible straight or flush, as well as a possible big pair. Similarly, you need to worry when your opponent catches a scare card.
It is often okay to hunt.
Although you need to be selective in the hands you play, once you enter the pot, it is often possible to go all the way. This is sometimes true even if you’re sure you don’t have the best hand. Of course, if your hand becomes desperate, you must throw it away. But in many situations, you’ll have enough chances to win to make the chase worthwhile.
We wish you great hands in your next round of 7 Card Stud poker! Enjoy your poker!