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Hand of the Week: Seven Card Stud Poker Before I start, I want to come clean: I really don’t play much 7 Card Stud (these days). It’s not my game – Hold’em is my game.
But it appears this doesn’t really matter online. Pretty much anyone can win real money with a little know-how and some practice. The key to playing 7 Card Stud on the internet is to know that most people are totally clueless about the game. They chase way too far and pay off too much, because compared to Hold’em, there are extra betting rounds. Sometimes people even call the final street with a hand they should fold in any poker variation.
For example, in one session I had two pair called by ace-high after the 7th card. Ace-high will almost never win – even heads-up in 7 card stud.
But I digress. Recently, I was playing 3-6 stud – a game at a limit lower than I play with Hold’em because I don’t consider myself all that great at 7 Card Stud.
One very interesting hand occurred this session when I was dealt a low split pair and was 2 suited. My pocket cards were 52s and I had a deuce on the board. I had to bring-in and there was no raise, but there were 3 callers.
Fourth Street brought me two pair with 52 showing (and 52 in the pocket). Of course, I would be silly not to bet when it was checked to me, and so I bet out. I was raised by the player immediately to my right in the action.
When the field folded, it was now heads-up and I had a decision to make. My opponent’s board cards showed K7 off suit, and I felt that my opponent likely had a pair of kings, but if he or she had more than that, I was in trouble. I reraised, and it was capped back to me, which at first scared me but then I thought about it – I realized that my opponent might be playing my board and not his or her own hand. 52 looks like a draw (eg. 34 in the pocket for an open-ender) and not much else. But my opponent saw a 3-bet and apparently didn’t give me credit for anything much. On the other hand, I was more than a little worried that I might be drawing against a better hand right now.
Fifth Street brought bricks for us both, and when my opponent fired a bet I simply called. Sixth Street paired my deuce on board, so if I was correct, I had my opponent in a bad spot, but he or she likely thought I had my same open-ended draw and now a low pair. I check/raised my opponent who called my bet. I knew I was winning for sure, because my opponent could not have a full house without having a pair on their board (which they did not have).
I bet again on the last card and was called. By the end it was revealed that I was correct – my opponent had capped on a pair of kings.
Heads-up in Texas Hold’em, making a pair of kings with the board when there’s no ace on the board is a strong hand – but you would certainly expect an opponent to reconsider their holding after a third bet. In 7 Card Stud heads-up, it could well have been a good hand too, but when your opponent 3-bets into you with cards that seem not to have high card strength (my 52 showing), you should probably assume it’s not a bluff or semi-bluff. My most likely holding was two pair, which is indeed what I had. The main reason a 3-bet semibluff is untenable is that there is typically less “free card play” in 7 Card Stud as opposed to Texas Hold'em. This is because I didn’t have position on my opponent per se; only because my board was lower than his did I act after him. Position would have changed if one of my cards paired or I caught an ace without my opponent’s board improving, and so my free card play would be dead.
How my opponent called down after my deuce paired and I check/raised him is beyond me. I guess he or she was confident in the ‘read’ that my pocket cards were 34. What is interesting is this: what would I have done when an ace or 6 had fallen. I would have raised or check/raised my opponent if I had caught an ace or 6 on my board because I knew what they were thinking. How funny it would have been for my opponent to make a lay-down, beaming that they were so smart as to have figured out my holding and saved themselves several bets?!
Nonetheless, my opponent called down and paid me off because I didn’t “make my straight”, leaving me not only with more chips, but with some interesting insight:
- I realized that he or she obviously played mostly Hold’em, and didn’t understand that in 7 Card, betting is different. For instance, you will often see people raising or reraising draws in position on the flop in Hold’em thinking they will get a free card on the turn. In theory, after the field folded, I most likely would have had position on the next card. So, my opponent might have thought I was raising for a card on a draw. My opponent played his single pair and no draws as if I was making the freecard play. But, 7 Card Stud is a game where position on the later betting rounds is always open to change. Moreover, the only thing his kings stood to beat was 34, because if I didn’t have 34 my most likely holding was 52 or, even worse for my opponent, low trips.
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My opponent demonstrated a common error for new 7 Card players – the game should not be played exactly like Hold’em, and subtle differences like the lowered potential for ‘free cards’ means that one must adjust strategy even in situations where the game looks alike. 7 Card is also not usually so aggressive a game, and so it’s unlikely that I would 3-bet less than two pair in this spot. After all, I slowed down on the next card, because I was shocked that my opponent kept firing. Since he or she had just the kings, this kind of action was overkill.
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It is much tougher to put your opponent on pocket cards in 7 Card Stud than in Hold’em, because there is no betting round based solely on pocket cards. This may explain why my opponent didn’t have the slightest clue what I held. Also, my opponent gained no information as to the strength of my pocket because they did not raise my low bring-in. Nonetheless, a good player can figure out their opponent’s likely holdings if they consider them in conjunction with the board cards. That is why it is of paramount importance to think about your opponents’ board and your own at all times, which is more cards to think about than in Hold’em. A good player will also remember which cards had been folded – my opponent might have thought to see all the 3s and 4s that were out on the board (and their own hand, ironically enough), and noticed the lack of 5s and 2s except on my own board. Putting me on 34, the only hand that the single pair of split kings could beat, is a fragile read based on what other information my opponent should have considered. Perhaps my opponent didn’t “think” I had 34 – they just hoped that’s what I had.
Online 7 Card Stud games are fairly easy to beat if you think seriously about what your opponent likely holds, but if you don’t want to be one of the players losing money quickly, you have to alter your thinking slightly from a Hold’em perspective. Most other players won’t make this adjustment, and therefore, most will easily be beaten by you.
Good luck at the tables!
 
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