How to Beat Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better

At the Lower Limits

By Paul Kammen

Copyright 2005, Paul Kammen Authors Note: The information in this book is intended to help you become a winning stud 8 poker player. While you can certainly win a good deal of money at poker, there will be inevitable losses over the short-term. Theres a big difference between short-term losses and long-term, consistent losses that cause you to lose your entire savings. If you believe you or someone you know may have a gambling problem, please contact: Gamblers Anonymous International Service Office P.O. Box 17173 Los Angeles, CA 90017 (213) 386-8789 - Fax (213) 386-0030 Email: isomain@gamblersanonymous.org Website: http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/

Table of Contents Acknowledgements......................................................................................6 Introduction..................................................................................................7 Chapter 1: What to Know Before You Go..............................................8 Getting Started.............................................................................................8 The buy-in..................................................................................................10 Keep your cool...........................................................................................11 Know the cards that are out.......................................................................12 Know the odds...........................................................................................13 Know your opponents................................................................................17 Position......................................................................................................19 Low vs. High..............................................................................................21 Example Hands..........................................................................................21 Chapter 2: Third Street...........................................................................22 Trips...........................................................................................................24 Three to a Small Straight Flush.................................................................26 Aces............................................................................................................27 Three to a Small Straight and Three to a Small Flush...............................28 Playable Low Hands..................................................................................30 Pairs: 8s and Lower with an Ace or Small Kicker.....................................34 Big Pairs: Kings and Queens.....................................................................37 Three-Straights to the High........................................................................43 Quiz on Third Street Play..........................................................................43 Summary of Third Street Play...................................................................47 Chapter 3: Fourth Street.........................................................................49 Quads.........................................................................................................50 Four-Straights and Four-Flushes to a Low................................................52 Trips...........................................................................................................54 Four-Flushes Three or Fewer to a Low...................................................58 Four-Straights Three or fewer to a Low.................................................62 Two Pair.....................................................................................................64 Aces............................................................................................................69 Big Pairs.....................................................................................................74 Low Draws.................................................................................................77 Low Draws with a Pair..............................................................................84 Three-Lows................................................................................................87 Quiz on Fourth Street Play.........................................................................90 Summary of Fourth Street..........................................................................95 Chapter 4 Fifth Street...........................................................................96 Monster Highs............................................................................................98 Monster Lows..........................................................................................101 Made Lows...............................................................................................104 Flushes.....................................................................................................110 Full Houses..............................................................................................114 Straights...................................................................................................116

Trips.........................................................................................................121 Four-Lows................................................................................................126 Two Pair...................................................................................................134 Pairs..........................................................................................................140 Flush Draws.............................................................................................144 Three-Lows..............................................................................................148 Quiz on Fifth Street Play..........................................................................148 Summary of Fifth Street Play..................................................................153 Chapter 5 Sixth Street........................................................................154 Monsters...................................................................................................156 Small Straights.........................................................................................159 Made Lows...............................................................................................163 Full Houses..............................................................................................169 Flushes.....................................................................................................171 High Straights..........................................................................................176 Trips.........................................................................................................180 Two Pair...................................................................................................183 Pairs..........................................................................................................185 Low Draws...............................................................................................189 Flush and Straight Draws.........................................................................192 Quiz on Sixth Street Play.........................................................................192 Summary of Sixth Street..........................................................................196 Chapter 6 Seventh Street....................................................................197 Monster Highs and Lows.........................................................................198 Flushes.....................................................................................................201 Straights...................................................................................................203 Trips.........................................................................................................205 Two Pair...................................................................................................207 Pairs..........................................................................................................209 Low Hands...............................................................................................211 Quiz on Seventh Street Play....................................................................214 Summary of Seventh Street Play.............................................................218 Chapter 7 Additional Concepts.........................................................219 Shorthanded Play.....................................................................................219 Tilting.......................................................................................................220 Only Going Low......................................................................................221 Semi-Bluffs and Pure Bluffs....................................................................222 What Level?.............................................................................................223 Online or Brick-and-Mortar?...................................................................224 Multiple Tables........................................................................................225 Ante Structure..........................................................................................225 Tight vs. Loose Games............................................................................226 Reading Hands.........................................................................................227 The Last Word.........................................................................................228 Appendix A Odds Information..........................................................229 Odds for Hitting a Low Qualifier.............................................................230

Flush Odds...............................................................................................232 Straight Odds...........................................................................................235 General Odds for Hitting Various Hands.................................................240 Appendix B Glossary of Poker Terms..............................................241 Appendix C Ranking of Low Hands.................................................247

Acknowledgements Many people have given me help and support in writing this book. A big thank you goes out to my parents, Dennis and Mary and sister Anna for their support. I also want to thank my friends, Chris, Ryan, Mark and Jenny for their encouragement as I went about writing this book. My college and friend Ashley Adams also needs to be thanked, as he gave me some great advice as I went through the writing process. Mark Mahn was another big help in getting this book done. A poker buddy who wins many an online tournament, he gave great feedback on various sections and helped clarify some of the writing to make it sound a little better. Thanks Mark! Dr. Paul Dreyer was another huge help for me in getting this book done. Dr. Dreyer is a mathematician at the RAND corporation who put together odds information for this book. General odds information is available anywhere, but its better to know how the cards that are out and people involved affect your hand. Thanks to Dr. Dreyer, I was able to include more in-depth information to help the reader determine what makes a good and bad bet. Jan Fisher was also very helpful. The Pokerfish, who is the official statistician for the World Poker Tour, has helped me with my poker over the past few years and given me some great advice. Even though shes usually on a plane, working an event, or helping with a poker cruise, she always has time to respond to my poker questions.

Introduction At first glance, Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better seems like a very difficult game. Part of the game is easy enough to figure out: the high hand always wins at least half of the pot. But to the new player, figuring out what makes a good or a poor low hand, and the notion of having two hands in seven cards can be intimidating. Even when a player has knowledge of low hands, many struggle with changing playing style from games where the high hand takes down the entire pot. For these reasons, some are fearful of giving the game a try. Others play the game, but play it poorly. So, what is it that makes Seven Card Stud 8-or-better a great game? Simply put, I believe it to be the game where the player who knows how to play the game well can make the most money, especially at the lower limits, where games can be filled with poor players. Poor players assume many hands are playable, when in fact (as with regular stud) you have to be very careful with what you play. Even hands that are playable can quickly become unplayable. Nonetheless, people continue to play them, believing they have a great chance to at least get half the pot. One reason people play so many hands is because they become deluded into thinking they have a great chance to get at least half of the pot. The problem with that line of thinking is more often than not, the times they get none of the pot will outweigh the few times they do get the pot and even then it will only be half of the pot, not the entire pot (known as scooping a pot). This, of course, benefits you, because by the time you finish this book you will know what hands to play and how to play them. In my first book, How to Beat Low Limit Seven Card Stud Poker, I presented an easy-to-understand guide to playing Seven Card Stud at the lower limits. Like that book,

this one too is designed for those looking to play the game well at the lower limits. The book is also designed so you can use it as a quick reference guide so that when you are finished reading it, you can look up specific hands. This book will give you an introduction to the game, focus on strategies, and take you street by street through the hands that are playable and explain how to play them. Also included are quizzes for you to take at the end of each chapter and explanations of additional concepts to make you a winning stud 8 player. Finally, I have included odds for draws that show how players involved in a pot and the number of cards that are live affect your hand. Though odds were included in my first book, I felt the more odds the better, and via a newsgroup, rec.gambling.poker, I got in touch with Dr. Paul Dreyer, a mathematics professor. Many a poker book has useful odds information, but it is very limited. For instance, how do the cards that are out that affect the odds you will hit your hand? More importantly for the high-low player, what about those odds of hitting your low hand? Youll find these numbers in the appendix, so you can easily look up and find what the odds are that you will make various hands. One can never have enough information, especially when its your money thats going into the pot! So, lets get started in looking at the game. Chapter 1 What to Know Before You Go Getting Started Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better is very similar to Seven Card Stud. Up to eight players can play and each player is dealt three cards. Two of the cards are down (your hole cards) and one is dealt face-up. The lowest up card (the board card) is forced to initiate the betting, which is one half of one small bet. There can be two styles of betting.

Most are structured limit games, meaning all of the betting is structured in two increments. For instance, in a $4/8 game, bets would be in increments of $4 until Fifth Street, when all bets become $8. Note that in regular stud if you or an opponent has an open pair on Fourth Street, a double bet is allowed; in stud 8 that does not apply all bets are small until Fifth Street. On Third Street, however, the initial bet is smaller as the forced-bring in is less then the small bet, usually one half. So, in a $4/8 game, a bring-in would be $2, and one could raise or complete the betting to the full amount, $4. There can be up to three or four raises before the betting round is capped; but when two players remain many card rooms allow for unlimited raises. The other style of betting is a spreadlimit game, such as $1-5. In this style, there is usually no ante and the bring-in is a dollar. One can bet any amount at any time. On Third Street, to stay in the hand a player must call or raise the bring-in bet, which initiates the action. Action goes from right to left until it gets back to the person who brought it in. The remaining players are dealt a fourth card, which is known as Fourth Street. From this point on, the highest hand on the board starts the betting, which proceeds from right to left. Once the fifth card is dealt, the betting limit increases, so that on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Streets betting will always be the large bet in a structured limit game. The fifth and sixth cards are dealt face-up, and the last card (also known as the river card) is dealt face down. At this point, once betting concludes, the best high hand and low hands split the pot, with the best high hand winning it all if there is no hand that qualifies for the low. What makes Seven Card Stud Eight-or-Better different from Seven Card Stud is that the pot can be won entirely by one player, or split between two players. The highest

hand will always win at least half of the pot. One can also qualify for the low end of the pot by having the best low hand. To qualify for a low hand, you can have any group of cards of eight or less. The best low hand is when you have the ace through the five, which is also known as the wheel. One common mistake some make when new to the game is assuming two low cards of the same rank can play, so you must remember that each card needs to be separate. For instance, the hand 22456 would not qualify for the low; all you have is a pair of deuces. The hand A2346 would qualify for the low (and this is the second best low hand you can have). This may sound confusing, but it is easy to get the hang of. One thing you need to keep in mind as you play is what is a good low hand, and what is highly vulnerable to other low hands (which is what makes getting rid of the second-best hand so important in this game). To help you, a list of low hands from best to worst is listed in the appendix. You also must remember that while only five cards make a hand, you can combine the cards to qualify for the high end of the pot and the low. Take this hand. You hold: Ad, 2d, 5d, Qd and Kd. You have an ace high flush. But suppose your other two cards are the 4c and 7c. You also have a seven-low, so can use five of the cards for the flush, and combine five of the cards to qualify for the low hand. This is the best situation to be in, and is the key to success at 7-card stud 8 or better: scooping the entire pot. The Buy-In The minimum buy-in varies from ten times one small bet to ten times one large bet. So, in a $4/8 game, that is $40 or $80. Action in a high-low stud game can be quick, and you can see your chip stack rise and fall very quickly. That being the case, you want to have enough chips in front of you to survive rough beats so when you do get involved

10

in a pot, you always have enough to raise with. Nothing is worse than hitting a beautiful hand you know will win you a lot of money and not having the chips to bet with. Always buy more chips when your stack is getting low. For example, if you are playing in a $4/8 game and below $20 in chips, buy more if you intended to continue to play for some time longer. Of course, if you are running low on chips, and have decided that should you be forced all-in you will leave if you lose the hand, you can continue playing short-stacked, as you will never be forced out of a hand. If unable to call a bet that is made you are declared all in. The dealer will take your chips, place them in the center, and take the appropriate amount of chips from other players, creating the main pot. From that point on, you will continue to receive cards until the river. Other players will have the chance to bet, and will compete for a side pot. Keep Your Cool Poker is a game of knowing odds, when to bet and when to fold, but as anyone who has ever played the game knows, poker is also a game of emotion. It is easy to get excited about heading to the card room for a relaxing evening of poker, and be in a great mood, but when the cards dont come, or when you have some good hands that lose to slightly better hands, the mood starts to change. Some players see their chip stack dwindle, and become tempted to chase and play more pots. This is an easy trap to fall into when playing a game that has a split pot. Players become deluded into playing hands that they should not, thinking that they will win half of the pot with the hand, simply because two of the three cards they start with are low or suited. Or, they stay past Fourth Street when their hands do not improve, ignoring the bad odds they are getting and telling themselves that there are still three cards to come and anything can happen.

11

Unfortunately for them, what usually happens is they lose more money, and after the completion of the hand have to head for the door or the ATM. Playing this way is called going on tilt, and it can happen to anyone, even someone who has played for years and has a perfect knowledge of all of the odds. There are two ways of dealing with emotions at the poker table. One is to let them influence your game, become angry and attempt to get back at a player who beat you on a close hand by chasing cards. That way is not healthy for your bankroll. The other way is to suck it up. When you get beat by a player on a close hand, keep your cool and say good hand. If you feel your emotions are beginning to get the best of you, get up and take a walk. You can always leave a game for any reason. You do not have to worry about someone taking your chips, and most card rooms allow you to leave for up to a half-hour. So, take whatever time you need to regain your composure emotions are fine, but emotions that cause you to lose money are bad news. Know the Cards that are Out The most important part of stud and high-low stud is knowing the cards that are out. The reason is simple. If you have no knowledge that the cards you need to make your hand are gone, what good does it do you to attempt to draw to the hand? What may seem like a good hand might be worthless, and because you know your cards to improve are dead you can dump a hand rather than chase after cards that are not there. Knowing the cards that are out also helps you in placing your opponents on hands, especially if you are trying to figure out if they are drawing to a full house. This may sound like a lot of hard work, especially if you are a math phobic. But its really much easier than it sounds. For one, you need not worry about the cards that

12

are out and have not been folded they are there on the table and there is no need to memorize them. As the cards are folded simply put them in some order that is easy to remember. For me, as the cards are folded after each betting round, I rearrange them in order mentally from the lowest to the highest, repeating duplicate cards. This may sound difficult, but it is rare that you will have to memorize more than 10 cards, and the more you do it, the easier it will become. A good way to practice is to pay attention to the game when you are not involved in a hand, and work on memorizing the cards as they are folded. You can also practice at home with a deck of cards, turning cards over one by one and memorizing them as they are folded. If you continue to struggle, at the very least know what cards affecting your hand are gone. There is also no rule against taking notes at a table (though this is easier to do online when you can type) so you can write down cards too if you believe it will help. However, I recommend doing this more online as opposed to in a public card room unless you feel it is absolutely necessary, because if you attempt to write down each card as it is folded you will miss tells from your opponents, or miss other cards as they are folded because you are too busy writing. The bottom line: do not become overly worried about learning how to master this part of the game. Memorizing dead cards is much more difficult than it sounds, and with a little practice will become easier and easier. Know the Odds Just as you need to know the cards that are out, you need to understand the odds. Doing this will not only help you know what makes a good bet and a bad bet, but also help you to figure out whether or not you are a favorite or an underdog against your opponent when you put him on a hand.

13

There are four types of odds you need to know. One is the basic odds of making a hand. For instance, when you have four to a flush, your odds of hitting the flush by the river are about 1.25 to 1. In the back of the book are basic odds tables showing the chances for improvement based on no knowledge of unseen cards, but also included are odds for hitting various hands based on how the cards come out. Obviously, the more cards you need that are out, the worse your situation becomes. Along with looking at the basic odds for completing a hand, you have to know what the pot odds are. These odds look at how much bang you are getting for your buck. Suppose there is $20 in the pot, and it costs you $4 to call a bet. That means the pot is giving you odds of 5-to-1. The bigger this number the better, because it means you are investing less of your money as it relates to the pot with the chance for a huge payoff. The importance of knowing these odds is that when you compare them to the basic odds of making a hand, you want the pot odds to outweigh the actual odds you will hit the hand. In the example of the $4 bet with a $20 pot, if the odds of you getting the hand you are drawing to were worse than 5-to-1, you are making a bad bet. But, suppose you have a 4-to-1 chance of hitting your hand. Knowing you are getting pot odds of 5-to-1, you make that call, because if you made the same bet with the same hand numerous times, you would come out ahead. Comparing pot odds to the basic odds of hitting a hand is black and white in most forms of poker, where you are playing for the whole pot. But, in a game where the pot is sometimes split, things become more complicated. As a result, you have to be more careful in a split-pot game, because what looks like the right calculation and a good bet may be an error, because you are assuming that you will win the entire pot. Its always

14

best to err on the side of caution until you develop your skills and are able to put opponents on hands before wrongly assuming you will scoop. Small flushes and straights are the best stud-8 hands, so when drawing to them you can often assume that you will scoop. But remember: unless absolutely certain that youll be scooping, dont make a bad bet by wrongly calculating pot odds. Implied odds also need to be considered. These odds are based on the probability of winning more money later in the hand and make the pot odds appear better or worse. You can look at implied odds as a ratio between what you expect you will win if you make your hand against what it might cost you to continue to play. Returning to the example of $4 being required to bet or call a $20 pot, the pot odds you will recall are 5to-1. Suppose you are drawing to a flush, and you suspect your opponent is drawing to a straight (well assume that both are high and the winner will scoop the pot). If you miss your hand, you simply fold. But if you hit your hand and your opponent hits his, you know you will be getting another $4 bet from him (or perhaps $8 if you check-raise him). What this does to the pot odds is make them better for you, so your implied odds are now 6-to-1. Implied odds can also be used to figure out if the pot odds are better than they seem. This is known as reverse implied odds. You want to consider these when you have a good hand, but one that is not likely to get much better. If there is $20 in the pot and the bets are at $4 and your opponent has been calling, drawing to a hand you suspect if made will beat you, he is going to stay involved. So you will have to bet $4 on Sixth and Seventh Streets, making $8 total. (Youll be betting if you think you have the best hand; if he raises you, you can dump it, but hell call trying to outdraw you). What this does to

15

the pot odds though is make them worse, because in reality it is costing you $8, so the implied odds make the pot odds 2.5-to-1 as opposed to 5-to-1. Knowing reverse implied odds is useful when you know your opponents well, so you can dump a good hand when you suspect your opponent has made his. One more thing to consider is expected value, or EV for short. This is helpful when you compare how your hand stacks up to how your opponents hand stacks up. You will find this percentage expressed in the examples given in this book. Obviously, the higher the number the better, but how do you know when you have a positive expected value or a negative expected value? Take the example of two people flipping a coin. You bet $5 that it will be tails; your friend bets $5 that it will be heads. Over the short run, either one of you could win or lose money. But if you did this many times over and over again, neither one of you would come out ahead. Someone could come out ahead or down, but it wont be significant over the long run. Now suppose that you agree to give your friend $5 every time its heads, but he will pay you $7 each time its tails. Here, your expected value is greater, because while you still might lose in the short term, if you make this bet time and time again you will come out ahead. So how does expected value relate to poker? The percentage tells you whether or not your hand is a long-term winner or loser, and it is related to how much you have put in the pot. It tells you how much of the pot you are expected to win at a particular point in the hand. For instance, suppose there are four people involved in the pot, and you have each invested $5. You know what each of your opponents hold at this stage in the game, and run a simulation based on your hand against the hands held by your opponents. If the EV is greater than 25%, then your hand is a long term winner, because you have invested

16

$5 in the pot but are a favorite to win more than $5 at a particular point in the hand, which is a positive investment. Obviously, the higher the EV, the better shape you are in because you are getting a better return on your money. Reading through the odds section, you may be thinking you need a degree in math to understand them. But, not to worry. Its much more complicated than it sounds. Have a general knowledge of the odds of making your hand, and be able to estimate what is in the pot to know what is a good bet and a bad bet, and ask yourself If I hit this hand and my opponent hits his, am I going to make money or lose money? Know Your Opponents Knowing all the odds information in the world is great, but it will not help you much if you are not aware of how your opponents play. Is he a maniac, playing hand after hand in hopes of getting half the pot? If so, when heads up against him, you can be slightly more liberal in calling his bets, knowing that he will pay you off when you hit your hands because hell be sticking around until the end. Is he a rock, playing tightly and only premium hands? If that is the case, then you will have to tighten up your game as well and be more selective in choosing what hands to play when heads up against him, but can attempt more bluffs and semi-bluffs. The best way to gain knowledge of your opponents is to always be watching the game. At my favorite card room and at nearly every other card room and casino, there are countless things to watch: people going by, ball games, horse races, etc. Some people even spend time between hands talking on the phone, reading a book, or checking out the daily racing form. When you do this you are passing up getting information on your opponents. So, in between hands, work on studying the cards that are out and memorizing

17

them, and watch how your opponents play. Later on, when you are involved in the pot, you can use the knowledge you gained to extract more money from the loose opponents and save yourself money on marginal hands against tighter opponents. Tight-Aggressive How should you play the game? Nearly every poker book out there says the same thing, and mine is no different: tight-aggressive. What that means is that you are not going to be playing many hands, but when you do, you want to bang away when youve got the goods, and not let drawing hands stick around on the cheap. Playing this way prevents you from losing money chasing mediocre hands but causes players who are loose to give you more of their money. Other styles of play include loose-aggressive, otherwise known as the play of a maniac. The maniac will play many hands, and likes to raise to get action. Sometimes a maniac can make a nice short-term score, building up a huge pot with a mediocre hand that suddenly turns into gold. But in the long run, the amount of money that he puts into the pot will outweigh what he gains. Another style is tight-passive, otherwise known as the rock. You may have a tendency to play this way when just starting out I know it is certainly how I played when I made my first trip to the card room! The tight-passive player is wise in being very selective of what hands he chooses to play. Unfortunately, he does not know gold when its looking at him in the face, unless its completely obvious like an A2345 straight or aces-full. What the tight-passive player does is simply call rather than raise. Two bad things happen by doing that. One is you cost yourself money. Remember implied odds? Looking at them, if you are drawing to a full house and already have trips or two pair and your opponent is drawing to a flush, you want to bet, because

18

you are getting the best of it. By betting or raising when you believe your opponent will stick with you, you can get more of his money your way. Sadly, the rock remembers the bad beats, and doesnt want to play the hand unless hes 100% sure it will be the winner. Rocks can eek out small profits, but will never win the kind of money that they should. The other bad thing by playing like a rock is you let drawing hands in cheap if you play too passively. Take two pair against a probable flush draw and straight draw going high. Two pair is one of the most difficult hands to play. Many just want to check and call with it until they fill up. But doing that causes drawing hands to get free cards, which is a very bad thing for you. You already hold a decent hand, so must bet it and make the drawing hands pay if they want to stick around. Sure, they might make the hand and you might miss yours, but over the long haul this play is going to make you money. Finally, there is the loose-passive player, which is about as bad as it gets. Such a player loves to play many hands, but even when they make hands have a difficult time betting. Players like this are known as calling stations because that is about all they ever do! No raising or folding, just calling no matter what and hoping for the best come the river. You will find many of these in stud-8 games at the low limits. Position Position is not quite as important in stud games as it is in hold em when you will act in the same spot over the course of the hand. Position changes frequently in stud, so if you are first to act after three cards you might be last to act after four cards. But while you cant control the position that you are in, you need to make sure to use the position you are in to your advantage.

19

For the most part, you want to be one of the last players to act. This is especially true if you are going for the low because you will know how many others players might be going low as well. The best thing about being one of the last players to act is that you will have more information at your disposal, and you can use this information to your advantage. When you are first to act, you have no idea what the other players might do. Take the example of a hand like 457 with two suited cards. This is a marginally playable hand if you are late to act and can get in on the cheap, but if you are in early position you would have to dump this (unless it were suited) if it looks like several low cards will be playing as well or if an ace is yet to act, because theres a strong chance you will be in worse position than some of these other players. In late position if they have just limped in, you can as well because you do not have to fear a raise. While most of the time it is best to be in late position, there are a few occasions where it is best to be the first player to act. This includes on Third and Fifth Streets when you are trying to eliminate players. At low limits, many players have a hard time dumping a hand when they have put money in the pot, especially in a split-pot game. If they do not have any money in the pot though, they have an easier time dumping the hand. So if you have a hand like KKA, your raise on Third Street would be more effective if it is done before others have acted, because they will be more apt to fold. While you still want to play this hand fast and raise in late position (usually well be talking about big pairs in a bit!) your raise is not as likely to eliminate as many players as you would like because there is the mentality that because they have already put in two dollars, it is just two more to call. At Fifth Street, betting limits increase, so at times a raise from an early position or bet if first to act will be more effective too because it will

20

cost a player more to stay involved in the pot. Despite these benefits of early position, nine times out of ten it is still best to be the last to act, because you have much more information at your disposal which you can use to your advantage. Low vs. High Low hands are better than high hands in this game for one reason: a low hand can qualify for the high, but the high has a much harder time qualifying for the low. Remember that winning half of the pot is great, but what makes you money at stud 8 is when you scoop and win the entire pot. You have a much better chance of doing that with a hand like 234 than JJ8. In regular 7-stud, its better to have the jacks than the straight draw, but in stud 8, jacks are a very dangerous hand that you will usually dump. The jacks have only one card to the low, but with three to the low, the straight draw has a good chance of making a low and a decent chance as well of making the high, and thus scooping. You are only playing for half of the pot with your high hand. While there will certainly be times you will proceed with a high hand, the low hands you will play more for the simple fact that they will make you more money. For that reason, you will have to adjust your game and remember you can not play this game exactly in the same manner as regular 7-card stud. High hands can scoop too if there is no low qualifier, so when you have them your goal becomes eliminating players going low, but you have a much better shot to scoop when you go low. Example Hands In some sections, example hands are given. These are presented to help clarify what makes a good move at a given time, such as a raise or a fold. The probabilities listed after each hand were calculated using www.twodimes.net, a website that allows the user

21

to simulate 500,000 hands and gives probabilities showing how the hand would hold up if played 500,000 times against what opponents hold. The numbers will fluctuate based on what suits are held and what opponents hold, but are presented as examples of situations you will find yourself in at the stud 8 table. Each example gives the suit for each hand because even when you or your opponent do not have a possibility for a flush, what suits are out cause the odds to change slightly. The small letters after each card indicate the suit (4h = four of hearts). The cards underlined are the hidden cards that are in the hole, so in the hand 4s 4c 8d, the fours are your hole cards. Chapter 2 - Third Street Introduction As with any poker game, you want to maximize your wins and reduce your losses. When getting involved in a pot, you want to make sure you are getting the best of it, taking advantage when the odds are in your favor and getting out of the way when they are not. That is tougher than it sounds, especially in a game like Stud 8. What makes it difficult, especially for the player who is just starting out, is the illusion of winning half of the pot. There are many pots that you will split over the many hours you spend at the Stud 8 table. While those are nice, what is going to put your win and loss statistics in the black will be the pots that you scoop. Numerous players play hands that should not be played because they believe they have a good chance to win just half of the pot. The problem with that line of thinking is that while they will win half of a pot here and half of a pot there, there will be many times as well when they are the second best high or low hand, and as you know, second best gets you nothing in poker but a shorter stack of chips in front of you.

22

There will be times when you will play a hand on Third Street that is only going in one direction, but the hands that have the potential to make you the most money will have potential in both directions. Such hands include three small cards to a straight and three small cards to a flush. All of the playable hands and how to play them will be covered in the pages that follow. Another thing you need to remember is that while this game looks like regular seven card stud, and while much remains the same from seven stud, there are differences. Due to many pots being split, you can not play as many high starting hands as you would in regular stud when the high hand wins the entire pot. So you will have to learn how to change your playing style, and not be tempted to call with hands such as 229 or AQK. Again, all this will be covered in the pages that follow. Just as you will learn how to play the hands you are going to stay with, you will also learn why some hands are simply unplayable. Finally, before we get into looking at specific hands, remember that the most important decision you make will be made at Third Street. It is here that you will either get involved in the pot or sit on the sidelines. Because once involved it is tough to fold for many players, you have to carefully select what you play. When making the decision to get involved, you want to have what you think is a great hand in one direction or a good hand that has the potential to turn into a hand that will win you the entire pot. This section examines all of the playable hands starting with the best and proceeding to the hands that are marginal, and looks at how they should be played. It concludes by looking at some of the hands that might be playable in regular seven card

23

stud, but not in stud 8, and there will be a short quiz at the end to test your knowledge of Third Street. Dont worry though, the answers follow and cheating is just fine. Trips Rolled up trips are about as good as it gets in regular stud, and are also a very powerful Third Street hand in stud 8. It is highly unlikely that you are behind, and this hand has a great chance to win at least half of the pot without improvement. There are two schools of thought as to how to play this hand. Some people prefer to play trips fast, raising or completing a bet, following the logic that this is a good hand, so it should be protected. Other players always just call with the hand, waiting until Fourth or Fifth Street to start betting and raising, as they want to keep people in and set a trap. How should you play the hand? The answer falls somewhere in between and depends on the situation you are in and how big your hand is. Anytime you have trips on the first three cards, it is huge but the bigger the better. The safe play is to just raise and re-raise anytime you have trips. Some feel this is too conservative, but due to the split-pot nature of the game, you need to do what you can to increase your potential of scooping the pot. At low limits, stud 8 games often see a lot of action, and a lot of people want to see Fourth Street on the cheap, so they will stay in with anything. Because many people have a hard time differentiating this game from regular 7-stud games, they will play trash hands like 9Q9. A raise will force them out. Trips are fantastic to start with, but the smaller they are, the more you must protect them because there are still four more cards to come. You want other hands, especially those going for the high, to drop before they can outdraw you.

24

The Benefits of the Re-Raise Re-raising is particularly effective in causing people to drop. While many like to see Fourth Street for up to a small bet, a re-raise causes people at all levels to pause and think. A great situation is when a player completes the bring-in bet and the action gets to you and some players are yet to act, because you can make it one full big bet. When people are yet to act, they have to call one full big bet to stay in, and unless they have something really good, they are not going to do that. At times at low limits, it can be very frustrating when you raise on Third Street because many people stay in. The problem is raising isnt as meaningful here as it is on the later streets, because raises are done in smaller amounts. In the $4/8 game for instance, the bring-in is $2. You can raise to $4, but not to $8. While you always want to be later in position to act, if many people have just called by the time it gets to you, completing it to $4 may have little effect on getting them out, because they will not care what you have they just care that they put in $2, and $2 more is no problem to call. Hence, re-raising is more valuable, especially when someone has yet to act, because its going to cost more to stay involved. That being said, still complete or raise every time you can with small trips, because even if you just get one player to drop, thats good it is one less person who can outdraw you. A key to success is making drawing hands pay and never giving away a free card unless you are setting a trap. Deception As you feel more comfortable at the high-low stud tables, you can call or limp-in with your trips because you can set a trap for your opponents. This is the case when you have eights or less, or three aces. 25

A great part about stud is that you get your own cards. You dont have to deal with community cards. So you can use the information you get from other players cards that are showing, and you can also use the cards that are out in front of you to manipulate your opponents. Following the advice of raising and playing small trips aggressively is safe, and highly recommended if you are new to the game, and it is always the best play in regular 7-card stud. But if you have a door card of eight or less and just call, what that says to other players is that you are going low. You are putting yourself at risk for other players getting lucky, but it is a justifiable risk, especially if you suspect others might be going high too. They will not even worry about you, and you will have a nice surprise for them by the time you get to the showdown. On Fourth Street, you can confuse your opponents even more depending on what card comes out. In conclusion when playing rolled-up trips: COMPLETE or RERAISE frequently as you want to eliminate opponents CALL if you want to try and set a trap, and hide the strength of what you hold. Trips are just about as good as it gets in stud 8, and usually get half of the pot even without improvement. Unfortunately, there will be times when you cost yourself a stack of chips. This is the kind of hand that most of the time you will be playing until the end, and unless you win a stack or lose a stack, you probably did not play the hand right. Three to a Small Straight Flush A close second to starting with rolled-up trips is when you start with three cards to a small straight flush. The beauty of such hands is that they have so many ways to improve. You can draw to a straight, to a flush, or to a low-qualifying hand.

26

With hands like these, some players like to complete the betting or re-raise. Do this if the game is loose and you will get many callers, but the best move is to just call and keep people involved, as this improves your odds. Three small cards to a straight flush is fantastic, so keep others involved. When more people are in, you have the potential for a huge payoff later on should you improve. Aces Play of aces is similar to how they are played in regular 7-card stud fast. Aces alone often win a pot in stud-8, but they might not improve. Therefore, you want to narrow the field as much as possible, and make people pay if they are going to stick around to try to outdraw you. Re-raising is particularly effective as it will eliminate other players who have yet to act. Aces are great, but best if they are heads up. With a low kicker, aces are even better, because you have a better chance of improving to a hand that will qualify for the low half of the pot. That being said, do not get just limp with aces when your kicker is low you still want to complete or re-raise the betting, because you have to be thinking that you are going for the high half of the pot. Odds are not in your favor that three out of four of the cards yet to come will be low, so you need to protect what youve got a great high starting hand. Try to eliminate the field by raising and re-raising because this is the kind of hand that plays best heads-up. You can dump aces on rare occasions if you believe you are up against a player who is rolled-up, but still gamble with this hand and play it aggressively by raising and re-raising. The only time you want to get away from this hand is if you are at a table where there has been multiple bets (three or four raises) and you have a high kicker. For instance, a four brings it in, a king raises, a five re-raises, a six re-raises, and now its to 27

you. You can cap it at four bets (though some card rooms only allow for three raises) or get out. Aces are gems, but here you need to get away from them because your kicker is poor. If your kicker was low, go ahead and cap the betting. This is a very rare situation however, and aces are almost always playable. Quick tips for play of aces on Third Street: COMPLETE or RAISE most of the time, doing all you can to narrow the field. Aces do better with less people involved in the pot. CALL when you believe you are up against trips or that a raise will not eliminate those involved. FOLD rarely, only when you believe you are up against a player who is rolled up or facing multiple bets (three or more). Three to a Small Straight and Three to a Small Flush Having three cards to a small straight or three suited cards to a small flush are also great hands. Complete if the game is loose, but most of the time just limp. By just limping in and keeping many players involved, you give yourself a great chance to win a bigger pot than if you scared people out with aggressive play. Also being a drawing hand, you build up the pot and get better pot odds for your money. However, if you have had a couple of players already enter the pot by the time its gotten to you (for instance, a deuce brings it in, an ace re-raises, a king calls) you might consider a re-raise and jam the pot. Such action might eliminate other opponents, but it is worth a gamble because you have a strong hand that is going both ways. The deuce might go, but the ace and king will likely call.

28

One thing you do not want to do with three cards to a small straight or small flush is be heads-up. You certainly do with aces, but you are at a disadvantage if you are heads up with a small straight draw. You will not make as much money if you improve and hit your hand later, and if up against the high hand and neither one of you improves as the hand progresses, he will continue to bet his hand. You will not be getting the right odds to call. But, if you have more players involved, if you do not improve your small straight or small flush, you can take another card if not improving on Fourth Street because more players will be involved in the pot. To briefly summarize play of small-straights and small-flushes: COMPLETE the bring-in if the game is loose. Simply completing is not going to eliminate very many players, especially if you are one of the later players to act and there are several people already involved in the pot. RAISE it up if it has been completed and two or more people (not counting the forced bring-in) are involved in the pot. They probably are not going to fold having completed and raised, and with such a great hand you might as well gamble with it. Your aggressive play might also buy you a free card on Fourth Street, especially if your opponents are not very savvy or paying close attention. CALL frequently with this hand. By limping in, you are not putting too much in the pot should you not improve, and you are getting better value for your chips that are in the pot as this is a drawing hand. Remember, small straights and flushes do better in a multi-way pots, and you do not want to play them

29

heads-up, especially against a high hand who will make you pay if he sees you do not improve on Fourth Street. Playable Low Hands Some low hands are a no-brainer to play. They include solid lows such as three to a small straight and three to a small flush. Those have already been covered. Other low hands are also playable, but depend on other factors such as the presence of an ace, the number of low cards yet to act and how much it is going to cost you to see another card. Theres a difference between good low hands that can win you a lot of money and bad low hands that can get you in trouble. A decent low is a hand including two cards, seven or less, that have an ace or two suited cards or any three cards that are six or less. They become even better if they include two suited cards, or a one-gap straight, such as 245. With hands like these, call, as you prefer a lot of callers to get you better odds. The Value of the Ace The best hands with three low cards are those that include an ace. You would rather be holding a hand like A34 then 268 (an unplayable hand unless you brought in the action or it was suited). Remember, the ace is a very powerful card in this game as it can be used for both the high and the low half of the pot, and a pair of aces alone frequently wins the high half of the pot. When you have three to the low with an ace, you can go ahead and complete the bet and gamble a bit, but calling is best if you believe that by completing you will eliminate many other players if your game is tight. It is also better if two of the cards are suited or give you a one-gap straight. You must remember that while

30

going low is preferable to going high, you still would like to have some chance of backing into a high hand as well so you can scoop the pot. Dump the Junk Note that the title of this section is playable low hands, not just a laundry list of low hands. You can be a little more liberal in starting with a low-qualifying hand than you can with a high-qualifying hand because when going low, there is always the chance that you will also qualify for the high. This does not mean that you can play every single random group of cards simply because they are under nine. To illustrate the danger of starting with any random group of low cards, take this example, which would be pretty typical for a low-limit stud 8 game. Suppose you start with 2c 4d 8d. A player holding 5s is the bring-in; well give this player 2h 6s in the hole. He is called by a player with a 7d who well give 2d As in the hole. A loose player holding 3d 7s 8h also calls. A player holding 9c Qd Qh completes the betting, and you call the completed bet, as do the other hands. With everyone involved, you will win the low half of the pot 21% of the time, the high half of the pot 10% of the time, and scoop a pathetic 4% of the time. Your expected value is 16%. The problem is you may have a low you even have two suited cards with your low. But as more low hands stay involved, the more likely it is you are beat. Wait until you have a good low hand so you will be in the best shape to come out with at least half of the pot and hopefully scoop. As has been stated, the better low hands include those that give you other options. Even though the odds are not all that great that you will hit the high with a hand like A45, you have a better chance of doing so than with a hand like 268. The latter hand is unplayable because: 1) You are drawing to one of the worst possible lows, an 8; 2) You 31

have no real chance of qualifying for the high hand and 3) You are more than likely up against other hands that are drawing to a better low hand than you are. Therefore, you must resist the urge that many stud 8 players have playing any random hand that includes three cards that are eight or smaller. When you do and you do improve, you may very well be improving to the second-best low hand and getting involved in a pot that if won, will only win you half and if lost will cost you a lot of money. You also must dump a marginal low hand if there is a lot of action by the time it gets to you and a lot of other players who look to be going low are involved. For instance, suppose you have 5s 4d 7c. A four brings it in, a king raises, an ace re-raises and a five calls. You need to get out of the way. You are not going to qualify for the high half of the pot, and you are vulnerable to the ace and five who may also be going low. Wait until you have a hand like 345 or three suited cards under eight. The only situation where you can stay if there is a raise beyond the completed bet is if you have a hand like A34 and two of the cards were suited, because you have not just a good low hand, but two to the flush and two to the straight. Position Position is another factor to consider when contemplating whether to see Fourth Street with your low hand. Because this is not a raising hand where you want to drive others out, you want to be in as late of position as possible. When you are one of the last players to act, you will have the information you need, because other players will have already acted. You will know how many are involved in the pot, and what they appear to be drawing to. Conversely, if you are early to act, you have no idea whether or not the other players will be involved in the pot.

32

You also must aware of how many other low cards are on the board. If it looks like there are a number of players going low, be more apt to fold. This is especially the case when aces are waiting to act. But if it looks like most of the players will be going high, be more apt to call as they will be fighting for half of the pot and pose less danger to you than hands going low. There is a lot to digest in this section, so to briefly summarize: for one half of one small bet you can see any group of cards that are seven or less. If you prefer to play more tight, only play three cards of seven or less that have an ace, two-flush, two-straight or one-gap straight. Eight-lows are very dangerous and should be dumped if they do not have two wheel cards, three suited cards or three to a straight. As the board becomes more dangerous (more low cards staying in) and if more than one ace is present or it has been completed by an ace, tighten up your starting requirements, only playing small three-straights and three-flushes and three cards of six or less. Quick tips for play of low hands (non-three flushes or three-straights) on Third Street: CALL if you can get in cheaply and your hand looks decent (it has a one-gap straight, two suited cards with an ace, three cards of seven or lower etc). These hands are playable, but are not as solid as hands like 234 and three to a small flush. If the action is completed by an ace, dump the hand unless you too have an ace or three cards six or less. FOLD trash hands for the low. These include hands that are only going in one direction and have little chance for the high, such as when your three cards are of different suits to an eight-low without an ace, and have no two-flushes or 33

two-straights present. You also must fold if there is a lot of action by the time it gets to you (a raise beyond a completed bet). Pairs 8s and Lower with an Ace or Small Kicker Small pairs with an ace kicker are close in value to high pairs with a small kicker such as KK2. The small pair with an ace is slightly better because while the kings are usually the best high hand at Third Street, if you get another ace you become the best high and have a better chance at making the low than the kings do. The best pairs are of course aces, which have already been discussed. Other solid pairs include any small pair with an ace. By having an ace in your hand, you give yourself a chance to make aces up (two pair, such as aces and eights). Such a hand will often qualify for the high half of the pot. Big Small Pairs Other factors that come into play when playing small pairs include if you have a two flush or two straight, and how high your pair is. You can be more apt to play if you have a hand like 772 then 227 because with the former you have a bigger pair in your hand, so if up against other lows have a better chance of hitting the hand that would qualify for the high half of the pot. Another plus is when two of the cards are suited connectors, such as 2c 7d 7c. Again, this gives you additional possibilities to scoop and qualify for the high. Limping with this hand is usually the best route to take, because you have a halfway decent hand in both directions, but nothing to be overly proud about. However, there are times when you can complete the bring in. This is when there are four or more

34

high cards on the board. Your hand is not strong, but getting face cards to fold helps your situation as they might outdraw you. A completion on your part may also get a big pair to fold, fearing you have aces. If there are many low cards though, just call the bring-in. Getting Away from the Hand Some players will always play small pairs with a kicker thats an ace through an eight. They think being they have a pair and two to the low, the chances for improvement are great, so keep on playing. Thats a dangerous play. Sometimes you cant get in cheaply. Suppose a four brings it in for $2, and a king raises to $4. A three calls, and now its to you and you hold 4d 4h 8d. Fold. You can put the king on a pair, going for the high, and to call a raise, the three has to have a good low starting hand. Save your money for when you have a better starting hand. Position is also fundamental to figuring out whether or not to stick around with a small pair. Here, as with the playable low hands, you want to be in late position because youll know how the other players will have acted. For instance, if you have 2s 2h 8d, you would rather be one of the last players to act and it has not been raised, as if you were in early position you would have to worry about possible raises. If one of the first players to act, limp in but fold if it is completed. When deciding whether or not to proceed with this hand, remember the more live your hand is the better. So if you are going to play 772, you want the other two sevens to be live so you can make trips, and have a powerful high hand. Similarly, if Im going to play 568, I want the other sevens live so I can make a four straight, or have other fives, sixes and eights available to give me a pair on Fourth Street to go along with the gutshot

35

straight draw. Always remember that stud is a game of live cards, so you want your hand to have the best possible odds for improvement on Fourth Street. Quick tips for play of small pairs: COMPLETE the bring-in if there are four or more face cards showing to try and eliminate them. This helps improve your situation, and can get big pairs out of the way as they will be fearful of pocket aces. CALL if you can get in cheaply. It is better to call from late position as you will know what the other players have done. You can also call if you have an ace kicker to go with your pair, or if you have two suited connectors as these cards give you additional outs to hit high hands. With an ace, you can call even if the bring-in has been completed, but not beyond that. FOLD if you are in early position and three or more dangerous cards are yet to act. These include more than three low cards or two low cards with an ace. Folding is the better option as the more cards that you need to improve become dead. The above advice might sound tight, but remember: you can not fall in the trap that many players do and liberally play low hands that dont have a realistic shot of giving you other options. So play them selectively and carefully if you want to make money youll be thanking yourself when you have more chips in front of you when the premium low hands come along and you dont have to go all in and settle for a tiny pot.

36

Big Pairs Kings & Queens Some players feel that you should only attack stud 8 from the low, meaning if your hand does not have a chance of making a low qualifier you should get out unless the game is shorthanded. That is a good strategy. If you do this, that is perfectly fine because while a low hand can frequently back into a high hand, a high hand is not going to back into a low hand all that often. And remember the key to this game is scooping, not winning just half of a pot. Especially when new to stud 8, the high hands (other than aces and trips) can get you in trouble, because you might find yourself chasing against a better high hand. I know from playing 7-card stud its tough to get away from big pairs without seeing at least two more cards. That is very dangerous in high-low stud. If chasing against a better high hand, the only way you can win is if you improve and the better high hand does not; if you both improve, you end up with the second best high hand, which gets you nothing and costs you a lot in the process. So, because high hands do not have a reasonable chance to scoop, if you choose not to play any of them, that is perfectly fine. Playing High Hands Despite the fact that many players choose not to play any high hands, some are still playable, specifically kings and queens. If you are going to go high, you have to remember four things: 1) Play the hand fast; 2) Get out if it looks like you are the second best high hand; 3) The starting hand requirements for a high hand are not the same as in regular 7-card stud and 4) Your hand must be live very live. Lets look at each of these points in depth.

37

Play Em Fast First, play the hand fast. Just like in regular 7-stud, this is the kind of hand you want to protect. You are trying to draw to a better hand, but this is a hand that plays best with a narrow field. You already have a solid hand to start out with other players are trying to draw to improve to a good hand, and are behind you. Because of that, you want to drive them out. The worst thing you can do when going high is to just call, because you let drawing hands in cheaply. Some players even have tendency to stay in with any two low cards that contain an ace (ie QA4). You can not let such poor players in cheaply to catch cards. You must make them pay. You also can not play with fear in this situation. If you are going to play a hand like kings or queens, even if an ace is yet to act, you have to fold or raise calling is the worst thing you can do, because the ace is much more likely to stay involved. Especially when starting out, its easy to be intimidated and just call until you improve. You must resist that urge and play with what you have. If you fold the kings, thats fine the kings are only going in one direction and do not have a reasonable chance to scoop. If you raise (the best play) the raise is in a small increment, so you are not losing that much. The ace will re-raise you if he has another ace to go with the one on the board, at which point you can dump your hand. So remember: when going high, play the hand fast or get out. Dont Be Second Best! Anytime it looks like you are the second best high hand, get out of the way. For instance, you raise with kings and an ace re-raises. Do not try to get clever and re-raise unless you have been studying your opponent for a while or know him to be the kind of player that will try to bluff and represent more than what he has, always raising with an

38

ace showing. You have to get away from the hand. Similarly, if you have a pair of queens and get re-raised by a king, dump the hand he is going high with kings and trying to protect his hand. If you are going high in this game, you have to have a strong sense that you have the best high hand. You want to play the hand fast, but not be a chump. Bang away with kings and even queens if you think they are the best hand, but do not get in raising wars. While you will be staying in with raises and re-raises with such hands as solid three-straights to a low, trips and flush draws to a low, with big pairs you can not afford to get caught up in raising wars, unless you have aces. While you want to play your kings fast, you can not re-raise an ace. If it is re-raised after you raise, this should send off a warning bell that you need to get away from the hand. Players going low are not going to re-raise a high hand they want them around to get better odds on a draw. Get Away from the Re-Raise To illustrate another example of when you must get away from the hand, suppose a three brings it in, a queen raises who you expect is going high, and then it is raised again by another player. You need to get out. You can not call a player who has come over the top of a re-raise for him to do that, he must have something big like pocket aces or be rolled-up. While he could be on a low draw and be in love with his 234, most players are not going to re-raise with that. The only time you can get involved in a raising war is if you started off with a pair of aces, because of course no pair is better, or of course trips, three to the small straight or three to the small flush. Kings and queens are too vulnerable in a split-pot game so while you play them fast, you must not play them stupidly when you may be up against a better high hand. One raise is the right move for information, because when you do raise, an opponent will likely get away from his high

39

hand, limp with his draw, or re-raise if he believes his hand is better than yours in which case you need to get away from it unless convinced hes behind you. An opponent coming over the top is a dangerous thing, because you have no shot at the low and may be the second-best high. For you to hang with a re-raise, you want to be heads-up against the re-raiser (IE, a three brings it in, a queen raises, you re-raise with kings, the rest of the field folds). Be Very Selective Starting hand requirements differ from regular 7-card stud. In that game, where there is no split pot and the high hand always wins the entire pot, you can play small pairs, or hands like AQK. When going high in stud 8, because your chances of scooping are reduced, you have to carefully select when you are going high. Under most circumstances, only play kings and queens. The problem with playing hands such as nines, tens and jacks is that they are too vulnerable to other players who are also going high. The only time you can play such hands is if you are in a short-handed game. Still, this is the exception, so you need to get away from the temptation to play hands other than kings and queens. Other pairs with big kickers (minus of course aces) are also out deuces through tens. In regular 7-stud, these hands are quite playable, and the bigger the kicker the better. While a big kicker may give you a great two pair if you improve, you are still only improving to win half of the pot so you want the big hand to be very good. Even queens can be very dangerous, so while you can put in a raise with them, you have to get away from them if re-raised because while strong, they are still vulnerable.

40

It Better Be Live You also want your hand to be live. That means if playing kings or queens, if you see even one of your needed cards to improve to trips held by one of your opponents, dump your hand because it becomes too dangerous and costly to play. The risk simply is not worth the reward. Such a hand is certainly playable in regular 7-card stud, but because you are only going high and may only win half of the pot, you want your chances of improving to trips maximized. Having trips gives you a much better chance than two pair of making a full house, and when there is only one card in the deck that can make that happen you need to get away from the hand. The only time you can play a pair of kings or queens when one of the other kings or queens is gone is if you are in late position and there are no low cards left to act. For instance, you hold a split pair of kings, and left to act is a jack and a nine. Here complete the bring-in and hope to eliminate the other two players or get heads up and bet again on Fourth Street if it looks like your opponent(s) did not improve. It can be very difficult to lay down premium pairs like kings and queens. But thats simply what you have to do when one of your needed cards to improve to trips is gone unless you are confident that by completing or raising you will limit the field to you and another opponent or two who you believe are also going high but have a smaller pair than you do. Position Position is also an important factor. Both early and late position have benefits, but late is best. This is because you have more information at your disposal, and will know how people have bet by the time the action gets to you. It is especially beneficial when 41

there is an ace showing, because you can dump your hand if the ace raises and do not have to raise in front of the ace. Early position can also be helpful though as raises when early to act are more likely to cause a player to fold as he does not have any money at stake in the pot. Remember that while big pairs are certainly playable, you have to be very cautious in playing them. The key is limiting the field to as few players as possible so you want to be raising or folding with these hands, not calling. Quick tips for play of big pairs: RAISE if you are going high. You want to play this hand fast to narrow the field as much as possible, and ideally get heads up. You especially want to raise another high card if he completed the bring-in because that is a strong indicator that he too is going high, but to a hand that is weaker than yours. Do not complete or re-raise if the raise has come from an ace. CALL rarely if ever with a premium pair. This is a hand you either want to play fast, or not at all. FOLD if you are holding any pair of nines, tens or jacks unless you have an ace for your kicker. You also must fold if one of your needed cards to improve to trips is gone unless you believe you will reduce the field, ideally getting you heads-up against a player who you believe has a weaker pair than you do. Remember too to get out of the way of an ace who raises or re-raises you aces are the most dangerous cards in this game, and calling a raise from an ace when you are going high can cost you big.

42

Three Straights to the High Most of the time in a regular 7-card stud game, you will see another card when you have three to a big straight, such as TJQ. In regular stud, the bigger the better because you want to be able to edge an opponent who may also be drawing to a straight but to one that is lower than yours. In Stud 8, the opposite is true: you want your straight draws to be low so you have a chance to qualify for both the high and the low half of the pot. Straight draws to the high half of the pot are dangerous, and you need to get away from them. If you do not, you may very well end up chasing a hand for the high half of the pot and cost yourself a lot of money in the process or worse, make your hand and have it be beat out by a flush or better high hand. Quiz on Third Street Play Before moving on to look at play of the hands at Fourth Street, heres a quiz for you to test your knowledge of the play of Third Street hands. In each scenario, you will be asked whether the best move is to raise, call or fold. The answers follow with an explanation for each. Question 1: In early position, you hold 3c 4s 5h. You are in middle position. A deuce brings it in, a four and a queen call, an ace completes and now its to you. Yet to act are an eight, jack and nine. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Call. The raise from the ace may cause you some angst, but this is a good call. You certainly do not want to re-raise, as this could get you heads-up against the ace, and you would be getting worse odds on your draw.

43

Question 2: You have pocket jacks. A four brought in the betting, a six and an eight called, and now its to you. Yet to act are a king, five, queen and seven. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. Some players would complete the betting in this situation, but that is a dangerous move. This is the kind of hand that will get you into trouble so just dump it and wait for queens, kings or aces. It is only playable in a shorthanded game (five or fewer players). Question 3: You hold a pair of pocket aces with a four for a kicker. In late position, the bring-in was a deuce who was raised by a queen who was then re-raised by a king. The rest of the players folded. Now its to you. Raise again or call? Answer: Re-raise. Its close between raising and calling, but you want to play the hand for its strength. A pair of aces is one of the best starting hands there is. Your opponents wont know what hit them, because your aces are hidden. Once involved in a raised pot, many players have a hard time getting away from their hands even though they should so you are likely to get called by the probable high hands. Question 4: You hold 5s 6h 8s. A three brings it in, a five calls, you also call, and a king completes the betting who is then re-raised by an ace. By the time the action is back to you, the original bring-in bet folds, the five calls as does the king. Do you re-raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. You have to get away from this hand. You have a one-gap straight draw and three to the low, but unfortunately you are not drawing to a quality low hand. With the raise from the ace, you can put him on a pair of aces, and with the five calling the

44

raise you can put him on a better quality low-draw than you have. The only way you could call the extra two bets is if all of your cards were suited. A hand like 5s 6h 8s is the kind that you can limp with, but not get involved in heavy-action pots with. If the raise from the king had not been re-raised by the ace, and all you had to do was call another half of a small bet to stay involved, you could limp in to see Fourth Street but not with a re-raise from an ace. Dump the hand now or you wont like the outcome later. Question 5: You are dealt rolled-up fives, and following the bring-in from a three, are first to act. Yet to act are several low cards, a king and an ace. Do you call or raise? Answer: Raise to complete. This is a phenomenal hand, but because your trips are not that big, youd like to get in the action now to protect the hand. If you just call, you allow other hands in cheaply, and many players might stick around if they improve low-draws on Fourth Street. One of these players might back into a straight, or make their low. You would like to eliminate players because the only real chance you have at scooping the pot is getting the hands that are going low out of the pot. Trips is the kind of hand that is great and will win you a lot or lose you a lot, so protect it, even at this early stage. The only time you should call with rolled up trips is if you held three aces. You can call to try to confuse your opponents, but raising is the safe play. Question 6: You hold a split pair of kings. The bring-in is a three, and was called by a six and a seven and now the action is to you. Yet to act are a four, nine, jack, ace and five. Do you complete the bet, call or fold? Answer: Raise to complete. Kings are a playable hand, and you have to raise to both protect the hand and get information. If the ace has another ace to go with his hand, you will know because he will re-raise. You also want to protect the hand because a big pair 45

is the kind of hand that does best with fewer players involved in the pot. Being you are only going one-way, you want to reduce the field as much as possible to have the best chances to scoop by preventing hands from sticking around to qualify for the low. If you said fold, you are not losing much either, as kings are a playable hand if played fast, but can also be dangerous. Question 7: You hold AK8, all of which are hearts. There is one other heart held by an opponent. In early position, you called the bring-in, but this was raised by a king, and called by a four, six, ace and eight before the action came back to you. Do you call or fold? Answer: Call. If you had a hand like 9QK that was suited, you would fold the hand, because you were only going one way with it. But being you have two low cards, only one dead heart, plus the presence of an ace in your hand, go ahead and call. Even if you did not hold the ace, but held another low card, still go ahead and call the bet as there are several other callers, giving you better odds on your draw. If the hand had been re-raised by the ace, fold as you would expect fewer people involved in the pot, and do not want to be on a flush draw against a pair of aces. In that situation, you are simply too far behind and do not want to play catch-up against a pair of aces. You could call the re-raise if you had three low cards to the flush, but not with just two. Question 8: You hold a pair of pocket queens, and a three for your door card making you the bring-in. Do you limp or bring it in for one full small bet? Answer: Bring it in for the max. With your pair hidden, you may get more people to fold as no one has any money in the pot yet. Bringing it in for a full small bet will make

46

the field smaller, which is exactly what you want when going high. You need to fold though if you are re-raised by a king or an ace. Question 9: You hold 345, and two of your cards are suited. A deuce brought it in, who was raised by a queen, re-raised by an ace, and then called by a six and a seven. Folding were a six and a jack, and now its to you. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Call. Your hand is very strong, as you are drawing to a low and a high. You probably are up against a pair of aces, but its worth it to see where your hand goes. You have three to the best possible low hand, a wheel, and you should see how this hand develops. Question 10: You hold 862, making you the bring-in bet. You are raised by an ace, who gets called by a four, seven and six. The remaining players fold before the action gets back to you. Do you call the ace who completed you? Answer: Fold. This is one of those situations where it is incredibly tempting to call. The voice inside your head says call because you already have money in the pot and have three cards to a hand that would qualify for the low. Unfortunately, you are not drawing to a quality low. Were all of your cards suited, you could go ahead and call the completed bet by the ace. But that is not the case. You not only are beaten by the aces but facing hands that are still involved and are likely starting to a better low draw than you are. Save yourself the extra chip and use it when your hand is better. Summary of Third Street Play The playable hands at Third Street have now been examined. Hopefully its clear by now how much better it is to go low than high in this game, because the key is

47

scooping. When involved in a pot, you want to have a good shot to win the entire pot. The beauty of going low is you can lock-up the low half of the pot and be on cruisecontrol to drawing to the high half of the pot. That does not work the other way around. When going high, you have to sweat it out that you will win at least half of the pot. This does not mean that you can never go high for some hands like trips and aces are fantastic starting hands and high hands such as kings and queens are quite playable under the right circumstances. There will even be times when you scoop the pot by being the best high hand on the board and no other player qualifies for the low. That being said, caution can not be overemphasized when you are going for the high play high hands fast or get out of the way. Remember to keep reminding yourself this is not the same game as regular 7-card stud. There is a lot of overlap, but much is different as well. The biggest difference is when it comes to pairs youll be seeing many more pairs for another card in a 7-card stud game than you would in an eight-or-better game. Remember: the biggest decision you make in any poker game is whether or not to become involved in the pot in the first place. Select your hands carefully, because when you invest your money in the pot you want to have the best chances to win whats in the middle of the table. Having read through this section, you now have a good idea of what makes a solid hand to start with and what makes for a trash hand. Next up is an examination of play at Fourth Street, where your hand becomes more playable or a hand that you need to get away from.

48

Chapter 3 Fourth Street Introduction In a regular game of 7-card stud, most players will play a hand on Fourth Street as they do on Sixth Street they do not want to get away from the hand, and view these betting rounds as temporary stops on the way to Fifth and Seventh Streets. In addition, the fact that on Fourth Street the bets are still small makes many players think sticking around to see another card is a good strategy. If they started with a pair, flush or straight draw, calling, even into raises, is common. Many players have the mindset that they have money involved in the pot, so need to stay at least to Fifth Street in hopes that their hand will improve. Following this style of play is costly. There are times where you will stay past Fourth Street if you do not improve your drawing hand or what you started with. But a key to winning money at stud 8 is knowing when you should stay and when you must dump your hand. What it comes down to is whether or not you have a real chance of scooping the pot, are very strong one way, or are drawing to a hand that will win you just half of the pot. One of the worst situations you can be in when playing a split-pot game is chasing a hand for just half of the pot. You may very well be behind another player who has improved or on a draw that is better than you have so if you both make your hands, he will take down half of or the entire pot while you head to the cashier cage to get more money. Because of this, you want your hand to be going both ways or have a strong belief that your hand is the best hand going in one direction. If it is only going one way and you are not sure, dump the hand because it can become quite costly. In stud 8, there

49

can be a lot of heavy action with the chips flying, especially later in the game when players can lock up the low, or make a solid high hand. This section takes a look at the hands that you can play on Fourth Street, and also looks at the hands that you need to get away from. Some hands are no-brainers, such as quads, trips, four flushes, four-lows, etc. Those other hands, such as unimproved draws and pairs become a bit more complicated. By the end of this section, you will know how to properly play these hands, knowing when you can limp, bang away and dump your hand. Many of the keys to success at stud 8 come at Fourth Street. So, before examining the hands each in detail, remember: 1) Get away from hands you believe are second best if only going one way, 2) If only going one direction, have a strong belief that yours is the best draw if you might be second best 3) Frequently fold a low hand that did not improve and 4) stick with hands that are going both ways and give you potential to scoop. Quads If you started out with trips and improved to quads (four-of-a-kind) you have a virtual lock on the high half of the pot. You want to keep as many players involved in the pot as possible so as to build it up, so most of the time you will be calling. The only time you want to raise with quads is if you are at an extremely loose table where players will call any raise, or if there is a lot or raising and there looks to be a lot of action on this and upcoming rounds. Such a situation may occur if a player has two wheel cards showing, and another player or two have paired door cards. In this case, you may have several very strong hands, and the odds are remote that you are up against an opponent who has quads as well. Here, raise. For instance, suppose there are four players involved in the pot. You hold four deuces. A pair of kings bets, is raised by a pair of sevens, and is called by the

50

player holding a suited three and four. Go ahead and raise. The players involved in the pot are not going to drop because they all have very strong hands. No one is going to put you on quads. The more likely scenario is they will put you on trips, and you may get involved in a raising war with the hands that have improved to higher trips than you. If re-raised, go ahead and raise again. Trips are very difficult to get away from for any player, and due to the rarity of quads your raise is not going to eliminate your opponents. Finally, with a pair on the board you will usually the first player to act. If so, check if the table is extremely tight, but most of the time go ahead and bet. Betting the small amount (remember, you cant bet big with the open pair in this game) is not going to eliminate many players, especially at a lower limit game where opponents are less savvy. To briefly summarize play of quads: RAISE if you believe your raise will not eliminate many opponents, or it looks like a raising war is emerging between several players who either have or are drawing to powerful hands. Do not raise if you believe it will vastly narrow the field, because you want to maximize the amount of money you can win with this powerful hand. CALL frequently with this hand. You only want to be raising if you are fairly certain your raises will be called. If you have any shred of doubt, just call. BET if you are the high hand on the board unless the game you are in is very tight. A small bet is not going to eliminate many players.

51

Four-Straights and Four-Flushes to a Low If you started out with a three-flush or three-straight to a low and improve on Fourth Street so you have four to a low and four to a straight or flush, you will be playing the hand to the end. The odds are excellent that you will hit some kind of hand about a coin flip that you will hit either a straight or flush and about 75% that you will hit some hand that will qualify for the low. The odds change slightly depending on how many cards that would make your hand are out and how many opponents are involved in the pot (the more the merrier). The various odds are listed in the appendix for reference to give you a clearer idea of what your chances for improvement are, but the bottom line is when you have four to a straight or small flush, you are in a fantastic position you are likely to qualify for at least half of the pot and have an excellent chance to scoop and win the entire pot. If you are first to act, bet this hand unless it looks like the bet will vastly eliminate the field. This is called betting on the come, and is a good move to build the pot up. Do not bet though if the field will be reduced. An instance where that might happen is if there were many low cards staying to see Fourth Street and all of them caught bad cards. A bet may very well eliminate the field and get you heads up or win you a small pot. Any pot is nice to win, but with such a powerful hand as this you want to keep players in to build up the pot. But being many players have a hard time folding on Fourth Street, one small bet is a sound play unless the game is very tight. If you are not the first to act, whether you call or raise will depend on the situation you are in. With such a monster hand as a small four-flush or small four-straight you do not want to eliminate people, and one raise is not likely to do that if you are in late

52

position or it is a small raise, making the small bet a full large bet. At this point in the game, most opponents are not going to figure you for the powerful hand you have, so will stick with you. Remember, its very difficult for many players to get away from a hand on Fourth Street, so one raise is not likely to drive them out most of the time. However, it may do that if you raise early and it looks like there was little improvement from those who are yet to act. For instance, if a pair of kings bets and you are next to act, and it appeared there were several players going low but only one improved, your raise might eliminate the other players who did not improve. They are more likely to stay involved to see if they can improve on Fifth Street so will call one small bet, but not two. On the other hand, if several players had improved their low draws, you can go ahead and raise if you believe you are on a better draw than your opponents are, but just call if you are not entirely sure. The decision to raise or call is close if there is a lot of heavy action and you are not entirely sure you are drawing to the best low, but if you believe you are drawing to the best low, jam the pot. For instance, suppose a pair of queens is high and bets, is raised by a suited five and six and is re-raised by a pair of kings. Here, if you held a hand like 2345 or A356, raise, as you are drawing to a wheel or nut flush that also has a good chance at hitting the low. But, if your hand was 3468 suited, call, as the player with the five and six is likely on a better low draw than you are on. To summarize, if you catch a card giving you four to a low and four to the flush or straight, you are in a nearly perfect situation. Because of that, you want to keep people involved in the pot. Even if you win just half of the pot, you want as many people in as you can get so they will build up your half. Eliminating people is to your disadvantage as

53

you get slightly worse odds on your draw and eliminate money that could be yours. A raise, especially if it is in late position, is not going to eliminate many people most of the time, so you can raise a small bet to a big bet if the game is loose. You never want to reraise, however, nor do you want to raise if you are playing at a table that is very tight. Whenever in doubt, just call to maximize your potential payoff. Quick tips for playing four-straights and four-flushes that are low: RAISE only if you believe that doing so will not eliminate many people from the pot. Your hand is fantastic, so want to keep people involved. CALL most of the time with this hand. Odds are you will hit some type of hand and you have some strong possibilities to scoop as well, so maximize your potential payoff. Trips Three-of-a-kind is a very strong hand at any point in poker, and many times it will win the pot. That being said, this is a better hand to have in a regular 7-card stud game when you are always going for the entire pot. Nonetheless, in a split-pot game, trips are a hand that you will be playing until the river many times unless you get a strong feeling that you are drawing to the second-best hand. Many players like to gamble with this hand in the sense that they believe they are a lock for the high half of the pot so want to keep people involved. The only time you want to play this way is if you are at a very tight table, the field has been narrowed, and it looks like your opponents are going high but have a weaker hand than you do. Trips need to be protected, especially in this game where you might only get half of the pot. What

54

that means is jamming with your hand in an attempt to narrow the field or get heads-up. The only time you do not want to play this hand fast is if you believe that you have a much better hand than your opponent(s). That happens if you are heads-up or only against two other people and they appear to be in much worse position than you are. For instance, you hold three kings with two kings showing. You are up against two players with unimpressive boards, such as TQ and 3J. With two kings showing, most players will put you on trips, so a bet is likely to get those other players out. You are in very strong position here, so even if no one bets and your opponents catch a good card, its more than likely going to help you more than it will hurt you, such as if your opponent is on a pair of queens and improves to trips on Fifth Street. In that case, your trips will be bigger than his, and you will be in fantastic position as you will be in front and he will be chasing. Dont Slow-Play You must never slow play trips when it looks like you are contending with other low hands. This is true even when the field is narrow or the table is tight. Remember: with trips you are less likely to scoop, so you can not afford the luxury of gambling and setting traps as if you were playing straight 7-card stud. Low hands are a dangerous threat to you, and you want them eliminated so they will be forced to pay if they are going to stay involved in the pot. The last thing you want to do is give them a free card and have them lock up the low half of the pot which you have no realistic chance at hitting. You want to be up against other high hands so you can win the entire pot and not just half. Folding: A Rarity Trips are very solid, but every once in a while there comes a time when you have to lay down the hand. Doing that takes a lot of skill and is very difficult to do, but saves 55

you a lot of money. When that occurs is when an opponent pairs his door card and raises another pair (to raise he is obviously not first to act so there would already be another pair on the board bigger than his who bet) making it look like he is on trips. Here you have to dump your hand unless, of course, you had a bigger set. Your trips very well might be third best if both of the other players have improved to trips bigger than the trips you hold. A paired door card is very dangerous, and should set off some warning bells if there are two on the board and one has raised the initial player who bet. At the same time, you should not get too clever with this hand and lay it down often whenever someone raises, unless you know that player very well and know him to be the kind of player who would only raise if he had something very powerful. You need a strong reason to get away from the hand. If a player bets with his paired door card, while there may be a good likelihood that he has trips, you can not know for sure. The best way to find out is to raise back at him; if he was trying to buy the pot you will know by his action and can get out of the way if he re-raises you. Some are tempted to simply call when not sure they have the best hand. This is a mistake. You have to use your chips to find out if you are the best hand. This is why raising is so often preferable to calling, especially when you hold a strong hand such as trips. Raising not only helps eliminate the field, but it gives you valuable information. For instance, suppose an open pair of kings bets, and you hold three eights. If you just call, you are more than likely going to call again on Fifth Street with your trips if they do not improve, as its unlikely that anyone is going to raise the kings. But, if you raise, you get yourself in much better position, because the field will be reduced and if the kings reraise, you can get out of the way. The hand is going to cost you another bet anyway, so

56

maximize what you get for your money. If an opponent you suspect is on trips re-raises you, you can consider a call if you know him to be very loose but a re-raise is a sign of strength, and a pair of kings would have a hard time re-raising someone who raised into him unless he believed strongly that such an action would buy him the pot. The key thing to remember with trips is to play them fast. Doing this allows you to reduce the players who are looking to stay involved in the pot cheaply and also allows you to get out of the way if you think you are holding the second best hand. At the same time, do not play this hand so passively that you lay down what is likely the best high hand on the board only dump the hand when it seems clear to you that you are second best. Quick tips for play of trips on Fourth Street: RAISE frequently. This is a hand that must be played fast. Raising allows the hand to be protected by narrowing the field, and gets you information you can use to come to conclusions about what your opponents may be holding. Always bet if first to act. FOLD only if you believe there is a strong possibility that you are beat. This does not mean folding if it is a bet from an open pair on the board; the player may very well be trying to buy the pot. It does mean folding if there are two pairs on the board, one bets and the other raises if one pair could have trips that are higher than your three-of-a-kind. The last thing you want to be is behind when you are contesting for potentially only half of the pot.

57

Four-Flushes Three or Fewer to a Low How to play four to a flush with four cards that are also drawing to a low hand has already been covered. Unfortunately, such an ideal situation does not come up all that often. What is much more likely is that you will catch a card that does not improve your chances for hitting a low, but gives you a four-flush. With a four-flush, it is essentially a coin-flip as to whether or not you will make a flush or not by the river, so this is a situation in which you will be doing a lot of checking and calling, hoping for a free card when you can get one and calling when you can not. This hand needs to be played more carefully than it would be in regular 7-card stud, and you also need to be aware of some of the situations that arise when you have to get away from a four-flush. What it comes down to is how live your four-flush is, how many low cards you have to go with your four-flush and what your other opponents likely hold. Live is Crucial Obviously, you want your hand to be as live as possible. With only one more card to hit your flush, odds are just slightly under 50% that youll hit the flush by the river. The value of your hand increases sharply when you hold three low cards, and drops sharply if you hold only one low card. If you only hold one low card on Fourth Street, you have no chance of qualifying for any low at all. When that happens, you have to adjust your play so you are calculating pot odds based on winning half of the pot. Here, it is even more important that you have many outs to hit your flush, and ideally would like to be holding an ace so if you hit the flush, you will not be beaten by another flush. If you are only going one way with the hand, fold if there is a bet and more than three cards of

58

your needed suit are dead unless, of course, you are on a straight-flush draw. If going both ways, call for a bet unless more than five cards of your needed suit are dead. Increasing Scooping Potential You can bet or raise with your hand if it is only going in one direction. Though most of the time with a flush draw you will check and call to get better pot odds, if it is only going in one direction you want to bet or even raise if you believe there is a strong chance it will eliminate other hands drawing to the low. An example would be if you held As 9s Qs Ks. On the board are 3h 9d, Ah Td, 4c Js, 7h 8s and 2c Ts. The ace-high hand bets, and now its to you. Raise. The ace-ten has at best a three-low, and three other players have caught bad cards. Many players would call a bet because it is small, hoping that the three to the low that they started out with will improve by Fifth Street. A raise changes the picture now they have to call two bets. Even in a loose game, having to call two bets with just three to a low causes a player to think before reaching for the chips. The 7h 8s may call, but the others are likely to drop, which is what you want them to do. The fewer low hands the better, because your only chance to scoop is if there is no hand that qualifies for the low. In similar situations, go ahead and bet if you are the first to act. Betting or raising in this situation is best done when you are the first to act, in early position, or when it has been checked to you if several players have already called by the time the action gets to you, just call as a raise is not likely to eliminate the players already involved in the pot. They have already invested in the pot, and most players automatically call a raise if they are involved unless the board from the re-raiser looks very dangerous. A bet or raise by you may also buy you a free card on Fifth Street if you do not improve.

59

What do they Hold? Another factor to consider when contemplating a bet or raise is the tightness of your game. Obviously, if you are in a very tight game, a bet or raise will tend to eliminate unimproved low draws. You also need to carefully look at what other players hold when trying to figure out what to do. Check and call (if its only one bet) if it looks like many players have improved to good low hands. Here, if you bet or raise and you still have more than two players to act with low boards it is less likely that your bet or raise will eliminate them. Along with keeping in mind how live your hand is and how many low cards you have, you also need to be keeping an eye on your opponents. Earlier it was pointed out that if players you suspect were going low did not improve, you want to eliminate them to increase your chances of winning the entire pot. But what if a player pairs his door card? Or what if someone bets into or raises a pair that is on the board? With trips, you would jam and raise to get information. Here, you have to be much more careful, and be inclined to get away from your hand when an open pair bets or gets raised. Four-flushes that are not four to a low are not only vulnerable to hands that are going low, but also are vulnerable to hands that are going high. If you are against a player holding trips, you are the underdog he already has you beaten, and if you both improve you will still be second best. The only way you could win the hand is if you improve and he does not. Because of that, you need to dump your four-flush if an open pair bets unless you hold three low cards or two low cards with an ace or no one else is going low. If there are two open pairs and one raises the other, the choice is even more clear dump the hand, because it will get you into trouble. Let the big hands duke it out in a raising war and get

60

out of the way, because having the second-best high hand with little chance at making a low is a terrible situation to be in. To summarize play of four-flushes on Fourth Street, you will often be checking and calling with this hand, but there will be times when you will bet and raise with it (when you believe you can eliminate lows) and also times when you must dump it (when you believe you are up against trips). Both early and late position have benefits; if early to act a bet or raise will be more likely to eliminate unimproved low draws, but late position will give you more information on how other players have acted. Quick tips for four-flushes with three or fewer low cards: RAISE or BET if you believe doing so will eliminate players going low and get you against high draws. Low hands are the enemy when the odds for you improving to a low are slim because you would have to split the pot with a low. A bet or raise eliminating several low draws can bring huge dividends later in the hand. CALL frequently with the hand. Checking and calling is a typical way of playing this hand, and it is a safe play. If there are several players who look like they have improved their low draws, this move is best as a bet or raise on Fourth Street is not likely to cause them to fold. In a loose game it is best advised if you believe betting or raising will not eliminate many other players. With many people involved in the pot, you also get better pot odds. FOLD if your hand is only going one way and you have doubts about being the best hand. This happens when an open pair bets, representing trips, or there

61

are two players who have paired door cards and one bets and is called or raised. Trips is a very dangerous hand to be up against because you are the underdog, so when you think you might be up against trips, dump the fourflush and wait for the better hand. Four-Straights Three or fewer to a Low Because you will not be playing three-straights that are not three to a low very often, situations where you have a four-straight that is not four to the low will not arise very often. But, because some players cant pass up three-straights, even if they should not be played when not three to the low, other four straights will be looked at here as well. The best move is to check and call with a four-straight that does not have four to the low. This is a hand that is best played passively, because the odds are slightly worse that you will hit your hand than when you hold a four-flush, and straights are weaker draws than flushes are when they are not going low. While you could try to eliminate low draws if they did not improve by betting or raising with this hand, such a play isnt worth it unless the game is extremely tight. Instead, play your four-straight passively, checking and calling with it and getting away from it when you believe it is second best. High Straight Draws = Potential Disaster The problem of playing a three-straight that is not three to the low becomes obvious when you look at the facts. You are drawing to a hand that very frequently is not the best high hand even when it is made, which is even worse when it is qualifying for potentially just half of a pot. Because of this, if you are facing more than one bet or a big

62

bet from an open pair, get out of the way unless you hold a three-low with your fourstraight. The only time that would be the case is if you started out with a 678 and picked up the nine. Then you can certainly stay involved as you still have a realistic shot at a hand in both directions. In any other case, with your straight going only for the high, you have to be careful with it and get out of the way if it there is a lot of action. They key thing to remember when playing a four-straight that is not a low draw is to get out of the way of trouble. That means if an open pair bets you fold and to fold if there is a raise unless you also hold three to the low with your straight draw. A fourstraight going high is a hand that must be played cheaply and when limping in is not possible, play it safe and get away from the hand. Quick tips for play of four-straights with limited options for the low: RAISE or BET only if you are playing at an extremely tight table and believe your actions will eliminate low draws. This is a risky play and unless you are very confident you are at a table full of rocks, raising or betting is not recommended as your hand is quite weak. CALL as long as you are not calling a raise. You can limp with this hand and see Fifth Street in hopes you improve if you can get in for one bet, but anything more than that does not justify a call. The exception where you could call up to one big bet is if you hold 6789, as this gives you three to the low as well. FOLD when its more than one bet and you can not limp into Fifth Street unless you have three to the low. A four-straight not drawing to the low is too

63

risky to play, which is why you must avoid the temptation on Third Street to see another card. Two Pair Two pair is one of the most difficult hands to play in poker. This is especially true in a split pot game, where you could find yourself playing to the river only to have your hand not improve (which it frequently will not do) and have your opponents catch. Does this mean that two pairs should not be played? Not at all. This is a decent hand, but just how decent depends on a number of factors. What is the quality of your two pair? How many of the cards you need to fill up are gone? What do you think you are up against? Do you still have an outside shot at a low hand? These questions will be answered in this section, and based on the answers you will know how to play the hand properly. Most of the time, you will find yourself either raising or folding with the hand, which plays best against fewer players. Knowing when to raise and when to get away from the hand is the key, because the unfortunate mistake many players make especially those new to the game - is to call with the hand and hope the poker gods bless them with the final card that will give them a full house. That is a huge mistake, because what that does is allow other players to stay involved in the pot cheaply, outdraw the two pair, and take down half of or the entire pot that would have gone to the player with the two pair if it had been played properly. Quality Control The biggest factor that goes into determining whether or not you can proceed with two pair is the kind of two pair you have. Is it horrible, like two pairs of nines and sixes? Or is it a fantastic two pair, like aces and deuces? Of course the latter is the better two 64

pair because not only is it bigger, but you still have an outside shot of qualifying for the low half of the pot if you catch three running cards. This is another reason why aces are such a fantastic starting hand, especially with a small kicker, because if you do get two pair, you still have a chance to qualify for the low. Of course, most of the time you are not going to get aces up (aces and another pair). When considering playing other two pairs, the biggest thing is to have your two pair be big. You want to have an advantage over your opponents, so you are the favorite if you are both going high. Two pair is the kind of hand that you are essentially going in only one direction with, because the odds are not all that great that you are going to catch three running low cards. Because of that, you want no suspicions that your hand might be the second best. You want to win this hand as soon as possible, but if you get sucked in to the river waiting to improve, you want to have the best chance as possible to win the pot without improving the two pair and scooping. The best way to make that happen is to have your hand be big, so if you do run up against another two pair (such as against an opponent going low with a small pair who backs into two pair) you will be able to edge him out and take down the high half of the pot. Live is Key One of the most important things to consider when playing your two pair is to look at how live it is. When you have trips, you have a much better chance to fill up. With two pair, you are down to four outs. Even with all four of the cards available to fill up, your chances are still only about 25% that you will do so by the river. You can only imagine what happens if one or two of the cards you need to fill up are gone. Because of that, you can not afford to stay involved in the pot if more than two of the cards you need

65

to fill up are gone, unless you have aces and another pair. If that is the case, you want your aces to be showing so a bet on your part will be able to take down the pot then and there. It is also better if the other pair is eights or smaller so you still have an outside chance at the low. With anything other than aces, if more than two of your cards to fill up are gone get out of the way and save yourself the chips until you have the advantage. If It Looks Bigger, Bolt The biggest danger you face when playing two pair, especially in a split pot game, is being up against a player that has a bigger hand than you. This includes a bigger two pair and of course, trips. The reason why you must get out of the way if you believe you are up against a bigger hand is not too hard to figure out. If neither one of you improve, your opponent wins. If you both improve, your opponent wins. The only way you win is if you improve and your opponent with the bigger hand does not improve. And, of course, this does not take into account the risk that other players might back into a hand. Therefore, you need to have close to absolute certainty that your hand is the best high hand if you are going to proceed with your two pair. The biggest red flag is when your opponent pairs his door card. A paired door card can be a big indicator of trips. Depending on the strength of the pair on the board, you should either raise or get out of the way and fold your hand. If the pair is bigger than your two pair (for instance, you hold jacks and fours, and an opponent with a pair of queens bets) get out of the way. The only time you do not want to do this is if you have a very good knowledge of your opponent and believe him to be trying to buy the pot by having an intimidating open pair. But most of the time lay down the hand. On the other hand, if your two pair is bigger than the potential two pair your opponent has, you must

66

raise if it has not already been raised by the time the betting gets to you. (If it has, you would fold your two pair unless it were aces and a small pair because a raise into an open pair is a strong indicator of trips). This is a raise for information if he has trips, he will re-raise you or might even fold if your pair is open and he was just betting the pair or two pair. Aggressive vs. Passive In the introduction of this section, it was stated that one of the worst things a player can do who holds two pair is to frequently call. The result of such action is allowing other hands staying in on the cheap which can outdraw you. Therefore, it can not be emphasized enough that if you have made the decision to play two pair, you must play this hand aggressively by betting and raising. Ideally, you will win the pot on Fourth Street. If that can not be accomplished, you want to get your hand up against probable weaker high hands and eliminate lows if you can to have the best shot at winning the entire pot. To show the importance of a narrow field, look at the example of the same hand against four opponents and against one opponent. Suppose you hold a pair of aces and deuces, a very solid two pair. To make things better, it will also be assumed that all of your cards to improve to a full house are live. This may sound like a very strong hand, and while it is indeed strong, it is not a monster hand nor is it a hand you want to passively play and wait to improve. Many times this hand will not improve, so you want to do what you can to win it right there or get out as many players as possible. In a five-player game, where you hold the above hand, your hand can become very vulnerable to draws. Suppose you held As Ah 2s 2d. Your opponents hold: Js Jd 8s 67

Kh; 3s 6d 8h Qs; Td Tc 7h Ks and 6c 7c 8d 3c. With all five players involved in the hand, you will win the high half of the pot 56% of the time, the low half of the pot 5% of the time and win the entire pot 10% of the time. Overall in this hand, the expected value is 35%. Not bad, but it could be better. So even though you are a favorite to win the high half of the pot, you can see that you are far from being a lock, as 40% of the time one of your opponents will outdraw you. Thats not a good number when you are looking at just winning the high half of the pot. Now, lets look at the same hand with just you and the hand with four cards to the low. With a pair on the board, you would be the first to act. Here, you would bet and this action would hopefully eliminate your opponents except the low draw who would probably stick around to the river with a four-low. If you get headsup against the low draw, the likelihood that you will win the high half of the pot jumps to 75% and you will win the entire pot 21% of the time. Your expected value also jumps to 49%. The odds that you will win just the low half of the pot stay at 5%. There may certainly be a temptation to let people in and build up the pot but it is a temptation that must be resisted. You want to do that when you have a real monster hand, and the odds are much better that you will scoop the pot. Here, the danger is too great that other players might catch good cards and you will be left with nothing. As a result, be aggressive with your two pair to get heads up or take down the entire pot on Fourth Street. As with so many hands in poker, two pair is the type of hand you want to bet with or get out of the way with. It is a hand that can be played, but also a hand that is crucial to protect. You need to always be aware when you may be the second-best high hand, and when it seems like that is the case, dump this hand before it costs you a stack of chips.

68

The key to success with two pairs is to play them fast or to not play it all. Which one you do depends on the factors discussed in this section so review it often! Quick tips for play of two pair on Fourth Street: RAISE often with this hand. A raise will either get other players out of the way who could outdraw you or get you the information you want to help you determine what your opponent(s) might have, allowing you to get out of the way of a re-raise. Always bet if first to act. FOLD when it looks like you may be the second-best high hand. You want to play two pair aggressively, but not stupidly. Hanging around when you believe you are not the strongest high hand is a bad play that will cost you money. You also want to get out of the way when more than two of the cards you need to improve to a full house are gone unless you have aces and another pair eights or lower. Aces Starting out with a pair of aces is phenomenal, because aces alone often will win the high half of the pot in stud 8. Even so, aces are the kind of hand that needs to be protected, especially if they do not improve. That means you will be doing a lot of betting and raising with this hand as opposed to calling, and there will be some rare occasions when you will dump a pair of aces. Narrow the Field The best scenario is of course trips, which has already been covered. A close second is when you start out with a pair of aces and a low card, and improve to a three-

69

low or three-flush. When this happens, there can be a temptation to become overconfident with the hand. Some players have the belief that the possibilities are better then they actually are for improvement, so will play the hand slowly by checking and calling until Fifth Street. This is a dangerous play. The problem here is that you are not as strong as you would be if you held a four-flush or four-straight to the low or three aces. Even with three suited cards, your odds for hitting a flush or straight are less than 20%, and if you improve to a three-low, your odds for hitting a low by the river are about 40%. These are not horrible odds, as with a three-flush or three-straight that also has three low cards and a pair of aces, you do have a very good hand. Even so, do not get tricky with this hand and try to keep many players in, as the more people that are involved in the pot, the worse your odds become for winning part of or scooping the entire pot, as you become more vulnerable to both high and low hands. To illustrate an example, suppose you hold a hand of Ah Ac 2h 3h. You are heads-up against an opponent who holds 2c 6c 2d 4c, and has three clubs. In this scenario, 50% of the time you will scoop the pot, 64% of the time you will win the high half of the pot and 28% of the time you will win the low half of the pot. The expected value is 63% to 37%, meaning you are in great shape. Now, lets look at what happens when we throw in two other players one who is on a three-low and another who has a pair of kings. One holds the hand of Kd 9d Kh 7s. The other holds 4s 3s 7h Jd. You are still a favorite to win the pot, but now you will only scoop 26% of the time, win the high 43% of the time and win the low half of the pot 27% of the time. The expected value is now 43%. As you can see, the greater amount of players staying in the pot, the bigger the threat to you, which means you need to continue to play the hand aggressively by betting

70

and raising with it and not letting other hands in cheaply. In the above example, the king would be the high hand on the board and be first to act. No matter what position you are in, you raise, because eliminating even one of the players helps you. Going One Way It becomes even more important to play the hand fast when you are only going in one direction. For instance, suppose you started out with pocket aces and a high card, and have now caught another high card. This means that you have no chance of qualifying for the low half of the pot. Low hands now become a dangerous threat to you, and you must do all that you can to eliminate them to improve your chances of winning the entire pot and not just half. The best situation you could be in is if you get heads up against another big pair. Even if you can eliminate just one of the low draws, it is of benefit to you. For instance, suppose you hold the hand As Ah Qd 9c. Three other players have stayed in to see Fourth Street, and hold 3c 2c 6h 9d, Ks Kd 8d 2h and 7d 8s 9s 2d. The expected value is 34%. However, you will only scoop 19% of the time and win the high half of the pot 48% of the time. If you eliminate the 3c 2c 6h 9d, your odds to scoop now improve to 31% and your odds of winning the high half of the pot increase to 56%. The expected value increases to 44%. Get heads up against the kings and your expected value is now 66% and 70% of the time you will win the high half of the pot against the cowboys. As you can see by these examples, playing aces fast by betting and raising with them is far preferable to playing them slowly. When you do that, you allow other players to stay in on the cheap and give them chances to outdraw you.

71

Fast, but not Reckless While you want to eliminate hands that can outdraw you, you can not play your hand recklessly in that you ignore aggressive betting by opponents who may have already improved to trips. A rare situation where aces need to be folded is when you see heavy action by open pairs on the board or if you are looking at calling two bets and do not have a three-low to go along with your aces. For instance, suppose a pair of kings is first to act and bets. He is raised by a pair of queens, and called by a player with two low cards. Unless you have three to the low, get out of the way. You may be tempted to stay in if you hold a three-flush or three-straight, but odds are at least one if not both of your opponents have improved to trips, so get out. If no player was involved who had a low card showing, you could call the two bets as you are playing for the entire pot, but if the pot looks to be split, you must lay down the aces. With three to the low, you can stay as you can safely assume that neither of the open pairs are drawing to the low, but without that you do not want to be chasing against trips with just a pair of aces. Save yourself the money until you hold trip aces or a better hand. At the same time, while you want to get out of the way if you believe you are chasing against trips, you do not want to quickly fold your aces. Because this is a very strong hand at Fourth Street, you want to bet with it or raise, as this action has the benefit of not just helping to eliminate other players, but will also get you information as well. For instance, suppose an open pair bets. Here, you raise if he has trips, he will fire back at you and you can get away from the hand. Rarely will you want to call with aces, but one situation where this is the best move is when there are two high pairs on the board and you are caught in between them.

72

If one bets, just call and see what the other big pair does more than likely it will be a raise, because a big open pair is a very strong indicator of trips. Despite that, some players may have backed into a big pair and be trying to represent more than they have, which is why you should raise with the aces if a single open pair bets for information. With two big pairs on the board, though, calling is best as one of the pairs likely started out high and has improved. The key thing to remember with aces is that they are a great hand but play better with fewer players. Ideally, they have other outs to go with them, such as three-flushes, three-straights and/or three cards to the low as well. Even if those are lacking, this is still a hand that is quite playable. But it plays best heads-up so do all you can to win the pot right now or narrow the field so you can have the best shot at winning the entire pot. Quick tips for play of aces on Fourth Street: RAISE or BET frequently. This is a good hand that needs to be protected so do all you can to protect it by reducing the amount of players that you are up against. CALL rarely as checking and calling allows other players in cheaply and gives them more opportunities to outdraw you. With more players in the pot, the odds that you have to win half of or the entire pot are reduced. The only instance where calling is an acceptable play is when there are two big pairs on the board (nines or higher) and you have a three-low with the aces, as a high door card that has stayed involved likely stayed in on a big pair and has now made trips.

73

FOLD if you have a strong feeling that you are up against trips. That does not mean folding into a single big pair unless you have a perfect read on your opponent. What it does mean is getting out of the way of a raising war between two open pairs on the board. Big Pairs In a regular 7-card stud game, you will usually take two cards off and hope that

your pair improves to two pair or trips, and then dump it on Fifth Street if it does not improve unless you can reduce the field and have a good feeling that your big pair is still the best hand. In stud 8, you need to be more careful in play of big pairs and err on the side of caution. When you have two queens or kings, they still may be the best high hand, but you need to be very alert when big pairs are not the best high hand so you can get out of the way of players that have improved. The biggest problem in having a big pair is they become a very dangerous hand when there are many players involved in the pot. Therefore, if you can not reduce the field or anytime you face a raise (beyond the raising that you will be doing) you must get out of the way. You are realistically only going one way with the hand, high, so want to do what you can to get up against other high hands who you believe are in a worse position than you are in. To illustrate the benefits of a narrow field, lets look again at the example of the same hand played heads up and against four other players. You hold Kc Ks 7d 8h. Your opponents hold: 7h Qh Qd Ts; 4d 5d 6s 9c; 2s 2d 7s 8c and 6d 6h Ad 9s. With all of these players involved in the pot, you are in very bad shape. You will win the high half of the pot only 29% of the time, the low half of the pot only 4% of the time and scoop only 12% 74

of the time. But, suppose you raise, and are able to get two players out, so you are only facing the 2s 2d 7s 8c and the 7h Qh Qd Ts. Now, you will scoop the pot 27% of the time and win the high half of the pot 45% of the time. Your expected value is also improved, at 39% as opposed to being 23% with everyone else involved. As you can see, you want to protect your pair and reduce the field anytime you can to get the odds on your side. At the same time, you need to be careful in playing a single big pair. Aces are the exception; thats why they are given their own section, as aces are so strong and give you two options in this game, high and low. Other big pairs do not do that your options are much more limited. Because of that, you have to be more conservative in play of big pairs then you would were you playing regular 7-card stud. Do not feel bad about getting away from a big pair that did not improve on Fourth Street, because while this may be the best hand on the table, it is very dangerous to play when you are not sure if you are the best high. When that happens, get out of the way. How do you know when to get away from a big pair? Ask yourself the following questions. First and foremost, what is the status of the other cards that could improve your hand? If even one of the other two cards that would improve you to trips is gone, you must get away from the hand. Improving to trips is your best option to make you a big favorite to win the pot; when one is gone, you have to dump the hand because a single pair is much too vulnerable to other hands. Second, you have to ask yourself what do you think your opponents are holding? The paired door card is huge factor, especially if it is high, because two high cards often equal trips in stud 8. If you are just holding a single big pair, and your opponent pairs his door card, fold the hand. With trips or two pair, you can raise for information; but here your hand is not strong enough to do that and

75

is not worth the trouble. Third, how loose or tight is the game? If it looks like a bet or raise on your part will do nothing to eliminate other players (such as if the remaining players all improved and have two low cards showing) then you want to check and fold and play the big pair passively. Of course, bet the hand if you believe that betting will eliminate players, but at times a game is so loose where everyone wants to see Fifth Street so a small bet does not eliminate anyone. When playing a big pair, you want to bet if first to act and raise as long as the first to bet was not an open pair. This action will eliminate other players if they have not improved. What you do not want to do is raise a pair, or fire back with a re-raise if you are raised. The best time to play a big pair is if your big pair is hidden and you have two low cards showing, or if other players going low have caught bad cards, as a bet or raise on your part will be more effective in narrowing the field. A single big pair is not as good of a hand as it is in 7-card stud. While playable, one still has to exercise a great deal of caution with the hand because it is only going in one direction. If it looks as if the field can not be reduced, if one of your cards to improve to trips is gone, and most importantly if you have doubts as to whether or not yours is the best high hand, dump your pair and wait until you have a better hand on Fourth Street. Quick tips for play of big pairs on Fourth Street: RAISE or BET if you believe doing so will get you heads up or reduce the field. A big pair is a playable hand at times, but one that must be played with caution.

76

FOLD if you have doubts as to whether or not you are the best high hand. A big pair is not a bad hand, but it becomes a horrible hand that will get you in a lot of trouble if you are not the best high hand at this point. You also must fold if more than one of your other cards to improve to trips are gone, as improving to trips gives you the best opportunity to win the entire pot. Folding is also the best move if there is a lot of action so if it has already been raised by the time you are to act, dump the hand. Low Draws When you start with three to a low and improve, you will be doing a lot of calling

to get the best pot odds you can to hit your hand. Of course the best situation to be in is when you have other outs besides your low draw, such as a straight or flush draw, as this increases your chance of scooping and winning the entire pot. Unfortunately, there will be many times when you catch a card that does not improve your chances of qualifying for the high half of the pot but does improve the chances you will hit the low. The safe play is to check and call with these hands to get better pot odds and to determine the strength of other players. Ideally, you would not have to bet anything, but most of the time someone will bet in which case you call. The odds are in your favor that you will make a low-qualifying hand by the river about 70%. If it Gets Expensive, Get Out Most of the time you will be staying to see one more card times will be few and far between when you would lay down four cards to the low. The only time you would want to dump a four-low is if you had a strong belief that you were far behind other players. This would be if you held a hand like 3468 and there was a lot of heavy action 77

such as a big bet by an open pair and a raise from an ace along with calling from several hands that appeared to catch help in drawing to a low. Whenever it will cost you more than two bets to see Fifth Street, you need to pause and think carefully whether or not you should proceed, asking yourself what direction your opponents are going in. Use what your opponents are showing you to your advantage. If the action is coming from high cards, you can assume your opponents are going high. This is a great situation to be in, because you still have an outside shot at the high, but hands going high are in a terrible position to back into a hand that would qualify them for the low half of the pot. So ideally, you want to be up against hands going high. When going low, big cards are your friends when held by other opponents. Other Low Draws On the flip side, be careful when proceeding against hands that look like they have caught low. Most of the time, calling is just fine because you will have a better idea of where you stand when you each catch another card, but if it is going to cost you more than one big bet to see Fifth Street, dump the hand if there are a lot of players involved and you suspect at least two are also on low draws unless your low draw is of good quality as well. Remember: quality lows are those that have other outs. Four to a straight and four to a flush have already been covered; other hands include four cards that are six or lower (A245 is an example), one-gap straights (such as 3467) to the low and hands with three to the flush. Get Rid of the Lows, Keep the Highs While most of the time you will be doing a lot of checking and calling when you hold four cards to the low that are not in a strong position to win the high half of the pot, 78

there are instances where you can raise with a four-low. This is when you believe that betting or raising will reduce the hands that are drawing to the low and get you involved against hands that are going high. The best situation to do this is when the board looks non-threatening on the low side and there is no more than one opponent who has two cards to the low, such as when opponents you suspect going low have caught bad cards. With more than one player holding two low cards on the board, betting or raising is not an effective move as you can assume that they will be staying in on a low-draw. Typically many players will stay in for one bet and of course for free if possible if they are on a low draw but do not get any help on Fourth Street. A bet or raise though on your part will cause them to think twice. Do not raise it up though if there have been two or more callers with two low cards showing. Do Not Get Heads-Up You do not want a raise to cause you to be heads up against a high, because a low draw with a small chance of improving to win the high part of the pot does not play well heads-up against a strong high hand. For instance, suppose you hold 2c 3c 6s 7d. You are heads-up against an opponent who has two pair, 4s Kd 4d Kh. Heads-up, you have a 69% chance of winning the low and a 7% chance of winning the high. Overall the two pair has a 61% to 39% advantage in expected value over you in this hand. Now, lets add another high hand to the picture a player holding Jh Ts Jd Tc. With the two high draws and you, your chances of winning the low half of the pot are 74%. The odds you will hit the high half of the pot drop slightly to 5%, but your expected value is now 40%. Having two or more high hands involved in the pot will result in a bigger payoff for you, because the pot will be built up by the high hands fighting it out for half of the pot.

79

While you do want high draws, low draws pose a threat, even if they are just three-lows. Adding two other players to the scenario, well assume these players started with three cards to a low and caught bad cards on Fourth Street. Well give the two players hands of 3h 4h 8s 9c and 2s 4c 7c Qd. With this crowded pot, you are now only a 52% favorite to win the low half of the pot and will scoop just 2% of the time against your opponents. Your expected value also drops to 28%. As you can see, your low draw is in the best shape when you are up against other players who are going high. Because of that, you do not want to get tricky and set traps for the other lows that caught bad cards get them out of the way if you can so they do not back into low hands that could be better than your low if you hit it. The best way to do this is to raise when a high hand bets or bet if no one has acted by the time the action gets to you. Eliminating Highs While you want to go ahead and raise or bet if you believe you can get involved against two or more players going high, another good situation is when you can cut the field to you and players going low who you believe are in a worse situation than you are, and you believe a bet or raise on your part will keep them involved in the pot but eliminate a player who has a marginal pair, such as nines or tens. A perfect situation is when you are up against several players who have caught bad cards that did not appear to help them. Take this scenario. You hold Ah 2h 4s 5d and are up against opponents holding: Tc 8d Ts Kc, 4c 6s 7c Qs, 3d 5h 8h Js and 3s 5s 6d 8c. With all of these players involved, your expected value is 40%. You will scoop 18% of the time, win the low half of the pot 53% of the time and the high half of the pot 26% of 80

the time. These are not bad odds at all, which is why calling is fine. But, if you can eliminate the pair of tens, you are in a better situation. Suppose the tens check or bet. Consider a raise if you believe it will eliminate the tens and you will get some calls from the lows who are in a worse position than you are. If the tens are removed from the picture, you will scoop 24% of the time, win the high half of the pot 37% of the time and the low half of the pot 53% of the time. Overall with you against these others low draws, your expected value is 46%. If you eliminate the 3d 5h 8h Js and become involved in a three-way pot against the four-low and other three-low, your odds improve slightly to a 50% expected value and a 29% chance to scoop. A Good or Bad Draw? Finally, you must consider what the quality of your draw is. The best situation would be to have four cards to a wheel or six-low, such as A245, as when made, these hands are a lock or virtual lock for the low. But just because you have four cards to a low, it does not mean you are drawing to a quality low. It was already mentioned that the best low draws are those that have other outs, but when trying to figure out whether or not to see Fifth Street, you also must consider the chance that you may be up against other players who are drawing to a better low hand than you are. For instance, if you held A246, you would have no problem calling with the hand and getting involved even if there were a lot of action. But suppose you hold 3468. With a hand like this, you do not want to be automatically calling you must carefully assess the situation and look at your opponents door cards. If it looks like they have caught bad cards or you will be up against just high draws, by all means go ahead and call up to one big bet or raise and win the pot now. But if the pot is crowded and it appears several players have caught helpful

81

cards to the low, dump the hand even if it is just one small bet. Just as you do not want to get involved in a pot with the second-best high hand, you do not want to be stuck calling to the river, make your low, and find that it is second or third-best. If you release your mediocre low draw now when you believe you are not the best hand, you will save yourself a lot of money. What frequently happens when you are up against better low draws is you make your low, but your opponent also makes a low and you get crushed. When to Get out of the Way If you have an eight-low and several players are involved who have cards such as 23, 34, 45, 56 or an ace with any card through a seven showing, you need to get out of the way unless you also have a three-flush, three to the straight or three wheel cards. If those cards are present, you can call one bet. With a poor low draw, you want very few players going your way involved so without quality, do not hesitate to release the hand if more than one threatening low draw remains and it costs you more than one bet to stay involved. To summarize, you will be doing a lot of calling when you hold four to a low to see how your hand develops after taking one more card. However, a four-low is not the kind of hand that you automatically call with every single time. Look carefully at what the other players hold, and use that information to your advantage. This is also where your awareness on Third Street will help. Did they raise or just limp in? If they raised, they are probably going high and trying to narrow the field or have a great draw and are betting a potential monster. If they limped, they are more apt to have a drawing hand, such as three to the low or two to the low with a small pair. Use this information to help determine whether or not you should just call or raise and narrow the field to reduce low

82

draws that have caught bad cards or fold if it looks like there are many players involved and it has become an expensive proposition to see Fifth Street. Quick tips for play of low draws on Fourth Street: RAISE or BET if you believe you can eliminate some players who are going low and get involved against two or more players who are going high. Do not do this if you believe it will get you heads-up against an opponent who is going high, as your odds to scoop are minimal. The best situation to bet or raise to eliminate other low draws is when it appears a player who limped in on Third Street with a low card showing caught a bad card (a nine, ten, jack, queen or king). You can also bet or raise if you believe you can eliminate high draws (such as a player with a mediocre pair like nines or tens) and get involved against weaker low draws. CALL frequently. When in doubt, its fine to just call one bet. There is no need to get savvy with bets and raises, especially if you are at a loose game where you are certain a bet or raise would be ineffective. FOLD if it is going to cost you more than one bet to stay involved in the pot, you do not have other outs, such as a three flush or three straight and your low is of marginal quality (an eight low). You also want to fold if you are up against two or more other hands who are also going low but believe them to have a better low draw than you do.

83

Low Draws with a Pair Often when starting out with low draw, instead of improving to a four-low you pick up a card that gives you a pair. Call one bet. Unlike with four to a low, you are not yet in a position where you can bet and raise to eliminate lows because your hand is not as likely to qualify for the low as if you already had four cards to qualify. With three cards to the low, it is about a 40% chance that you will hit a hand by the river that will qualify for the low. Therefore, the best move is to take another card and see how your hand develops, when the decision to stay involved or get out will become more clear at Fifth Street. Rarely Raise The only time to consider raising or betting is if you have a pair showing on the board and you are playing in a tight game. A pair on the board is a strong indicator that a player has made trips, and in a tight game players are more likely to fold when a pair bets. Taking a chance on this play is best when other players have caught bad cards, and you believe that your bet will win you the pot. Most of the time though, the best play is to just limp to see Fifth Street rather than trying to be creative with a bet or raise this play is only advised if you have a very good knowledge of your opponents and are playing at a table full of rocks. The other obvious time when you should raise has already been covered, when you hold a pair of aces. Aces play best when the field is small or you are heads up, so you want to bet or raise to reduce the field.

84

How Big is the Pair? Of course, the best pair you can get when you have three cards to a low is when you make a pair of aces. But there are differences in other pairs as well. For instance, if you started with 368 suited and make a pair of eights, you are in a slightly better position than if you had made a pair of threes. This is because if you are involved against other players going low, you may back into a two pair that will be bigger than the two pair that they will get. In a regular 7-card stud game, a pair of eights is nothing to be excited about. But here, when several players are going low, a big small pair is better than a tiny pair. Many times a situation arises later in the hand where you make two pair on the river as opposed to hitting the low hand, and you end up winning the high half of the pot by virtue of the two pair. The advantage a big small pair gives you though is not huge, and you still need to get out of the way anytime you fear you are up against trips unless you have three cards that are six or less with the pair. But having a larger small pair makes a call of up to two bets more justifiable than making the same call with a tiny pair. When to Fold Every so often, you must get away from this hand. Just as when you hold four to the low, if it is going to cost you more than two bets to stick around, you need to get away unless you hold three cards to a straight flush, or three cards six or less with three to a straight or flush to go with them. If you can not see Fifth Street for just a bet, carefully consider whether or not to proceed. The factors that go into determining whether or not you can stay for more than a bet include the quality of your three low cards (is it 234 or 368?) and whether or not you are holding three cards to a flush or straight. If you fear you might be up against trips, get out of the way. While you want to stick around against

85

opponents going high when you have four to the low, with only three to the low and a pair, you need to fold when you fear you are up against trips unless your pair is aces or you meet the criteria discussed (three cards suited or three to the straight with three cards of six or lower) because the odds are much worse for hitting the low than when you hold four to the low. You also must fold anytime an open pair of aces bets. Of course, another factor that you need to consider is live cards. Even if all of the available cards to improve to qualify for the low half of the pot were live, you would still catch two cards you need by the river only half of the time. And even then it might not be good enough to win you the low half of the pot. Therefore, if you are going to proceed with this hand, you want both of the cards that will improve you to trips to be live if you are not holding a three-straight, three-flush or three wheel cards. In a nutshell, this is the kind of hand with which you want to see Fifth Street for as cheaply as possible. It is a decent hand with potential but you need to determine how much potential it has. The presence of three wheel cards, three to a straight or three cards to the flush along with your pair makes the hand much better and you can feel comfortable calling up to two bets with such a hand. Of course, the best situation is when you make a pair of aces. Anytime it is going to cost you more than two bets to see a fifth card, look carefully at what your opponents are holding and take into consideration the quality of your hand if the criteria discussed in this section are lacking, dump the hand or else you are not going to like what happens to you later in the hand. Believe it or not, a key to success is folding. You save yourself a lot of money over the long run by dumping a hand you believe may not be in the best position to win the low, because once a low is made it is very difficult to get away from.

86

Quick tips for play of three-lows with a pair: RAISE if you hit a pair on the board and are involved in a tight game where you think the raise will win you the pot then and there. You also want to bet or raise if you hold a pair of aces, as aces need to be protected and do best when the field is narrow. CALL frequently. When you have three to the low with a pair, you certainly have a playable hand, but it is not a hand of which you can be too proud of at this point. Because Fourth Street sees a lot of calling and not a lot of heavy action, you will very often be able to take another card to see how the hand develops. If you are unable to proceed with the hand without paying more than two bets, your hand must have other potential. This includes: 1) Having a pair of aces (in which case you raise) or 2) Three cards to a straight or three cards to a flush with three cards of six or smaller. Do not call more than two bets unless you hold three cards to a straight flush, as the hand becomes too dangerous to proceed with. FOLD when your hand does not have other outs and it is going to cost you more than two bets to see a fifth card. Also fold when you believe your opponent is drawing to a better low hand than you are, or if it looks like you are up against trips in a small field. Three-Lows Many times in stud 8, you will start out with a quality low draw and catch a bad card on Fourth Street that gives you no help. When this happens, any sophisticated player

87

is certainly not going to let you see another card for free unless you are at a very passive table. The biggest mistake many players make (which is a reason why stud 8 can be such a profitable game for the good player) is to automatically call with a low draw that catches a bad card on Fourth Street. This is a carryover for many from playing regular 7card stud, when calls on Fourth Street are often automatic because the betting is still small. Many players simply figure they have three to a low, so why not see just one more card? Maybe they will pair up and then have a shot at both the high and the low. Or maybe theyll catch the fourth card to the low, and then its just one more card to hit the low, and certainly half the pot will be theirs. So calling here makes sense, right? Wrong! You have to be very careful when you catch a bad card on Fourth Street, and very often need to release the hand. When You Can Stay While most of the time you need to release a three-low, situations arise where you can go ahead and see another card with this hand. Obviously, if you can see Fifth Street for free this is the best situation. But the times when you can see Fifth Street for free will be few and far between. The exceptions allowing you to stay involved in the pot are when you hold: 1) three wheel cards; 2) four suited cards and 3) three cards to a small straight. When you hold three wheel cards go ahead and call a bet and call up to two bets with a four-flush. This advice may sound very tight, but it is one of the most important aspects of stud 8 to remember. Unlike with the four-lows, your odds are much worse that you will hit low-qualifying hand by the river. Therefore, you can not simply call automatically thinking you will hit the hand, even if you may be up against just other high hands. Take 88

this example. You hold 2h 5h 6c Js. Your opponents hold: Ks 8s Kd 3h, 3c 4c 7s 8d and 4s 5c 6d 9h. Out of the four players, you are in the worst situation as your expected value is only 17% to win this hand and will win the low only 19% of the time. As you can see, the odds are against you and do not justify a call. What about if you had a three-flush though? The outlook would still be bleak. If your two hearts were three, you improve to having a 22% expected value. You win the high half of the pot 21% of the time and the low half of the pot 19% of the time and have a 25% expected value. Thats not much of an improvement, so you still need to release the hand if there was a bet. But, if you had four suited cards, you could go ahead and call up to two bets as your prospects for hitting the flush are much better. When you have three cards to a straight or a wheel, you can also stay involved based on the strength of your low draw. Be more apt to stay with a hand like 345K than 678K as the former is a better straight draw because you are still drawing low both ways, and also has three cards to the nut low. Of course, dump the hand as more of the cards you need to hit the straight are gone. Finally, err on the side of caution. Always dump the hand if you have any feeling that your opponents have improved to a better low draw than you. That means getting away from hands like 457K when you are looking at 23 or A4. Drawing to a worse low is bad enough when you have four cards to the low but its even worse when you only have three of the five cards you need to qualify for the low. Save yourself the money and get away from this dangerous hand. Before moving onto Fifth Street, heres another quiz to test your knowledge of proper play at this stage of the game.

89

Quiz on Fourth Street Play Question 1: You started with pocket queens, which did not improve. In middle position, an open pair of jacks bets. Two hands that have caught help going low call. Do you fold, call or raise? Answer: Fold. Yes, you want to protect this hand when you can and if it were trips you re-raise. But without improvement, your queens are in a bad situation against probable trips with two low draws staying involved, so you need to release the hand. Question 2: You have caught a dynamite hand A256, all suited. A player appearing to go high with K9 showing bets, and a player with a 68 showing calls. The action is now to you. Looking at the other players who are yet to act, you see a TJ, 58 and 69. Do you call or raise? Answer: Call. With a hand this good that has so much potential, keep people involved in the pot. If you believe you can build the pot up with a small raise because most of the players will stay involved, by all means go ahead and raise. But most of the time just call, as this is the kind of hand that can improve to something huge so you want a lot of people staying involved to increase your potential payoff. Question 3: You hold 3478 with two suited cards. A player with A3 showing bets, is called by a KQ and 25. The action is now to you. There are still two players to act, but they appear to have caught non-threatening cards. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. Sure, you have four to the low, but its a 78 low and nothing to be overly proud of. A raise is not going to eliminate the A3 or 25 after they have already called; and even if they had not already called and were yet to act a raise probably would not be

90

effective. The cards that are showing are very dangerous and one if not both of your opponents are drawing to a better low than you are. So dump the hand before it costs you a lot of chips. Question 4: Starting with 235 suited, you catch a 7 that does not help your possibilities to hit the flush but does help you in your draw to the low. You are in middle position. There is nothing too impressive on the board an AK was first to act, was called by a 74 and 4K, and now the action is to you. Looking to your left, you see that yet to act are a 58, 4Q and 59. Do you raise it up or just call? Answer: Raise. Your best shot at a piece of the pot is winning the low. You are drawing to a good low a seven, but you lack a straight draw and the odds are against you that you will hit a flush. Because of that, you have to eliminate some of the low draws. A raise here is not likely to get you heads up against the AK (which is of course good as you do not want to be heads up against a player who is going high). What it will do is help to narrow the field, eliminating some of the weaker low draws to give you better odds on your low draw. By just calling, you make it easier for a crowded pot and can become more vulnerable to being outdrawn. Question 5: The pocket queens you started with have now improved to trips. First to act is a player holding A7 who bets. He is called by players holding 49, 78 and AK. You are the last to act. Do you raise or just call? Answer: Raise. Raising is clearly the best option here, as you want to eliminate opponents. While the raise would probably be more effective from early position (especially if the game is loose) your goal is to drive other players out of the pot who pose a threat to you. Even if you can eliminate just one of the players who is involved in 91

the pot, this helps reduce your chances of being outdrawn. Always remember: high hands must be protected. Question 6: You started out with three suited small cards, 346. Unfortunately, you caught no help on Fourth Street, being hit with a king. You are in late position. First to act, a player with a K9 bets and is called by a T8 and 67. Should you see one more card or get out of the way? Answer: Call. You still have chances to go both ways with this hand as you have a flush and also a straight draw, so can see one more card. This is one of the exceptions to the rule that you should not proceed past Fourth Street when you catch a bad card, because you have other outs. Question 7: In middle position, you hold 348K and also have three suited cards. First to act was an open pair of sevens, who bet. He was quickly called by a player with an A2 showing. Now the action is to you. Yet to act are players holding 45, 7A and 4Q. Do you fold, call or raise? Answer: Fold. This situation differs from the previous question in that the waters are too murky for you to safely proceed with this hand, and you could get in big trouble if you did proceed with it. The sevens who bet may have trips or two pair; if he had a pair with two low cards, he would check and see the next street cheaply fearing the lower cards yet to act. His best chance to scoop would of course be by getting rid of as many players as possible so they do not catch lows. The A2 staying in you can put on a low draw, and with two others players who have also improved potential low draws you could be in a very bad way in both directions: a three-flush against trips is a big underdog, and going

92

the other way the other players have likely improved to a better low draw than you. Release this hand before it gets you in serious trouble. Question 8: Starting out with JJA you catch a third jack giving you trips. You are in early position, but are not first to act as a player has made an open pair of queens, and bets. The big bet was called by a 78 and now the action is to you. Yet to act are three players, who hold 89, TT and 4K. Do you fold, call or raise it up? Answer: Raise. This may seem like an aggressive play, but it is actually the best move. Now the remaining players will have to call two bets cold something thats not easy to do, even in a loose game. Your raise will also get you information. If the queens have in fact made trips, they will re-raise you or just call if they are more tight, fearing you were rolled up with aces. With trips, you would be calling on Fifth Street anyway so why wait until then to get the bet in, when other players have already improved and the limits are up? The best move here is to raise to force other players out and if you are re-raised by the queens you can go ahead and release the hand, because you certainly do not want to be up against trip queens. The best way to find out is to raise and not to just call. While you want to play tight, you also want to play aggressive and this is a time to be aggressive and protect your trips. If you really believe that the open queens are trips, go ahead and make the tough lay down but never just call! Question 9: Starting out with 346, you limped in to see Fourth Street and catch a four, giving you a pair. You are in late position. An A8 is first to act, betting a small bet as there is no pair on the board. The player is called by a 59 and a player holding 87. The other players fold and the action comes to you. Fold, call or raise?

93

Answer: Call. A raise will not eliminate other players as they are already involved in the pot. If you were first to act after the A8, you could raise if the players yet to act were tight and you believed that the raise might narrow the field, but calling is the best move (and even if first to act calling is recommended). With just a small pair and three to the low, you want to see Fifth Street for as cheaply as possible as this is a playable hand but nothing to be overly proud about. Question 10: You started out with a pair of eights and a four for a kicker. Unfortunately Fourth Street brings no help, and you catch a king. The king makes you the high hand on the board, and you are first to act. There are four other players who stayed in to see Fourth Street. They are holding 5J, 34, 6K and 23. Do you check or bet? Answer: Check. Some may argue this is too passive of a play, and you need to bet to eliminate other players. If you know your opponents well or the game is very tight, you can bet if you believe it will eliminate players or win you the pot right there. If all the other players had caught bad cards, it would be worth a shot at the pot to see if you could steal it. But you are in a bad situation. The players who caught low are likely to stay in, and depending on how loose the game is you may get the other players staying in to see Fifth Street as well, as it is difficult for many to fold before seeing two more cards when they start out with a low draw. The goal is to see Fifth Street for free by checking and hoping that no one bets. (This probably wont happen as one of the low draws will bet and try to eliminate players who are also on low draws). If someone does bet after you check, release the hand and wait for something better.

94

Summary of Fourth Street Fourth Street is a crucial stage in stud 8, as it is at this stage that many players get into trouble by playing hands that should not be played, or by making poor decisions that allow other players to stay in on the cheap and see another card to improve. One of the keys to success to stud 8 is knowing when you need to get away from a hand and knowing when you need to bang away in attempts to eliminate people. As the examples have shown, by making the right moves you will either get an edge over your opponents or put yourself in a position where your opponents get the edge over you. Essentially you will be raising with the high, and checking and calling when going low. Of course its a lot more complicated than that, which is why you need to read this section carefully! Another goal is to eliminate players going low when you are also going low so they do not outdraw you. The best way to do that is to bet or raise when you improve and they do not, so long as you do not get heads up against a player going high. If you have read this section carefully, you will have noticed that many times it is stated to stay in only if you can do so for a bet. This is not to imply that action is fast and heavy on Fourth Street. In a few games filled with maniacs that may be the case. But, most of the time, the fireworks do not begin until Fifth Street. It is at that stage that players have either made hands or are freerolling (more on that in a minute). At Fourth Street, the action tends to be lighter. When it is heavy, its an indicator that players have made high hands and are trying to jam the pot with the high. Here you either want to be very sure you have the best high hand or have a good draw to the low, as its much easier to scoop with the low than the high.

95

Now its on to Fifth Street, where the bets become bigger and the action becomes heavier. Fifth Street is a crucial stage in stud 8, because it can get very expensive in some games. But, not to worry. After reading this section, you will have an idea of the hands that are playable and know how to play them, and know when to release hands that can cost you a lot of money. Chapter 4 Fifth Street Introduction From Fifth Street on in stud 8, you can find yourself engaged in pots where there may be a lot of action. This is because players will make hands that they believe are the best going in a particular direction and try to jam the pot to build it up if they believe they will win the pot, or eliminate other players who are going in the same direction as they are. This is not to say that every time you sit down to play stud 8 at a casino or online you will find a lot of action for there are many times where there is only a bet followed by a caller or two. But, you should be prepared for lots of action on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh streets. Many times, you will be raising or folding, but there will be times when you are calling in hopes of completing your low draw that, if made, you believe will win you part of the pot or, more preferably, scoop the pot. Free-rolling The best situation you can be in when playing stud 8 is when you are free-rolling. This refers to when you are up against one or more opponents and you have locked up half of the pot. Of course, anytime you make a wheel, you are free-rolling and the best anyone can do is tie your hand. This can happen once in a blue moon, but it is very rare.

96

Because this is not a flop game and everyone has their own cards, you will be able to figure out when you are free-rolling, as to make a hand that would qualify for the low, an opponent would need to have at least two low cards showing after seven cards. On Fifth Street, if after five cards, your opponents have no low cards showing and you have made a hand that qualifies for the low, you are then free-rolling. Here, you have an edge against your opponent because you have already locked up half of the pot and there is a chance that you may back into a high hand. Ideally, you will be up against high hands so they can fight over half of the pot while you jam the pot with raises. Free-rolling illustrates why it is so much better to go for the low than the high in stud 8, because situations arise where you do not have to sweat it out when you fire chips into the pot, because you know at least part of the mountain and perhaps the entire pile of chips will be shoved to you by the dealer. Knowing When to Get Out While free-rolling is fantastic when it happens, there will be many situations where you are not sure if you have the best hand or not. But, whether or not you can proceed with the hand will become clearer at this stage in the game. Does your hand still have a chance for the low? Of course the answer is no if you hold only one or two low cards in your hand. If not, youd better be certain that you have the best high hand or are up against no other lows and are playing for the entire pot. Many players ignore that, and get deluded into playing for half of the pot, which over the long run costs them dearly. On the flip side, you can not be staying involved when it looks like several players are drawing to quality lows and you are sitting on a small pair and a 86 low draw; or there is a lot of heavy action and you have made a mediocre low that is not likely to improve or

97

has no real chance at the high. The key to success at Fifth Street and beyond is carefully selecting which hands to play, going with ones you believe are either a lock to win at least half of the pot or have a strong potential to win you the entire pot. That means getting away from hands that may look better than they are, and getting information from your opponents so you can know when you may have the best hand or may be chasing the dream of winning just half of the chips. As with previous chapters, the chapter on Fifth Street play will start with the best hands and proceed to those that are more marginal. By the end of this section, it will be clear why some hands are gold, others can turn into gold, and still others are fools gold. Knowing how to differentiate between these hands is a key to being a winning player instead of a chump. Monster Highs Technically speaking, the only unbeatable high hand is a royal flush. However, there are hands that are nearly close to being unbeatable. In this category are straight flushes, quads and a full house of aces full. Whenever you have a hand like this, you are a virtual lock for the high half of the pot, so want to extract as much money as possible from your opponents. The best way to do that is to simply check and call when you are up against other players going high, and only bet and raise if you believe that doing so will eliminate players drawing to the low so you will not have to split the pot. Four of a kind is a dynamite hand, but it will still split the pot with a player who qualifies for any low.

98

Look for the Paint The best way to eliminate low draws is to make it expensive for them to stick around. Paint refers to a face card, which can not help improve a low hand. So, look for the paint. (And of course any nine). Watch your opponents and if they look to be going low and catch a card that does not help, bet or raise. Ideally, raise before the action gets to them so they will have to call more than one bet if they want to stay involved in the pot. Even if you act after they have acted, raise anyway. Raising here is a win-win situation no matter how you look at it, because if you are raising in early position or first to act and bet and several players call, the pot is built up. Obviously, if you may just be getting half of the pot, you want it to be part of a very large pot as opposed to a small one. More desirable though is when low draws fold and get out of your way because you want to be going in the same direction as your opponents, not in opposite directions. Few things are worse than building a pot when you are heads-up only to have it split. There the only real winner is the house, which gets the rake. So, remember: monster hands are phenomenal, and you want as many people involved in the pot as possible as long as they are going in the same direction as you are. Do not bet or raise if you believe it will get you heads-up against a low, because you will end up splitting a small pot. Bet Into Improved Lows Just as you are free-rolling when you are the only low against high hands, you are essentially free-rolling when you have made a monster high hand. Therefore, if you are up against several players who have improved their low draws and now have three cards to the low, still bet into them or raise anytime it comes back to you until the pot is capped. Getting away from a low hand is difficult for many players to do and especially

99

so when they have already made a low hand. As a result, while odds are your betting and raising is not going to get improved low draws or hands that have already qualified for the low to drop, such action on your part will build up the pot, which is exactly what you want to do. Make it as expensive as you can for the lows as you are essentially guaranteed half of the pot. To briefly summarize play of monster high hands on Fifth Street, remember: the best situation to be in is to be up against two or more players that are going high. Do what you can by being aggressive when low hands are involved, but do not get yourself headsup against a low draw or potentially-made low hand as the end result of such action will be a small pot split. Quick tips for play of monster high hands on Fifth Street: RAISE or BET when you believe doing so will eliminate hands going low but not eliminate hands that are going high. The best situation is to be up against two or more hands going high so the winner will scoop the pot. You also want to raise when it looks like several players who are on low draws or who have made low draws will stay involved in the pot. If you cant get up against highs, you want to build up the pot so the half you do win will still be sizeable. CALL when you are up against only high hands. When its just you against the other highs, you want to slow-play your hand in hopes opponents will hit hands they believe will be good enough to win them the high.

100

Monster Lows Monster low hands are better than monster high hands in that they have a better potential to scoop. The best low hand you can get in stud 8 is the wheel, an ace-to-five straight that is a lock for the low half of the pot and very often scoops the entire pot. Other hands that are unbeatable are, of course, any low hand that is free-rolling. A sixlow is not unbeatable, and nearly every stud 8 player has a bad beat story of a six-low being cracked by a wheel, but it is nearly unbeatable and is a hand that will always be played to the river. As with the unbeatable high hands, the goal with low hands is to build up the pot as big as you can get it so you will extract the most money from your opponents. When playing a low hand that is a monster, you will need to adjust your play based on what your opponents are holding. While you do not want to be heads-up against a high, when that happens it is not as bad as when you are heads-up with a monster high hand against a low as your potential to scoop the pot is greater. Setting a Trap When you hold a high hand that is a monster, you want to eliminate opponents that are going low so you will scoop the pot. When holding a low hand that is a monster, you want as many people involved in the pot as possible who are going low because you have a lock or virtual lock on half of the pot, and have a very good chance to scoop. That being the case, why eliminate any low? Its better to have your opponents make hands and have the pot get huge as your chances of winning are great, so slow-play the hand by betting it if you believe you will get two or more callers, but do not raise with it unless you will get a lot of calls even if you raise, such as when there are two or three players with three low cards showing.

101

While you do not want to eliminate lows, that does not mean you can never bet your hand. Suppose an open pair of kings bets. He is probably on trips and trying to protect his hand. You are next to act, and see two players going low who appear to have improved, having boards of 236 and A47. Here, if the opponents were loose, go ahead and raise, especially if one or both of your opponents have two suited cards. They are on high-quality low draws, and it will be very difficult for them to get away from these hands. However, if they were tight players, you would want to call as the raise might eliminate one of them which you do not want to have happen. Another situation when you need to raise or bet is when you are up against highs. The more the merrier going high, so do what you can to build up the pot as you have a lock on winning the low and a good chance to scoop. Finally, you can bet your hand if you are first to act and it looks like several players have improved their hands. Suppose you have made a wheel and had the high hand on the board with the ace. Yet to act are two players showing three low cards and a player with two low cards to a wheel and also with two of his three cards suited. Here, bet as your opponents will call you. Raising with the 6-low Another situation where you must raise with a monster low hand is if you hold A3456 or A2456 and you believe doing so will get you involved against other low draws and get high hands out of the way. These hands are gems for the low and virtually unbeatable, but the potential to scoop is reduced as they are both draws to inside straights. Therefore, you want to get involved against other lows, so need to play the hand aggressively by betting or raising anytime you think that doing so has a chance of 102

eliminating high hands who may be tempted to stick around with their two pair or big pair. Eliminating Highs While you want many low hands involved, there are times when you should go ahead and raise or bet in an attempt to eliminate high hands. One instance, when you have a non-straight six low, has already been covered. But, even when you have a wheel or six-high straight, situations arise where a bet or raise is the best move. This is any time an opponent has an open pair or is on a flush draw. As you already know, an open pair is a strong indicator of trips, which can turn into a full house. As a result, you need to do what you can to eliminate them so they do not hit their hand and end up splitting the pot with you. Cutting them out of the picture increases your chances of scooping the pot. Eliminating highs is a good move, but you do not want do this when it will get you heads-up against the high. That means raising when you think low draws will stay involved for two bets, but just calling if you think the raise will narrow the field. Returning to the example of kings on the board, if the player bets and you raise but yet to act are a 68Q, 48T and 39J, a raise may very well eliminate all of these players as none of them has a lock on the low yet, and as such is not married to the hand. So here, just call to keep them involved and take your chances on scooping. In a $4/8 game, a raise might get you another $8 from the kings, but you have a better shot at the pot if you just call as the players with two low cards showing are likely to call, especially if two of their cards are suited. To summarize, you are a lock for at least half of the pot so do what you can to maximize the amount of money you will win. Eliminate highs that look like they might 103

outdraw you but not when you think it will get you heads up against the high. When up against lows, allow them to stay in on the cheap so they can make their hands which will be beat by your hand. Quick tips for play of monster lows: RAISE or BET when you can eliminate players going high, as you do not want to split the pot CALL when up against lows as you want to keep them involved and build up the pot. Made Lows Whenever you make a hand that qualifies for the low on Fifth Street, you are in great position. This is because even if your low is not of the best quality, you still have two cards that can improve your situation and you also have time to improve to a hand that will win the high half of the pot. The best lows are, of course, the wheel, and any hand that has other outs, such as a four-straight or four-flush. The presence of an ace also improves your hand. How you play this hand is determined by what your opponents are holding and what your chances for improvement are. Obviously, if you hold a 34678 low with only two cards of the same suit, you become very vulnerable and may have to get away from the hand if there are better low hands and a lot of action. The same hand becomes gold when you are up against players who are only going high. Based on the situation you are in, you will either be folding, trying to see Sixth Street cheaply in hopes of improvement, and even getting away from the hand if it is of too poor quality to proceed. Other times you will be raising

104

with the hand in hopes of eliminating low draws that could edge you out for the low half of the pot. Betting & Jamming As you know, the best situation to be in when holding a low is when you have locked up the low half of the pot and are free-rolling. Then you can be on cruise control to the river. However, many times that is not the case, as you will still have other players who are drawing to lows. If your low is of poor quality, you must try to eliminate other players who are on low draws too. The best way to do that is when your opponents who are going low have limped in to see Fifth Street after catching a bad card on Fourth Street and have caught another bad card. The last thing you want to do is to give them a free card, because there is still a chance they could catch two running low cards and hit a better low than you have. Because of this, you must bet or raise with your hand if you believe it will eliminate a low draw. For instance, suppose a player showing Jd Js 8d was the high hand on the board, and he bets. Next to act, holding 2c 4d 5d 6h 8c, you look to your left to see three players holding 4s 9c Kd, 6s 8s Qd and Th Tc 9d. Raise. Your raise has a good chance to eliminate both players going low, as you are already showing three low cards on the board. When your low is weaker, and especially when it has fewer outs, you must do what you can to eliminate other draws to the low. If you just check and call in hopes of improving or in hopes that your hand will hold up, what may very well happen is the other low draws will improve to their hands and you will have called two more bets on Sixth and Seventh Streets and lose a pot you could have won. 105

To illustrate an example of the importance of eliminating other low draws, look at how your hand does in a reduced field. As the example will show, the fewer players remaining who can outdraw you to a better low, the better. Returning to the earlier example of where you hold 2c 4d 5d 6h 8c, you are clearly in a better way if you can eliminate the players going low. Take this scenario. First to act is a pair of jacks, who bets big. Well assume hes holding three of a kind, and has a hand of 7c Js Jd Jh 9d . Also involved are a player who has 2s 6d 4s 9c Kd, a player with a mediocre low draw of 2d 4c 6s 8s Qh, and a player with trip tens holding 9s Th Td Tc 3s. You will win the low half of the pot 61% of the time (hardly a lock!), win the high half of the pot 14% of the time and scoop 11% of the time. If you were to just call with the low you have, there is a greater chance that everyone will stay involved in the hand, especially if the game is loose. But if you raise, you put pressure on the other hands and increase the likelihood that the four-low and three-low/flush will fold. If you get the three-low/flush out of the picture, your odds of winning the low increase slightly to 70% and your expected value becomes 44%. If both the three-low/flush and four-low were to fold, then you lock up the low and your expected value rises to 58%. With three low cards showing on the board, you can intimidate your opponents so play your low hand for what it is worth and be aggressive with it. The fact that the betting limits have increased also benefits you on Fifth Street, in that if the low draws want to stay involved, it will now cost them more to stick around. Having to call two bets with a marginal low draw and a three-low/three-flush will make even the loosest of players think twice, so put the pressure on them.

106

Limping and Folding Though you want to put pressure on low draws to protect your low hand, there are times when you want to limp with the hand to see Sixth Street. This occurs when two or more players have caught hands giving them three cards to a low that may be better than yours. The situation becomes more troubling with the presence of two or three suited cards as they could also be drawing to a good high hand as well. Raising and betting into these hands is not going to eliminate them, so just check to them and fold if you do not have a four-flush, four-straight or ace to go along with your low hand. Folding is very difficult when you have made your low hand. You have a good hand, there are still two cards to come meaning you may improve your hand, so why on earth lay it down? Of course you would not do so if just one other low hand is involved and his board does not look threatening and you have several high hands involved. But, you must do so when several players have improved possibly making their low hands that are better than yours. Not folding will cost you a lot of money when other players have made solid low hands. Returning to the example of 2c 4d 5d 6h 8c, suppose the high hand of 7c Js Jd Jh 9d bet and yet to act were three players. One holds 9s Kd 3c 4s 6d, another holds 9h Td Ad 5s 7s and the other Qc 4c 8s Tc Ac. Here, your expected value is 48% and you will win the low half of the pot 82% of the time but only scoop 13% of the time. You are a favorite to win the low, but the scooping probability is low. If one of the opponents had in fact made a low, the numbers become much worse suppose the player with the 346 had made a 6 low and the hole cards were Ah and 2s. Now, your expected value falls to 7% and you will win the low half of the pot 33% of the time. As far as scooping goes, that will only happen about 1% of the time. With odds like that, if you

107

believe a player has made his hand and it is better than yours, do you really want to keep tossing chips into the pot in hopes you will win just half of it? Whenever you have doubts about what you may be up against, proceed with caution. Sometimes, you will raise or bet to get information. Here, that is less effective as the actions of your opponents will give you the information that you need. If a player has in fact made a hand or has a great drawing hand, he will bet it. If you hold an eight-low that has no four-flush, four-straight or ace to go along with it, and more than two low hands on the board look to have made or have a strong potential to hit a hand better than yours, dump the hand if one of the lows bet or raise because it will get you in trouble. With a three-flush, three-straight or when holding an ace, you can go ahead and see Sixth Street if you can do so for one bet but when the fireworks start and players begin to raise, get out of the way, as this means that hands have been made and you are the underdog. Position Late position is most beneficial when you hold a made-low hand and there are several low hands showing on the board. This is because you will have a better idea of what they are holding by the time the action gets to you, so you can feel more comfortable staying involved or getting out of the way. For instance, with a marginal low hand, you could stay for a bet if the field is not large with many lows showing or if it looks like you are up against highs. While in early position you can make a call of one bet from a player going high even with several threatening hands to act (you do not want to fold before the other players have acted, as they might not have made their hands) you would still rather do so in late position, so if one of the lows has raised, you can get out of

108

the way (unless the raise were from a low that did not appear to be better than you). If you call in early or middle position and a better looking low hand raises, dump the hand do not feel you need to stay in because you have already put money in the pot. To summarize, when you have made a low hand on Fifth Street, you are often in good position to come out with at least half of the pot, but many times may be up against a better low hand. You cant automatically call or raise every time the action comes to you. Carefully assess your hand and what your opponents hold. Is it a good low (seven or lower)? Does it have flush or straight possibilities? Was there a bet or raise from a threelow that might have you beat? The basic rule to remember is to raise when you believe you are up against highs or you can narrow the field of low draws, and to proceed with caution against players who may have locked up their low hands to a better low than you. When the board looks threatening with players holding three small cards that are suited or in sequence, check and call up to one bet and get out of the way when it gets expensive and your low hand is marginal. Quick tips for plays of low-qualifying hands on Fifth Street: RAISE when you are up against high hands and you believe that your raise will not result in you being heads-up against the high. You also want to raise if it looks like opponents who are going low have caught a bad card, especially if there are two high cards showing, as you do not want a low draw to catch good cards on Sixth and Seventh streets and outdraw you. CALL up to one bet if you are not certain that you are the best hand. An example is when an open pair bets, and yet to act are several players with three-lows showing. They may have improved to something solid, and if they 109

have they will raise and when it is time for you to act again you can fold and get away from the hand. FOLD when the action gets heavy and you do not have other outs for your low. While you can usually call a single bet with a low, when you have a threelow raising and that three-low represents a hand that is better than your low, you need to release your hand unless you have a four-flush, four straight, or an ace. Flushes Whenever you have a flush, you rarely will lay down the hand before the river. Flushes are a great hand in stud 8, because players going low are more likely to hit a straight then a flush. Unlike in regular 7-stud, where you often have players with pairs and two pair stick around and hit a boat on the river, the inability of such hands to scoop makes it more difficult for such hands to stay past Fifth Street. Therefore, flushes tend to hold up for the high half of the pot more often in stud 8 than they do in regular 7-card stud (though of course in a regular stud game a flush is still a very good hand that wins most of the pots it is involved in). Some players like to set traps with a flush by checking and calling. While you will do this with a monster hand, flushes are not so good that you should play them slowly. That means that you will be doing a lot of betting and raising with the hand, only slowing it down when you are re-raised by hands going high by just calling a re-raise and not making it another bet to go.

110

Narrowing the Field When you hold a flush with no low qualifier, you want to either win the entire pot right there or reduce the field, especially if you can eliminate high hands that have a chance to outdraw you. The best way to do that is to bet into a high hand that checks to you or raise a high hand in hopes that he will fold. Narrowing the field of low draws also benefits you, especially if it looks like your chances of hitting a low hand to go along with your flush are small. To illustrate the example of the benefits of narrowing the field, lets suppose you hold a heart flush of 3h 6h 9h Qh Kh. An open pair of jacks is first to act. While he may very well have trips, lets suppose that he is trying to protect two pair and holds Th Tc 8s Js Jc. Calling are a player who holds 3c 4c 6d 7d 9s, a player holding Ah 2d Ad 9c Kc and a player holding Ts 2c 3d 4d 8c. Here, raise and make the jacks call another bet or eliminate a low draw. With the crowded pot, you are still in relatively good shape as your expected value is 43% and you will win the high half of the pot 75% of the time and scoop 10% of the time. But, suppose your raise eliminates the two pair. Now your expected value for the hand jumps to 54%, the likelihood of you winning the high half of the pot jumps to a virtual lock at 96% and the chances of you scooping improve to 12%. If you also get the 84 low draw to drop, your expected value jumps to 70% and you will scoop 37% of the time. Even if the player with jacks showing had in fact made trips, a flush is still a favorite over trips so a call from the jacks would be fine. If the jacks reraised, you call because of the amount of money you had put in the pot unless you were absolutely certain that he had made a full house.

111

Slow-playing Most of the time you will be playing this hand for what it is a very good high hand that has a potential to scoop if there is no hand that qualifies for the low or if it has three or four to the low to go with the flush meaning youll be betting and raising, but there are a few exceptions to the rule to playing this hand fast. Instances where you can check or just call a high hand that has bet is when you have four cards to a wheel or six-low to go with your flush. When you have made the flush and have four cards to a great low such as this, go ahead and gamble a bit and keep people involved because you have a good potential to scoop with the hand. Keeping people involved helps the pot to be built up. A Tough Lay Down Folding a flush is a rarity, but a situation in which a fold is a safe play is when you face open trips. Open trips, especially if they are high, mean quads or a boat. If you are going for the entire pot, continue to call (a raise of trips is highly unlikely) and hope for the best, but if going for half of the pot only, fold. You should also fold if you raise a pair that bets and he re-raises you in a pot that looks to be split he may be trying to bluff, but with a pair showing he may have filled up. Obviously do not fold if you have a low or four to the low, but if the flush is only playing for half of the pot, fold if you smell a boat. The bottom line: most of the time this is a hand you will play fast. Flushes are fantastic and many times win the high half of the pot, but they key word is half. While they are not as likely to get beat by high hands who are sticking around to the river, they

112

need to be played fast because you want fewer people involved that includes high hands such as big pairs and two pairs that may be tempted to stay in for just a bet and low draws. When you do not hold four to the low to go with your flush, your hand is still strong but the odds to scoop the pot are greatly reduced. Hopefully by now youve realized that the key to success at stud 8 is scooping the pot the way to make that happen with a flush that has dim prospects of hitting the low is to play the hand fast. Quick tips for play of flushes on Fifth Street: RAISE or BET frequently. A flush is a fantastic hand, but a smaller field is better because it increases the chances for the flush to scoop the pot. CALL if you have a flush that has four cards to a good low or has already five cards to the low. If youve qualified for a low and have a great high already, you have a good chance to scoop the pot so want more players involved to build up the pot. With four cards to a wheel or six-low, you also want players involved as your potential to scoop is great so you can afford to gamble with the hand. FOLD rarely, as a flush is a great hand. Even if there are many low hands staying involved in the pot, they are not likely to hit a high hand that would beat your flush but be more likely to hit a straight. The only time you want to fold is if you have a strong belief that you are already beaten by a player holding a full house, such as when open trips bet or an open pair re-raises your raise. Such situations are very rare though as this is a hand you will be playing to the river 95% of the time.

113

Full Houses Full houses are a great hand in any poker game, but unfortunately in stud 8, they are not quite as good as flushes that have three or four cards to the low to go along with the flush. This is because once you have made a full house, your chances of qualifying for the low half of the pot are gone. Therefore, you need to do all that you can to get up against other high hands. Get Rid of the Lows Because you have essentially locked up half of the pot with a boat, you will be betting and raising with this hand in an effort to get you involved against the high hands so you can scoop the pot. That means anytime you see an opponent who catches a nine through a king who appears to be going low, you bet into him or raise him to make it costly if he wants to continue on his draw. Also go ahead and bet and raise when there are three low cards showing while that is not likely to get the opponent to fold, you never know what his two other cards may be and he might fold, but more than likely will just call. This is okay too, as it will help to build up the pot to make the half that you are set up to win larger. Even if its impossible to eliminate lows (such as when you have several players with three low cards showing) you do not want to play the hand passively, as only one low hand is going to split the pot with you, so build it up. While it is better to be up against high hands when you are free-rolling, having a fantastic high hand against players going low is okay as well as there really is no way that you can lose with your boat.

114

Banging Away & Slow-playing You want to eliminate hands that are going low when you hold a full house, but how about when the only players left are those going high? Then how you play the hand will be determined by what your opponents hold. If your full house is small, such as fives full, and your opponent is holding a pair of nines and bets, then you raise him and call if re-raised (and check and call to him until the river unless you improve to quads). However, if you held a big full house, check and call with it, then bet on Sixth Street, especially if an opponent is holding a pair that could be indicative of a smaller full house than the one you hold. In this situation, you are hoping that your opponent also hits a full house (or better yet already has one) so you will extract more money from him. The bottom line is that when you have a full house you have a huge hand, and it is rare that you will lay a boat down. Every stud player can share a bad beat story about the time they had their tens full beat by a player who rivered the last card in the deck for a bigger boat, but nine times out of ten a full house will win you at least half of the pot. If you smell another boat that is bigger and are only going for half of the pot (open big trips are an example) you can lay it down. But be prepared to play aggressively with this hand with the knowledge that full houses are very powerful and being they cant qualify for both high and low you want to do all you can to narrow the field and eliminate the other hands going low. Quick tips for play of full houses on Fifth Street: RAISE or BET with this hand most of the time. Full houses are powerhouse hands but you cant qualify for the low half of the pot with them. Therefore, you need to play them aggressively to drive players going low out of the pot. 115

CALL when you are trying to set a trap for your opponent(s). You would do this when you have a big full house, and another opponent has made an open pair that would make your opponent have, at best, a full house that is smaller than your full house. You want to keep this player involved in the pot along with other players who may also be going high in hopes they make their hands so as to increase your payoff. Never just call if looks like doing so will keep draws to the low involved, as you want to do all you can to scoop and not split the pot.

FOLD rarely due to the strength of this hand. The only time folding is acceptable is when the pot is small and you believe you are up against a bigger boat and are only going for half of the pot. This happens when there are open trips representing a full house better than yours or possible quads. Straights Straights that qualify as monster hands have already been covered these include

the wheel, which is unbeatable, and the deuce-to-six straight. Any other time you hit a low straight you are in a good situation, as you have a potential to scoop the pot. Making a low straight on Fifth Street is fantastic, because you still have two more cards to come that could make your hand even more powerful. High straights are less desirable because while they will edge out lower straights, the potential to scoop the pot is reduced. When you make a straight that is not a gem, you want to play the hand aggressively and try to drive out both hands that are drawing to the high and the low. You still have two cards to come that may improve your low draw, but if its not a five- or sixhigh straight, you become very vulnerable to hands that are going low. Of course, the best 116

way to eliminate the lows is to play your hand aggressively when it looks as if your opponents going low have caught bad cards. Even a four-low will have a hard time calling a full bet if it is not a quality low draw. Do not let him stick around so he can outdraw you. As an example of why you want to eliminate players, take a look at this scenario. You have an eight-high straight, 4c 5c 6s 7s 8d and are in middle position. There are four other players involved in the pot, two are going high and two are going low. The player going high has two pair, with a hand of Td Ts Qd Qs Ks. Also involved is a four-flush with an inside-straight draw, holding 9c Jc Tc 2c Kd. The opponents going low hold 3s 4d 6d 8h 9s and As 2s 5d 7d Th. With all of the players involved, you are not in as good shape as you might think, as your expected value for the hand is 37% you will win the high half of the pot 38% of the time, the low half of the pot 38% of the time and scoop 14% of the time. Note that none of the players involved has even qualified for the low half of the pot yet! But, suppose you can eliminate some of the players. The two pair is the high hand on the board, so you would like to act as close to the two pair as possible so other players involved will be forced to call two bets to stay involved. If the queens up bets and you raise and eliminate the 86 low draw, your expected value jumps to 45%. Your odds for winning the high half of the pot stay at 38%, but your odds of winning the low half of the pot jump to 52% and the chances of you scooping improve to 20%. If you are fortunate enough to cause the four-flush to drop as well, your expected value jumps to 65%, your chances of winning the high half of the pot skyrocket to 79%, and your chances of scooping improve to 41%. (Your odds for winning with the best low hand stay the same at 52%). As you can see, while you have a good hand, the more crowded the

117

field is the worse off you are. This is why you have to be aggressive by betting and raising with your straights. Even if you cant eliminate hands that you suspect are going low, you want them to pay to stick around to increase your potential payoff. Tough Folds Situations are rare when you will fold with a straight, but they do arise. This is when your straight is only going in one direction, such as if you limped with 9TJ and caught an eight and a queen to make your straight, and you think you are up against a full house or better. The problem with this hand is that it has no chance of qualifying for the low half of the pot. Of course, usually you will be playing this hand aggressively to try to drive out the other players, especially those who going low and caught a bad card as you do not want to split the pot. But, what if a player has made open trips? Ouch. If you are going low, open trips do not bother you all that much, because the threat they pose to take the entire pot is minimal. With a big straight however, you have to think long and hard about even calling. A straight at this stage is a favorite against trips at 67% to 32% - so if you believe that your opponent just has trips go ahead and call if you are playing for the entire pot. (Nearly anyone would bet with open trips so you would more than likely have to call anyway). But if the pot looks to be split, you need to get out of the way, as the more low hands that are involved the weaker your position becomes. If you were headsup against the trips, you would call to the river and hope for the best as you have the best of it if trips is all he has, but if more than two players going low stay involved, fold your hand if its not a low draw as well and low hands start raising. You are still a favorite if all the trips have are trips, but taking the chance that your opponent does not have a full

118

house when low hands begin banging away is an expensive proposition for just half of the pot. While folding when trips bet and low hands are staying involved is debatable, one situation where you can feel more at ease in laying down your straight is when a player who looks to be going high raises into trips or a pair raises into another pair in a pot that looks to be split, especially if one or both of the pairs are bigger than an eight. This occurs when trips bet and an open pair (usually representing a bigger hand than the trips) raises. Here, if you held a high straight with no low chances, you are still a favorite as your straight has the edge assuming both players have trips. But at least one probably has more than trips. Up against two players who both have trips, (assuming they have no chance at the low) you would have the edge, as 44% of the time you would scoop the pot. That being said, its too dangerous to play for just half of the pot on a hunch your straight is good. Were one of the players to have a full house, you would be drawing dead. If someone raises open trips, it is a good indicator that the player has made a full house, so do not hesitate to lay down your hand. Briefly summarizing play of straights, the best ones are those that make a straight of eight or less which is obvious because they already can qualify for the low. Higher straights have value as well, and are a favorite over a player drawing to make a full house or a flush. That being said, they are a hand that is very vulnerable; this is why many players in regular 7-stud lay down any small or medium three cards in a sequence. If your straight is not low, you want to have other chances for improvement, such as three or four suited cards, or three or four low cards to go along with it so you can back into other hands too. You must also remember that this is no longer a drawing hand it is a made

119

hand, and you need to ask yourself if you can win the hand without improvement. Straights that do not qualify for the low must be played aggressively, especially when you are up against players who are drawing to the low. Do what you can to eliminate them along with the other high draws so you do not end up losing a stack by the river. Quick tips for play of straights: RAISE most of the time. Straights are good, but if they are not a fantastic straight like a wheel or six-high straight, they become very vulnerable to being outdrawn for the low and the high. They need to be played aggressively you especially want to do all you can to eliminate low draws when you are only going in one direction with your straight. CALL rarely. The only instance you would want to call is if you had bet and been raised by an open pair of aces, trips, or three wheel cards in which case you would call and not re-raise as long as you are playing for the entire pot. FOLD when you think you are beat for the high and have little or no chance for the low. If you are still drawing to a good low or have other outs such as a four-flush, you do not want to fold. If your straight is only going for the high, fold if you have a very strong belief that you are beaten, such as if a player with trips showing as raised by an open pair that is a good indicator of a full house. You may consider laying down your straight on Sixth Street based on how the betting goes, but a straight is a solid hand and you should be very certain you are beaten before you lay down the hand, especially if you think you can scoop when there are few low hands involved.

120

Trips Trips on Fifth Street are a very solid hand as they still have a chance to improve to a better hand and can frequently win without improvement. Of course the best trips are those that still have a chance to improve to a low-qualifying hand. These hands include trip aces (obviously the best situation to be in) with two small kickers or any three-of-akind deuces through eights that have two small kickers with them. Other situations that enhance the quality of your trips include the presence of a three-flush or three-straight (obviously a three-straight to the low is preferable). Play Em Fast Just as with flushes and straights that are only going one way, trips need to be played fast, because while they can improve, the odds are that the hand before you will be just about as good as it gets. At best you still need two cards to a low, flush or straight, and the odds of you hitting a full house are against you as well. Because of this, you can not sit back and set a trap or passively play your hand hoping it will improve when you can then play it fast you need to do what you can to protect this hand now, narrowing the field. Hands going low are hands that threaten you because with trips, the odds are against you that you will hit a low hand. Of course, there will be many situations where you have trips but now have no chance for hitting a low-qualifying hand. Because of this, you need to do what you can to eliminate low hands. If players have limped in to see Fifth Street after catching a bad card on Fourth Street, obviously the best move is to bet or raise into this player if he is yet to act. This also goes for players who have two low cards showing but caught a bad card on Fifth Street, unless all three of the up cards are 121

suited with their two-low. In that case, they may have been on a flush draw as well so you do not want to bet or raise into them as you could expect a bet if you check to them or a raise if you bet. Other than that, if a player who had two low cards showing on Fourth Street now catches a paint card, bet or raise he may very well have a four-low but with the higher limits kicking in at Fifth Street, your bet or raise may get him to fold. Obviously your bet or raise will be most effective if you have three low cards showing. Then he may suspect you have made a better low than he has or is drawing to, and fold. One instance in which it may be tempting for you to just call rather than raise is when a player has a big open pair that could represent a bigger three-of-a-kind than you have. As you know by now, calling is frequently a bad move because it does not give you the information you need to play your hand right. If an open pair has bet, raise if it has not already been raised by the time the action gets to you if the player has made a bigger set of trips than you, you will find out quickly enough because you will be reraised. If you are first to act, bet into the pair and if he raises, you can fold. Folding You are not going to be doing much folding when you are fortunate enough to have three-of-a-kind, because such a hand as this puts you in great shape to win at least half of the pot. However, your hand is not as strong as it would be were you playing in a regular 7-card stud game because your potential to scoop the pot is either greatly or completely reduced at this stage in the game. Therefore, consider laying down your trips under some situations. Whenever there is a lot of heavy action from three low cards in sequence or three suited low cards, consider laying down your hand. This does NOT mean that you will lay 122

down trips anytime there is a bet from a potential low flush or low straight showing. But, when the action gets very heavy, you need to ask yourself what the chances are that the player has made a flush or a straight. Flushes and straights are made hands and beat trips you still need to improve to beat them. While calling in a regular 7-card stud game would be correct as you are getting great implied odds on your hand if it improves to a full house, when you are only playing for half of the pot the odds do not justify you calling if you have a strong hunch that you are behind. Heavy action in a multi-way pot from hands that look to have a high that, if made, beats your trips is an indicator that you may be behind, and its best to err on the side of caution and make the tough lay down unless its impossible for anyone to qualify for the low. Another factor to consider when folding is how many people are involved in the pot. The more callers the bettor or raiser gets, the more apt you should be to fold trips. Again, this does not mean folding when it is just one bet to stay involved (then you are raising). But if its two bets or more to you to stay involved, assess your situation carefully who did the raise come from? If it came from a hand that looks to be going high and looks as if he may have already hit his flush or straight, make that tough lay down. Remember: when going high you want to be close to 100% certain that you have the best hand because you are only playing for half of the pot. Finally, it probably does not have to be mentioned because it is so obvious, but do not even think of calling your trips if another player has made open trips that are bigger than your hand! This play is pretty obvious, but believe it or not some players delude themselves into calling thinking they payoff could be huge if they hit four-of-a-kind or

123

make a full house and their opponent does not. Calling into an open three-of-a-kind that is higher than yours is a sure way to lose money. Calling You will not be doing much calling with trips. As it has already been stated, this is usually the worst option to you because you get no information and do not eliminate any opponents calling is done when you are on a draw, not when you have made a hand. But, this does not mean you can never call. Instances where you can call are after you have raised and you have been reraised and are playing for the entire pot or have three cards to the wheel. This includes when you raised a player who bet with a hand that could represent trips smaller than you hold or if a potential flush or straight that looks to be going high has bet already odds are if going high they have already made their hand if they are betting it, so just call. Calling is also a justifiable move when you are in late position and you have had three or more people stay involved who look to have strong hands, and the game you are in is relatively loose. Certainly if the game were tight, you would want to raise to protect your hand. But once loose players have put money in the pot and they have a hand, it is very difficult to get them to fold. Raise if you have a strong belief that you are the favorite, but if you are not entirely sure and believe the other players who are still involved may have made a high hand that beats your trips, you can call and see how they act on Sixth Street when you can then raise or fold. Briefly summarizing play of trips, you will be playing this hand very much in the same way that you will play high straights and flushes aggressively. Trips are one of those hands that are good but not great. They are strong because they frequently win the 124

high half of the pot without improvement, and they still can improve to a full house. The problem with them though is they can also get you into trouble as your chances of hitting a hand that would get you the low half of the pot are either completely gone or greatly reduced. Because of that, when you suspect you are behind in the hand against a player who has made a high hand such as a straight or a flush, raise into him if it is just one bet but fold if the potential straight or flush has raised unless you are playing for the entire pot. Calling is usually the worst decision that you can make, but you can call if you have been re-raised once you have raised if you arent sure whether or not you are beat and are playing for the entire pot. Calling can also be done from late position in a multi-way pot when you are not sure whether or not your trips are the best high hand and you believe a raise would not eliminate any of your opponents. Quick tips for play of trips on Fifth Street: RAISE or BET frequently. Trips are a good hand that wins many pots, but are not as strong of a hand in a split-pot game because many times they have no chance to hit the low half of the pot and even when there still is a chance to qualify for the low half of the pot the odds are against it happening. Raising protects this hand because it narrows the field. Ideally, get heads up or against other players going high as well who you feel have hands weaker than you, such as two pair or a lower three-of-a-kind. CALL rarely. The only times you would call would be if you have been reraised from someone with an open pair bigger than you have, or by three suited cards or three cards in sequence then you would call rather than raise it up

125

again as long as you are playing for the entire pot. You can also call in loosepassive games where raises will not eliminate players or get you information. FOLD when you believe you are not the best high hand and the pot looks to be split. Obviously, this includes folding anytime there is an open three-of-a-kind that is higher than your trips. Other situations where you need to fold include when you have bet and are looking at having to call two more bets (a raise and re-raise) when the action comes back to you if the heavy action has come from probable high hands that would beat you (a bigger open pair, three-flush or three-straight). Four-Lows The decision between calling and folding when you hold four cards to a hand that would qualify for the low if made comes down to: 1) The quality of your low draw, 2) what your other options are for drawing to a high hand and 3) What the other players involved in the pot may be drawing to. Four-lows on Fifth Street are frequently playable, and you may be in great shape with your four-low to the point where you can consider a semi-bluff raise with your hand. Other times, you need to proceed carefully with your low drawing hand because your prospects of hitting a high hand that will win you the high half of the pot or scooping are dim, and other opponents may have made or be drawing to hands that would beat your low hand. With a four-low you want it to be of good quality and be up against other players who are drawing to weaker lows then you. The bottom line with a four-low is that you have the makings of what can be a great hand, good hand, or hand that will get you into a lot of trouble. This section takes a look at the times when you need to get away from the hand, the times when you can call 126

with the hand, and those times when you can raise with the hand. Technically speaking, you cant really call a four-low a hand but rather a potential hand. The majority of the time, you will be playing this hand and hoping to hit something with it but you need to know how to play it right. Good Low Draws vs. Junk A key to making money with your low draw verses throwing money away is knowing when you have a decent low draw verses a low draw that will just get you into trouble. For instance, if you have 4783Q, you have a very bad hand unless four of your cards are also suited because you are drawing to a poor low. Stay if up against other players going high with no more than one low card showing, but if there were players still involved who looked to be going low as well you must get away from the hand even if it is just one bet. So, if you held the above hand and a big pair bet and was called by any good-looking low draw, fold because you are only going in one direction. When you have a middle-of-the road type hand such as a draw to a seven-low with no ace, or a marginal four-low with a small pair, three-straight or three-flush, you can call one bet. However, you do not want to call more than that unless the raise came from a maniac who would raise with anything or from a player you knew to bluff frequently or from a high hand. If all you have is a three-flush or small pair with your low draw, you want to limp to see Sixth Street on the cheap. A raise from a player who looks to be going low indicates a player is on a better draw than you or has already made a low hand, so you need to get out of the way. You can also drop your hand even if it is just one bet and the bet came from an ominous-looking potential low hand, such as three suited low cards or three low cards in sequence. Hands like these are very dangerous and need

127

to be avoided. Simply because you have four low cards does not mean you will make a low hand by the river and even if you do it might not hold up, so when a low hand bets or raises pause and ask yourself is my opponent on a hand or on a better draw than me? If the answer is yes, dump the hand and save yourself some money. At times, you will be in great shape with your low draw because you have a realistic chance of hitting a good high hand as well or are drawing to a phenomenal low such as when you have four low cards that are six or less. In situations like this, call up to two bets and you can even call beyond that if the action is coming from high hands. Fourlows that are of excellent quality include those that also have four to the flush or straight, a pair of aces, and any low draw that contains four cards six or less. With hands like these, you will be headed to the river and hoping they improve into something really big. So be prepared to win a lot of money, but know that there still is a chance that you will not make a high or low hand and this hand might cost you a stack. Betting & Raising Holding four cards to the low means you have nothing, but rather a potential for a hand to turn into something. So, why would you consider a raise if you only have four low cards? The answer is because situations arise where you are in great shape to improve to a hand that would be a monster, so you want to build up the pot. At times it is also desirable to eliminate hands that are going high so you bet or raise into a hand you believe is a mediocre high hand such as a small two pair or single big pair other than aces because that increases your chances of scooping the pot. Raising situations involve instances when the bet has come from a three-low that looks to be on a hand that is worse off than the hand you are drawing to. For instance, 128

suppose you hold 5c 2d 3c 4c 9c. A player holding Js Jc 8d bets, and a player with a board of 4h 5s 8c calls and the action is to you. Yet to act is a player holding 4d 9h Ts. Here you could raise the low hand who raised is likely to just call because you will have two wheel cards and two suited cards showing. If the raise eliminates other players and you get heads-up against the low hand, that is okay as while he may have you beat at this stage you are getting very good implied odds on the hand. If other players stay involved, that is also okay with you as this would build up the pot and you have a very good potential to scoop. You also want to raise or bet if you think you can eliminate hands that are going high, especially if you are drawing to a fantastic low but have smaller chances of hitting the high. For instance, suppose you held Ah 2h 4h 5d Kd. The first player to act is showing a pair of tens with a nine well give him two pair, tens and nines, with a hand of 8s 9c Tc Th 9s. A third player behind you is showing 4s 6h Jd and actually holds four to the low (2s 8c are his hole cards), and a fourth player has an open pair of queens who holds two queens with three to a low hand. (3d 6d 8h Qd Qh is his actual hand). With everyone involved, your expected value for the hand is 36%. You will scoop about 14% of the time, win the low half of the pot 51% of the time and win the high half of the pot 20% of the time. The queens would be first to act, and if he bets you could raise if you think that action would eliminate both the two pair and the queens. If your raise eliminates one of the high hands, your odds do not improve greatly, but if your raise eliminates both the two pair and the queens with the three-low, your expected value jumps to 66%, your chances of scooping improve to 45%, you become a 72% favorite to win the high half of the pot and you will win the low half of the pot 51% of the time. This

129

example illustrates the importance of eliminating hands going high if your hand is a fourlow draw to a very strong low hand but a weak draw to the high. Do what you can to get heads-up or against players going low as well but drawing to weaker lows, because doing that greatly increases the value of your hand and the money you will make. Staying In When Youre Behind Sometimes, several players will have hands that are very mediocre so decide to fold when a low hand bets. If you have a very good drawing hand, you want to stay involved even if you suspect your opponent has made a low hand. For instance, suppose you held 2h 3c 4d 5d Kc, and your opponent held 4c 2d 8s 7s 5c and everyone had folded (neither one of you has flush possibilities). At first glance, it would seem that he is in better shape than you because he already has the low part of the pot made and you still have to draw to the hand. However, you are actually a favorite in this hand as your expected value is 52% to your opponents 48%, so calling is the right move (and you could even raise). You will scoop 33% of the time, win the low 47% of the time and win the high half of the pot 56% of the time. This is pretty much a coin flip hand. If another hand you suspect is going low is added to the picture (6c 7d 2c Qd 4s for example) but still on a draw stays in, you can also call as your expected value is still high at 45%, you scoop 30% of the time, win the high half of the pot 48% of the time and the low half of the pot 42% of the time. So, as you can see, playing when you suspect you are not the best hand is a good move when you have a hand that has possibilities for both the high and the low half of the pot.

130

Pay Attention Many times when a player has four to the low there is the temptation to get tunnel vision and focus in on the cards in front of you rather than the cards around you. The decision to call or fold with your four-low is greatly influenced by what your opponents are holding. It can not be emphasized enough that if you are realistically only going low with your hand, you need to get out of the way if it looks like your opponents have improved to a better low hand or are on a better draw than you are. That means dumping the 87, 86 and 85 low draws when three smaller cards are betting, especially if they are suited or in sequence. You also always need to be paying sharp attention whenever a player raises, because that is an indicator that he has in fact made his hand. Of course, if the raise came from a hand that is going high, you can stay involved if you are drawing to a good low unless there are dangerous hands lurking that have yet to act that look better than your potential low in that case you want to get away from the hand because the odds of the other low hands/draws yet to act folding are remote and you are most likely behind in the hand. Heads-Up is Dangerous Though its best to be involved against several players going high, it can become a losing play if you continue to chase your low against a high hand and are heads up unless you have outs for a flush or a straight. Just as many players have a hard time getting away from the high hand that they need to fold, many players with a four-low will refuse to fold the hand even when they should. The more players that are involved in the pot, the better is your situation, as you get better pot odds. When heads-up, you need to get away from the low draw unless you are also on an open-ended straight draw or four-

131

flush draw, as your odds of hitting a low are about 50%. To illustrate why you need to dump your low hand, suppose you hold 3c 4s 6s 7h Tc. You are up against an opponent holding Jc Js Kd Ks 9h. Playing this hand to the river, you will win the low half of the pot 62% of the time, the high half of the pot 17% of the time, and scoop 17% of the time. Your expected value for the hand is 40%; your opponents expected value is 60%, and the two pair will scoop 36% of the time. You should also note that these numbers assume that all of the cards you need to qualify for a low are still live you can only imagine what happens to them as cards you need to hit a low qualifying hand are gone. The bottom line: low hands on a draw do not do well heads-up against a player holding a good high hand. Call if you have a four-flush or open-ended four-straight, but fold if you are just hoping to catch one more card to qualify for the low. Summarizing play of four-lows on Fifth Street, remember that while this hand can frequently be played, it is not a situation in which you will automatically be throwing chips in front of you. The best low draws are always those that have other options with chances to hit a good high hand such as a straight, flush, or big two pair (aces of course being huge when you have a pair of aces with a low draw). When you have potential to hit something in both directions, your chances of scooping are greater. When the hand is only going low, you want to see Sixth Street cheaply but can consider a raise or bet if you believe doing so will get you involved against other low hands/draws that you have a chance to crush if you make your hand, eliminating highs. High hands become the enemy, and if you believe that you can get them out of the way play your hand aggressively.

132

Quick tips for play of four-lows on Fifth Street: RAISE or BET when you believe doing so will eliminate high hands. High hands are already in much better shape than you are for the high half of the pot, so you want to try to force them out of the pot and get involved against lows. Of course, you only want to do this when you are on a very good low draw and are confident that the raise will be effective in eliminating the high. CALL most of the time with the hand. Being you are on a draw and do not yet have a hand, calling is not a bad option. This is typically done when you have a good but not great drawing hand such as four to a seven-high low along with a three straight or three flush. If it is going to cost you more than one bet, pause and carefully evaluate the situation, and get out of the way if the raise came from a low hand that represents a better low than you have. FOLD when there is heavy action from hands going low and your four-low is of poor quality. You want to be in the best situation possible or have the potential of hitting a hand that would be better than what your opponent(s) hold, so when you suspect you are behind get out of the way. Heavy action from low hands is a big warning sign to you to get out unless your hand is also a great draw. Folding a four-low is tough to do, but it is what you must do when your chances for hitting a high hand are reduced and you are drawing to a lousy low hand. Nothing is worse than loosing a lot of money by hitting a low hand only to have it beaten by a better hand look for the warning signs and get out of the way so you can save yourself the chips for when you have

133

the better hand. Also fold if heads-up against a high hand who bets and you do not have a four-flush or four-straight. Two Pair Two pair is one of the most difficult hands to play in poker, and it becomes an especially difficult hand in stud 8. Just as in a regular game of 7-card stud, you want your two pair to be big and your cards to improve to a full house live. With two pair at Fifth Street the chances that you will hit a full house by the river are not that good about 5 to 1. You are less likely to improve than you would be if you had trips, so with two pair, what you see is as good as it is going to get. Because of that, it becomes imperative that you do all that you can to protect your hand. Hands going low pose a threat because they will take half of the pot from you if they qualify for the low and they can also back into a straight and scoop the entire pot. Hands going high are also dangerous, because at this point in the game if a player is going high he very often has improved to something better than two pair. Looking at these facts, it does not take a pro to realize that two pair is a very dangerous hand in stud 8. When you have one, the chances that you will hit a low qualifying hand are either completely gone or greatly reduced, and the odds are against you filling up, so you have to ask yourself whether or not you are the best high hand, and if you are will you be able to eliminate other players? As with trips, you will usually be playing two pair fast or not at all, but checking and calling are more common with this hand than in regular 7-card stud. You need to be more apt to fold the hand when it looks like you might be behind, because you are playing for only half of the pot.

134

Raising vs. Folding When you believe you have the best high hand, you need to do all that you can to eliminate other players, because the more crowded the pot is with high hands the less likely it is that you will win at least half of the pot. If you have one of your pairs showing and are the first to act, bet with it, especially if it is aces. If another player is first to act, raise him so long as he does not have a pair that is bigger than your largest pair and there are not more than two solid low hands lurking (three low cards in sequence or three suited low cards). You also do not want to raise if he has a paired door card that is big and has been playing his open pair aggressively. If that is the case, you need to get out of the way because you likely are behind. Anytime it is going to cost you more than two bets to call a hand, you need to get away from your two pair. When someone has raised the high hand, he could very well be on trips, have a larger two pair than you hold, or have made a low. While you often want to raise one bet to two bets, you do not want to have to put in three bets on a two pair to raise, because it is too dangerous to proceed. This may sound tight, but it will save you money and keep you out of what could be a disaster. For instance, suppose a player made an open pair of jacks at Fourth Street and has been betting them, and you hold queens on top of sevens. The jacks are the high hand showing and bet, and are raised by a three-low showing and called by another three-low who also has a possible flush draw. Your instinct may be to play your hand aggressively and raise it up again, but that is a lot of money to put in and a bad play. You may be the best high hand, but with a raise already occurring, and aggressive play on the part of the jacks on Fourth Street odds are he has trip jacks. Worse, the low draw has already made a low hand, which might be a straight

135

or have other outs. Even though the jacks did not re-raise yet, it simply is not worth the trouble sticking around for half of the pot when you could be up against trips. Anytime you suspect a raise will eliminate a low draw, bet or raise and try to eliminate the player. Certainly this is the case when it looks like a player who limped in to see Fifth Street after catching a bad card on Fourth Street catches another bad card. When a player has two low cards on Fourth though and catches a bad card on Fifth, whether you raise or just call is dependent upon how realistic it is that your action will cause him to fold. If he has three suited cards showing along with two cards six or lower, just call (though bet if first to act) because a raise is not going to eliminate him. If he tends to call frequently anytime he has a four-low on Fifth, you should also just call as raising is not going to eliminate him. However, raise if you believe this will help eliminate other players yet to act. Remember that with two pair you want to be against a small field, so jump on any chance to eliminate busted low draws and marginal high hands. Of course, you still would like to eliminate other high hands that could catch and outdraw you, and being its more difficult for marginal high hands to stay involved, bet or raise into them to get them out of the way. Calling Calling is usually not a good idea when you hold two pair in most poker games because you want to do what you can to protect the hand. So why call and wait to improve when you can just bet the hand aggressively here and now? The answer is because sometimes in stud 8 games, a raise is followed by automatic calls from good low draws. Also, when you are in early position, a raise can be a very dangerous move when three-lows are yet to act because it might be followed by a re-raise.

136

When it appears that Fifth Street helped those players left in the pot who are going low, call when the action comes to you if you can do so for one bet and fold if it will cost you more than one bet. Whenever there are two or more three-lows yet to act, just call because a raise might be coming. Your raise might eliminate the initial player who acted, but a re-raise after your raise becomes more likely the more three-lows or two-lows with a three-flush that are yet to act. If you are first to act, check and call one bet. The exception is a pair of aces, which if showing are very intimidating and can be used to push other players out of the pot when played aggressively. When in Doubt, Fold When it is a close decision between calling and folding, calling is often the better option because you may improve to a very good hand and outdraw your opponent, getting great implied odds. That is true for games where you can win the entire pot, but in a split-pot game such as this, folding is the best move when its a close decision for you because it will save you more money. If you have doubts about the strength of your hand and have a sense that you may not be in front, dont hesitate to get away from it unless its impossible for the pot to be split. How did he play on Fourth? Trying to figure out whether your opponent has two pair or trips can be tough to do, but one clue is remembering how the player acted on Fourth Street. If he paired up his door card and played aggressively, you can assume that he has trips in which case if you were still involved you can get out of the way if he bets again. But if he paired his Fourth Street card and now bets, odds are he has made two pair so you can raise or bet into him.

137

Live is Key Obviously, you want all four of your cards to be live so you can improve to a full house. When more than one is gone, most of the time just fold and be done with your hand unless you hold three low cards or have aces up with a small pair or believe you can win the pot immediately by betting the hand. If your pair is showing and it looks like other players have all caught bad cards, by all means go ahead and bet if first to act if you think there is a good chance you will win the pot. Obviously, your chances of taking down the pot are better with an open pair of aces. But if you have no chance at qualifying for the low, check and hope for the free card and fold unless you are certain that your two pair is the best high hand. With any doubts and more than one of your cards to fill up gone, two pair becomes too dangerous to play in this game unless its aces with a smaller pair. To summarize play of two pair, you want to play the hand fast most of the time, but fold more often than you would were you playing regular 7-card stud. You can also call more frequently with two pair in stud 8 rather than raise when two or more hands that look to be on solid draws or possible made hands are yet to act, folding if they raise to you. Folding is never a bad option with two pair either in this game when the pot looks to be split. While you do not want to fold good two pairs like aces and a small pair with a small kicker, most two pairs can get you in trouble. If it is nines up or higher, it may be a better quality two pair for the high half of the pot, but your chances for hitting a low are gone completely. If it is deuces through eights with a smaller pair, you still have a chance for the low but it is reduced and you have a two pair of poor quality. Because of that, you always need to do whatever you can to eliminate hands going low if you think a bet or

138

raise will get them out of the way or marginal high draws. But when they have improved and raising starts, or you there is heavy action from hands going high, get out of the way. Unless its aces with a smaller pair and small kicker, you do not want to have to spend more than one bet to see Sixth Street. You can not assume you will be hitting a full house with this hand more often than not the two pair is about as good as its going to get. Stay with it when you are confident you are in good shape for the high and up against marginal low draws that do not look to have straight possibilities, but dump it when it becomes costly. Quick tips for play of two pairs on Fifth Street: RAISE or BET if you are going to play this hand in an attempt to protect it. You always want to raise if doing so will eliminate players who are on weak low draws and have limped into this point. A bet or raise is also wise if you feel you can eliminate high draws, because you do not want someone to make trips and outdraw you. Also bet or raise anytime you feel you can win the pot right now. This is best done with an open pair, especially aces, as these are very intimidating. CALL or CHECK if you feel that a bet on your part will be raised, or you are confident that a bet or raise on your part will not eliminate any players who are yet to act. For instance, if you were the high hand with a pair on the board and involved in the pot were two players who have both made three-lows, check to them they are not going to fold, and be prepared to call when the action gets back to you. You can also check if a very threatening board is yet to act, such

139

as three suited small cards or three wheel cards, as a bet is almost certain from a player holding this powerful hand. FOLD when you are not sure that you have the best high hand. You also need to fold if it is going to cost you more than one bet to stay involved unless you have aces and a smaller pair with a small kicker. Two pair is too dangerous to play when you are only going for half of the pot. Also tend to fold when the field is more crowded. Two pair plays best against high hands and in a small field as the more players involved the greater the likelihood is that the pot will be split. Pairs Playable hands with just a pair at Fifth Street include a pair of aces with three low cards or a pair of aces that also includes a four-flush or four-straight. Other playable pairs include small pairs that have four to the low. Big pairs can not be played past Fifth Street unless, of course, you can get a free card, take down the pot immediately, have three wheel cards to go with the big pair or have a four-flush. To Call or Raise? Most of the time when you have a pair, you are trying to see Sixth Street cheaply. But that does not mean that you will always play your hand passively, as at times a bet or raise with a pair is the right move. If the field has already been reduced by Fifth Street and you believe you can get heads-up with a pair of aces against another player who has just a big pair, or if you believe you can win the pot immediately, by all means toss out a bet if you are the first

140

player to act. You can also do this if you have a threatening board and have a concealed pair. For instance, if you had KKA23, you could bet if it were checked to you or even consider raising a player who you thought might be betting into you to see what you have and you believe a raise will get him to fold. Its a gutsy play to bet or raise with just a pair, but it can be done in tight games or when you have intimidating cards showing. In regular 7-card stud, especially at lower limits, bluffing is very difficult because stud is not a no-limit game and players are usually getting decent enough pot or implied odds that makes bluffing difficult. In stud 8 though, you can use your exposed cards to your advantage to throw your opponents off. Three small cards especially three wheel cards are very intimidating so whenever you believe that an aggressive play will win you the pot or get you heads-up against a high hand that is in worse position than you are, go ahead and bet or raise with your hand. (But do not re-raise as with two pair, a pair is too weak to raise two bets with and most of the time you would fold into two bets unless you had aces with three other low cards or a pair with an excellent draw to the low). While you can bet or raise when you feel you can get heads-up against the weaker draw or win the pot outright, under most circumstances with a pair you will check and call one bet with it if you have four to the low, straight or flush and fold if it is going to cost you more than one bet. Many stud 8 games can be loose, especially if you play lower limit games when bets and raises do not have the desired effect of eliminating people. When it appears that several players have improved their low draws, just check and call one bet if you still have outs for hitting the low (three cards to the wheel, a four-low to a seven or lower, a four-flush or low four-straight).

141

Dont Get Married to the Pair There is an expression that you often hear players say when they have a hand that started out good but did not improve: I got married to the pair and just had to play it. Getting married to a pair is a mistake many new or inexperienced poker players make, especially if its a pair of aces. Even kings and queens are pairs some players fall in love with, forgetting that they are playing a split-pot game! Getting married to a pair is very costly, especially in stud 8 when there can be a lot of action heading into the later streets. You need to dump pairs that may look good at first glance like kings and queens when you cant get a free card and lack a four-flush or three wheel cards to go with your hand. Remember: the best pairs are those that give you a good shot at the high but keep you alive for the low as well. Aces are obviously the best but even aces need to be dumped when you think you are behind and are only going one way with them. Live & A Good Low As always with a pair, you want your other two cards to improve to trips to be live as trips give you a great shot at winning the high half of the pot. You also need to look at the quality of your low draw if you are trying to figure out whether or not to stay involved with a pair and a four-low. Simply because you have four cards to the low and a pair does not mean you can stick around, even for just one bet you want the low to be of good quality. This means eight-lows are out unless you have straight and flush possibilities to go with them (IE, 44567). The more crowded the field becomes, the better your low-draw with your pair needs to be. To summarize play of pairs, you need to get away from them when you have doubts about the strength. You can play a pair if you have aces and two or three low 142

cards to go with them, if you have a four-straight or four-flush to go with your pair, or if you believe you are the best high hand and can win the pot immediately with a bet. And remember: when in doubt, folding with a pair is just fine. Pairs that are not aces or pairs lacking a four-low are very vulnerable, so go with your instinct and err on the side of caution. Quick tips for play of pairs on Fifth Street: RAISE or BET when you believe doing so will narrow the field or win you the pot immediately. This is typically done with aces still a strong pair at Fifth Street but vulnerable to high hands. Having a pair of aces exposed is very intimidating, and can win a pot if you bet them in a tight game. You can also raise or bet if you have a threatening board and believe that it will win you the pot three small suited cards or three wheel cards are an example of when you can attempt to take down the pot with a semi-bluff bet or raise against players with high cards. CALL up to one bet if you have a pair with a four-low, four to the straight or four to the flush. The most desirable situation is to have four to the low with a pair of aces other pairs do not give you much help to win the high but at least give you a chance of hitting trips. FOLD big pairs, nines through kings, unless you hold a four-flush or fourstraight to go with your big pair or believe that a bet or raise can win you the pot right now. Pairs that do not include four cards to the low also need to be dumped unless you they also have a four-straight or four-flush. You also need

143

to dump a pair when you are looking at more than one bet to stay involved the exception being aces with four to a good (seven or less) low. Flush Draws When you have a flush draw, you want to see Sixth Street for free if possible, and can not afford to play for more than one bet unless you have a fantastic low draw to go with your flush such as a draw to the nut (ace high) flush with four cards under seven. Even calling one bet should not always be automatic, as when you are only going in one direction with your flush draw you do not want to be behind to a high hand. When to Stay and When to Go Most flush draws are playable for one bet. When you are not sure what your opponent is holding, or suspect him to be going low or even have made a low that is not a straight, calling is okay for one bet. With two cards to come its about 2 to 1 as to whether or not you will hit a flush. Draws play better in multi-way pots the more money that is in the pot, the better odds you are getting on your draw. That being said, you do not want to have to call raises or more than a bet unless you also hold a good low draw with the hand or a pair of aces with a three-low. When raises occur, it means someone has either made a low they are trying to jam the pot with or have a decent high hand that they are trying to protect. You have neither a high hand or a low hand at this point, and when its slightly less than 50% that youll hit your flush, you can not afford to toss in two bets. Many players will automatically call anytime they have a four flush. In a regular game of 7-card stud, you rarely will dump a four-flush before the river unless it is

144

obvious that you are beaten. In stud-8 though, you need to fold a four-flush more frequently, even when you are just facing one bet. Anytime an open pair of aces bet, dump the hand unless you also have a four-low or three wheel cards with the four-flush. As it has already been stated, anytime you face more than one bet, you need to dump the hand unless it contains a good low draw. You also need to get out if you suspect you are behind unless it is just you and other high hands. For instance, suppose a pair of kings bets. He is called by a player with TQJ, and now its to you. No one else is involved. Here, if you suspected your opponent had just two pair or was trying to buy the pot, you could call as you are now playing for the entire pot. But if there were other hands going low involved, dump the hand unless you had the good low draw or a pair of aces with your four-flush. You never want to be behind when going high and stay past Fifth Street, because it is not worth gambling for half of the pot. Betting While a four-flush is a drawing hand, some instances arise where you can gamble with the hand and put in a semi-bluff bet. Remember: stud 8 is a game where the cards in front of you can be very intimidating to other players. If you hold three small suited cards in front of you, consider a bet if you are first to act or if it has been checked to you. Some players even consider a raise if it looks like the bet came from a high hand or a marginal low. You can do this if the game is very tight or you hold a perfect flush draw such as AA234, but most of the time you do not want to raise with a four-flush unless you are in a very tight game and believe the raise will win you the pot right now.

145

Live Cards Besides how much it is going to cost you, the other major factor that goes into you seeing another card or getting out of the way is just how live your hand is. When there are only one or two of the cards you need to improve to a flush dead, its no problem calling a bet unless it was obvious you were far behind in the hand (when an open pair of aces bets or trips bet and you have no four-low). While odds are not bad that you will hit a flush by the river, that number varies depending on how many cards you need to improve are gone and how many players are involved to see Sixth Street. Suppose you make a four-flush, and then tossed out your cold call without noticing that four other hearts were dealt to other players. You may think well, that still leaves me five hearts in the deck that can help me, so a call makes sense. Does it? If you are up against players who have no chance at the low and do not appear to have made trips, then you could call. If you had a good four-low with the flush, a call would certainly be in order as well. But most of the time, when more than three of the cards of your suit that you need to hit your flush are gone, you need to be gone as well unless you have that pair of aces to go with the hand. When more than three of the cards to hit a flush are gone, your odds are too poor to proceed. You may be tempted to call with a three-low, but the odds of catching two running cards to hit the low are about 20%, not making it worth it to call. Finally, if you have made a low hand and have a flush draw, you will be calling to the river, hoping to scoop as a made low with a four-flush has a very strong potential to do so.

146

To briefly summarize play of flush draws, you can play them as long as it is not going to cost you more than one bet and no more than three of the cards you need to hit a flush are gone unless you also hold a pair of aces or four to a good low draw. The more people that are involved, the better the pot odds, which is why flush draws that are also good low draws are so desirable. Quick tips for play of flush draws: RAISE or BET when you believe that doing so will win you the pot outright, such as when you are showing three wheel cards or an open pair of aces. You can also gamble and toss in a bet even if you are not sure it will win you the pot in an attempt to build it up when you have a good four-low or a made low hand to go with your flush draw. CALL one bet when you have a flush draw that has no more than three cards to complete the flush dead. Call two bets if you hold a good four-low or average to poor made five-low. FOLD if it is going to cost you more than a bet to see Sixth Street unless you also hold a made low hand or four cards to a good low hand (a six low or seven-low that has three wheel cards). You need to play a flush draw more tightly in stud 8 than you would in regular 7-card stud when your chances for hitting a good low hand are reduced and when other low draws/hands are involved because you are only playing for half of the pot.

147

Three-Lows Three-lows can not be played past Fifth Street unless you have other outs such as a four-flush, four-straight, trips or a pair of aces. This means that you need to resist the temptation to call with a three-low that has a three-flush or three-straight, because the odds are stacked against you hitting either hand. The only time you can stay involved with a three-low that doesnt meet the above criteria is when you can do so for just one bet, are up against players going high and you hold three cards to a wheel or a three-flush or three-straight to a six low. That is not going to happen very often so nine times out of ten, you will be dumping the three-low that does not have a strong potential for improvement to the high. With about a 20% chance to hit the low, unless you have good chances of hitting a solid high hand, you need to get out of the way. Quiz on Fifth Street Play Question 1: You hold 24789 with three suited cards. An open pair of kings bets, and is called by three players holding 347, 458 and 23Q. Two of the players hold two suited cards. Do you fold, call or raise? Answer: Fold. Folding a four-low is anything but easy, but here you need to get away from the hand. If the other players held high hands or busted low draws (with only one low card showing) you could stay in for a bet. As for that three-flush, it is a non-factor even if all of the cards to improve to a flush were live in this situation, you would only have a 9% chance of hitting two running suited cards. Not good! So get out of the way and save yourself the chips.

148

Question 2: You hold 2345K and also have four to a flush. You are in early position. A pair of jacks is first to act and he bets and now the action is on you. Looking to your left you see three players remaining, who hold 45Q, 268 and ATJ (with two suited cards). You have counted two cards of your needed suit gone to improve to a flush. Do you call or raise? Answer: Raise. This is a very close decision, and there is nothing wrong with calling if you feel more comfortable doing so. If you just call, it means the other hands are likely to stay involved as well a raise from the three-low is possible but not likely. With more players involved you are getting slightly better odds on hitting your flush (with two cards gone and five players involved in the pot, the odds of you hitting a flush are 44%; that number drops to 40% if just three players are involved. But, you have very strong potential with this hand that makes a semi-bluff raise worthwhile. If you play your game right, you are not playing many hands so take advantage of the chances you do get and take a gamble when you have the makings of something huge. Question 3: You hold two pair, queens and sevens, and are in late position. A pair of jacks comes out and bets, and is quickly re-raised by a player holding 346. Two other players call as well; one holds 67K all suited, the other holds 23T with two suited cards showing. Now the action is to you. Do you fold, call or make it three bets to go? Answer: Fold. It may sound like a difficult lay-down, but with a multi-way pot and players already involved, a raise from you is not going to eliminate anyone and there is a very good likelihood that the 346 will quickly re-raise you. Two pair is a solid high hand in regular 7-card stud, but can get you into a lot of trouble in stud 8. Facing two bets in this situation, you need to get away from the hand.

149

Question 4: Drawing to a low, Fifth Street brings you a card you need to make your low hand, giving you a seven-low: 23567. You are in a multi-way pot in middle position. An ace with two low cards, A68, is first to act, and bets. He is called by a player holding 46K, and the action is to you. Yet to act is a player holding 59J with two suited cards and another player holding 23T off-suit. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Raise. You may be tempted to just call as you are concerned over the players with the 46 and the 23 showing. They may be on four-lows, but what if the other cards are low as well giving them a six-low draw? The problem with that line of thinking is you are playing scared. You have a made hand, and you still have two cards to come which may improve that hand. While its not a bad low hand, its not all that great either so you need to do what you can to protect it. Raise with the hand and attempt to drive out some of the other players. Even though many four-lows love to stay involved in the pot, having to call two bets will make them think twice. You would even want to raise if you were last to act, because you want to do all you can to protect this hand and try to eliminate players who might outdraw you. Raising is clearly the best decision you have to use the raise to play defense with the hand. Question 5: You hold a pocket pair of aces that still have not improved, but you do have three to a low hand, holding AA3K8. You are in early position, and four other players are involved in the pot. The high hand on the board is A28, and he comes out betting. You look to your left to see 237, 456 and 783. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. You need to resist the urge to call here, even though you still have a pair of aces. If you had a four-flush or three wheel cards, calling could be justified but your chances of hitting the low are greatly reduced and even if you did hit the low, its not

150

likely that it would be the low that wins half of the pot. The hand is too dangerous to play at this point because aces do not do well in a multi-way pot, and one of your aces is gone. If your opponents had hit bad cards, you could consider a raise if you felt it would drive them out and get you heads-up but with two hands holding three-lows and the third holding two wheel cards, even a raise isnt likely able to eliminate them, so you are best getting away from the aces. Question 6: You hold a six-high straight, 23456. There are three other players who have stayed involved in the pot. One player appears to be going high, holding KQ8. The other two have two low cards showing, 569 and 47J. The king-high is first to act and bets. Do you raise or call? Answer: Call. Your straight is a monster hand, and with three low cards in sequence showing your raise is likely to scare off the other hands. You want the low cards to stay involved, hopefully catch and improve to a low, and then get involved in a raising war on later streets to maximize your potential. You also do not mind the high hand staying involved as your straight is likely in front of him as well. Keep players involved in hopes of scooping a huge pot. Question 7: You hold trips, 88689. There are three other players involved in the pot. A player holding 9Q9 bets. A three-low, A27, calls. The action is to you. Yet to act is a player holding 24T. Do you fold, bet or raise? Answer: Raise. This is another one of those situations in which you have to play defense with your raise, and narrow the field. Trips are good but not great they need to be protected. The goal is that your raise will eliminate one of the other players, which will increase your chances of winning the high half of the pot. Fold if you are re-raised by the 151

nines, as this will mean he has trips, as you do not want to be behind when you are only playing for half of the pot. Question 8: You hold two pair, 22443. There are three other players in the pot. A player showing K92 checks, and a player showing Q9J also checks. After you, a player holding 39T will act. Do you bet or fold? Answer: Bet. You have two pair and three wheel cards, so even if you do not win the pot outright at this point it is not a disaster. Other players have shown passivity, and the player behind you has trash showing so you can be sure he is not going to be betting. You have a pair and a low card on the board you could be sitting on four to the wheel or have three of a kind. Dont give a free card your hand may not look that great, but the chances of you winning half of or the entire pot will go up if you can eliminate players with a bet and there is a very good chance that you will win the pot immediately by betting. Question 9: You hold 39TQK with four hearts in a pot with three players. You have counted four other hearts as dead, leaving you five hearts in the deck that will complete your flush. A player holding A34 with two suited cards is first to act, and bets. He is called by a player holding 347. You are the last player to act. Do you fold, call or raise? Answer: Fold. Folding is a difficult thing to do with a four-flush, and while it is a virtual certainty that you will win the high half of the pot if you make your flush, the chances of you hitting a flush in this situation are 26%. While you would take the gamble in a regular 7-card stud game because of the implied odds you are getting, the presence of two three-lows staying involved in the pot makes it very likely that the pot will be split. Playing this four-flush is a tempting proposition, but a losing one over the long haul. 152

Question 10: You hold two pair, kings and fours. An open pair of nines is first to act, and he bets (he made a pair on Fifth Street). Two other players who looked to be limping have folded to his bet, making you the last player. Do you call, fold, or raise? Answer: Raise. Raising is the best move because the pair of nines may have been trying to buy the pot when the other two players folded. If your kings are the two cards showing, the raise may win you the pot right there as your opponent would fear trips. Even if your kings are hidden, a raise is the best move because you would call with this hand anyway here and again on Sixth Street, so just put in both bets right now and put your money to work for you. If he has trip nines you will know by his re-raise, at which point you can get away from the hand. Summary of Fifth Street Play Staying in or getting out of the way at Fifth Street is a crucial decision, because unless you are playing in a spread-limit game, the bets increase. When you are going high, unless you have an absolute monster, you want to play the hand fast. When you have made a solid low hand or are free-rolling, you can bet with confidence knowing that you are a cinch to win at least half of the pot. Most of the time though, your hand will fall in between the two extremes. When you have a decent high hand, play it aggressively when you believe that you are the best high hand on the board and get out of the way when you believe you are behind. When you are not sure of the strength of your low hand or you have a low draw or hand that is a lousy low that cant free-roll, play more passively if there have been a number of callers or if you believe that a bet on your part will not eliminate other low hands and draws, but always bet if you think there is a chance you can get other low draws out of the way.

153

Failing to get away from highs that appear stronger than they are is the downfall of many people who play stud 8. They may be used to playing regular 7-card stud, or just get tunnel vision and think they need to stay involved because they have what looks to be a playable hand. If you have a high hand, it can not be reiterated enough: you want to be certain or close to certain that it is the best high hand on the board unless you have a fourlow to go along with it. Another key to success at Fifth Street is knowing the difference between a good and bad low draw. Of course its better to go low than high because of the potential to scoop, but do not automatically be reaching for the chips anytime you have four cards to the low. Assess your situation carefully. If its a lousy low draw up against two players holding K9J and J9Q you can be more apt to play the hand. But if its a lousy low draw up against players who look like they have or on a better low draw than you, get out of the way. Finally, always remember what is live and what has been folded. Remembering which cards are live and which ones are dead may sound like a lot of work, but its crucial because it affects the odds greatly. Chapter 5 Sixth Street Introduction In regular 7-card stud, you rarely fold a hand after staying to see six cards. This is because you are getting good pot odds if you are on a draw, and by this point have usually invested several bets into the pot. Being you have a chance to win the entire pot, staying involved makes sense and is typically justified by the odds.

154

In stud 8 though, there will be many situations in which you will fold your hand on Sixth Street. Sometimes it becomes apparent that you are drawing to the second or third-best low hand. Other times your chances for hitting the high hand that will win the pot are gone, and you are down to praying for a card that will give you an eight-high low, or you find that you are in the middle of a raising war staring at an eight-high low hand with no chance to hit a straight or a flush, so folding becomes a must. Raising and betting is also more effective of a tool in stud 8 than in regular 7-card stud, when these actions often just build up the pot but fail to eliminate people. When you have a good-looking board, or it looks like your opponents have failed to improve a low hand, betting and raising is much more effective in getting people out of the way, allowing you to protect your hand. Sixth and Seventh Streets can also become very expensive in some stud 8 games, while in other games there is little raising until the end of the hand. Because some games can get very wild, you want to have a solid hand or have outs that make hanging in there for one more card a good proposition. The key to success at Sixth Street is paying close attention to what the other players involved in the hand are holding, and using that information along with what you hold to know whether you can proceed or need to lay down the hand. Some hands will be obvious to play; others will be tough decisions where it comes down to how much it will cost you to see one more card. Many players are otherwise good stud 8 players but come out in the red because they fail to play at Sixth Street properly, calling when they should be raising or folding or folding when they can stay in for one bet and take a shot. This chapter will show you how to properly execute bets and lay-downs at Sixth Street and clear up what is playable and what is junk.

155

Monsters Monster hands, or hands that have a very small chance of being beaten, should continue to be played slowly if they appear to be a lock for the entire pot but need to be played more aggressively when it appears that a bet or raise can eliminate players going in the other direction. While what constitutes a monster hand can be subjective depending on who is in the hand, generally a monster is a hand that is a wheel, six high straight or six-low, four of a kind, straight flush, or full house with three aces. The best of course is the wheel, because while it will be beat by any higher straight, flush or full house, there is no way it can lose the low half of the pot and scoops many pots. Increase Scooping Potential Monster hands are great, but as you learned in the pervious chapter, a monster hand that locks up half of the pot is still vulnerable to hands going in the other direction. Its no good being heads up against a player going in the other direction, especially at Sixth Street when lows become locked up. The best situation you can be in is to have players going in the other direction eliminated and be in a multi-way pot against players going the same way as you. This is especially the case with high hands as the wheel and a six-high straight have strong potential to scoop even if other high hands are involved, but high hands are vulnerable to any low hand. So, the decision to play the hand fast or play it slowly comes down to who is involved in the pot. Anytime you believe a bet or raise on your part will eliminate players going in the other direction, do so, especially when youve got a high hand, because you want to do all that you can to scoop and avoid a split. Conversely, when you are up against players going in the same direction as you, raise if the game is loose and you believe they will stay with you despite your raise, but

156

just bet if first to act or its been checked to you and do not raise bets if the game is more tight and believe slow-playing the hand will build up the pot. Avoid Opposite Heads-Up Play While you want to eliminate players going in the other direction, it is okay to keep one in when it looks like a raise will get you heads up against a player going in the opposite direction as you. This happens when you have a good knowledge of your opponent, and know him to be a tight player. For instance, suppose a player holding two open pair bets, and has been playing aggressively since Fourth Street. A player holding 4678 reluctantly calls, and you hold a six-high straight. If you raise in this situation, the two pair may raise as well and the four-straight will fold, knowing you have a better low than he does. The two pair may just be trying to win the pot immediately as two pair is all he has, but its best to call rather than raise in this situation to keep the four-straight/low hand involved for another card, and hope that he calls again on the river as the two pair will again be the first to act. Jam Time At times, many players will be involved in the pot, or a game will be very loose and players will stay in despite raising and betting from hands they are clearly behind. Some people are better suited to being craps players than card players, and play poker like craps, hoping to hit the miracle card and not worrying about odds. They use chips like dice, tossing them in the pot blindly and hoping for the best. In other instances, there are many players who have improved to a decent high hand or have made a low hand, making it likely that they will stay involved even if there is betting or raising. In instances such as this, bet if first to act and raise at your first opportunity. For instance, suppose 157

you hold A25K43. A player with A349 showing is first to act, and bets. He is called by a player holding 478Q with three suited cards, and a player holding 5678 raises. Now the action is to you. Re-raise. The player with the four-straight may have you beat on the high end of the pot, but with these other players all showing either good hands or (what they perceive to be) good draws, your raise is not going to get them to fold. With the pot being multi-way, the chances are good that the pot will be split so raise and build up the pot and do the same on the river. Summarizing play of monster hands: play them fast when you think you can eliminate players going in the other direction, especially when holding a high hand, to increase your potential to scoop. Also play them fast when you are in multi-way pots and several players have improved or have made good hands, as bets and raises are not likely to force them out of the pot and this will help build up the half that you will win. Remember not to get heads up against a player going in the other direction as you, as the result is a split pot where no one gains. Finally, if it is checked to you or you are first to act, always bet. Slow-playing a hand is one thing by calling, but you must at least get in one bet, even with a monster. Quick tips for play of monster hands on Sixth Street: RAISE or BET when you believe doing so will eliminate players going in the other direction. The best situation to be in is to be up against players (as many as possible) going in the same direction as you and drawing dead to your huge hand. Also play aggressively if the pot is multi-way and it looks like many players will stay involved even if you are betting or raising with your hand.

158

CALL when you are up against players going in the same direction as you are, assuming you are not first to act in which case you bet. You want as many players going in your direction as possible when your chances to scoop are excellent, so play it slowly and bang away on Seventh Street. Small Straights When you make a seven-high or eight-high low straight, you obviously want to be

up against players going high or attempt to win the pot here and now because these hands (especially eight-high straights) become vulnerable to other players who are going low as well. You will also, of course, be betting into or raising high hands when you are freerolling as long as it will not get you heads-up. The Importance of Aggression Playing a low straight aggressively is important because the more hands that are involved in the pot, the worse your expected value for the hand will be. For instance, suppose you held 4c 5d 6d 7h 8c Ks. Involved in the pot are three other players. One player has trip jacks, holding 2s Js 9d Jd Jh 7c. Another player is on a four-low draw, holding 2d 3h 6h 7s 9c Td. A fourth player has a low draw as well, along with four to a flush, holding: 4s 6s 7d 8s Kh 8d. As it is right now, you are in great shape with this hand, as your expected value is 62%, you will scoop 35% of the time, you will win the high half of the pot 71% of the time and the low half of the pot 46% of the time. But, suppose that you raise when the jacks bet and are able to eliminate the player who holds the 76 low draw with the pair of eights. Now your expected value jumps to 72%, and you will scoop 53% of the time. The odds of you winning the high half of the pot increase to 79% and the odds of you hitting the low half of the pot jump up to 65%. Thats a pretty 159

big difference, so as you can see raising becomes a must when you believe there is a chance you can eliminate an opponent. Even if the raise is called by all of the other players, you are still a favorite in the hand but you need to try to eliminate other players to increase your chance of scooping the pot. Calling & Folding Situations are rare when you lay down a small straight. It is also rare that you call with the hand as you want to build up the pot or play defense and eliminate other players who pose a threat and increase your potential to scoop. However, every so often, you will find yourself involved in a hand where a tough lay-down is the best move or it is best to call with your straight. Calling and/or folding is done when you find yourself in between a rock and a hard place, such as when your seven or eight-high straight has a high card to go with it and it appears likely another opponent has made a better low than you have and yet another has made a hand that will beat your straight for the high half of the pot. As an example, suppose you are sitting with an eight-high straight with a big kicker, and first to act is an ace-high with A246 who bets. He is quickly raised by a player holding four suited cards, and another player with TJQK also calls. In this situation, whether you call or fold depends on the knowledge of your opponents. If it is a very loose game, where players are apt to stick around on draws and you suspect the four-flush may be just that and is trying to bluff and the two pair is all that the player has, you can call for one more card. You can also call if you have a four-flush to go with your straight, or if you have two small kickers. But under most scenarios, the wise move is to make the tough laydown. Either the four-flush or two pair has you beat for the high, and your low the worst

160

possible low there is. Because of this, your hand is deceiving. It looks great, and under many scenarios you can bang away with it. Unfortunately, this is one of those times where it looks a lot better than it is, and you need to get away from the hand. Situations in which you can call with the hand are when you are not sure where you are at, and believe raising will be ineffective in eliminating other players. Returning to the example of the eight-high straight, suppose a pair of kings and jacks come out betting. He is called by a player showing 4A29 with three suited cards, and the action is now to you. Waiting behind you is a player with 346A showing. Here, you raise if you feel that the two pair will drop, but thats not likely unless he is a tight player. With other players showing strong hands as well, raising will not do much to get anyone else involved in this pot out of the way. Because of that, the right move is to just call with the hand and see what the river brings. Low Kickers Help Obviously, it helps to have a small card or two to go with your straight, so you can improve your low hand. When you have one or two low cards, you can be more apt to call because you may further improve the low hand. For instance, if you held A24567, you have an incredibly powerful hand and will be banging away because the hand has a strong potential to scoop. Never forget that you can use all seven of your cards to make two separate hands. Playing a small straight that is not a monster means banging away with it whenever you believe that it will get players who pose a threat to you out of the way. Ideally, you have your straight against players you are free-rolling against, but most of

161

the time other draws are lurking. You need to do what you can to eliminate them, as doing so increases your chances of winning half of or the entire pot. Quick tips for play of low (seven and eight-high straights): RAISE or BET most of the time. This is a good hand but one that becomes vulnerable to other hands who may be on a four-low draw, two pair or have four to the flush. While a low straight is a frequent favorite even when other players are involved, the less people who are involved in the pot the less likely it is they will catch a card that will outdraw what you have. Aggressive play also increases your chances of scooping the pot. CALL when you have doubts about the strength of your hand and you believe that raising will not be effective in eliminating other players, such as when you hold an eight-high straight with two high cards and there are potential good low and high hands involved in the pot. FOLD when it looks clear that you are beaten in both directions. This is rare, but it does happen. An example is a player holding trips called by a four-flush who also has three low cards and another three or four-low that looks to be powerful. The decision becomes easier the more bets you face, such as if the trips re-raise or one of the powerful lows re-raise. These are difficult laydowns, but not making them will be very costly as you are looking at two more bets at least by the river.

162

Made Lows Just as on Fifth Street, the best situation you can be in when you have made a low hand is to be up against high hands, so you need to do what you can to eliminate low draws that are still involved in the pot at this point. You also need to know when you are behind and another player has made a better low hand than you hold so you can get out of the way if you do not have outs to hit a flush, straight or better low. Because there is now just one card to come and all of the exposed cards have been dealt, you have much more information at your disposal to know when you can proceed and when you need to make the tough lay-down. Aggression Pays Being aggressive with your low hand is a key to success, as by now you know that the fewer players that are involved in the pot, the better it is for you. When you have a low hand made that is not a straight, its better to have a pair, a four-flush or openended four-straight to go with your low hand. You cant afford to play the hand slowly hoping it develops into a monster hand. Even if you have other outs to the high, you can not assume that you will hit a hand that will get you the high half of the pot, which means looking for any chances that arise to get rid of players hoping to get a free card or limp to the river. While calling is not a disaster as you have a hand, it will cause problems if you allow people who are on draws to stay involved when you can get them to fold. Your first target is any player who you suspect is going low but has caught two bad cards, making it impossible for them to have a low-qualifying hand. You should also target players who may have made a low hand that is lousy, such as an 87 or 86 low and do not appear to have straight or flush possibilities. Hands drawing to a marginal low are 163

the easiest to eliminate, because by Sixth Street if they are just going low and still on a draw, a bet or raise can get them out of the way. Even made low hands with no outs for the high can be eliminated if you have a board that looks imposing. To illustrate an example of how eliminating a low draw helps your odds, suppose you have As 3c 4s 6d 7d Qc. There are three other players involved in the pot. A player who has Ks Kc 9h 8s bets well give him three kings with Kd 5s in the hole. You are next to act after the kings. Behind you are a player holding 6s 7s Qd 9s on the board well give him 2d 4d in the hole. Another player has 7h 8d Js 3d showing well give him hole cards of Ad 2c, meaning he has made an 87 low. With everyone involved in the pot, your expected value is 41%. You will scoop 8% of the time and win the high half of the pot 8% of the time. You will win the low half of the pot 75% of the time. If you raise though and are able to eliminate the hand who is on the draw to the 76 low, your probability for winning the low half of the pot increases to 79%, and if you eliminate the 87 low with him of course you become a lock for the low half of the pot. You must be aggressive with your low hand in a crowded pot consisting of many high hands when the high hands appear to be on something good or drawing to something good. For instance, if you held a seven high low, and were free-rolling against three other players, one of whom looked to make a flush, another a straight, and another a possible full house, raise at your first opportunity. Even if it is checked to you, still bet as calls are likely and while the odds of you hitting the high hand are remote, you want the pot built up so you will win more money for the half that you will take down.

164

Calling While you usually want to play a made low fast to protect it or build up the pot when you are free-rolling, there are instances in which aggressive play is not effective at eliminating players, and will just cost you money if you lose the hand. Checking and calling are done when you have a low hand but do not know how it stacks up against other low hands that are out there. For instance, suppose you hold a 76 low in a multi-way pot with no chance at a straight or flush. A player showing Qs Qd Th As bets, is called by a player holding Ac 4c 6c Js and the action is to you. Yet to act is a player holding 2c 3s 7d 9d. Raise if you believe the player who got the jack on Sixth Street will fold or the original bettor will fold, but that isnt likely he has three suited cards along with three to the low and the original better is on trips or a full house. Even though folding is more likely in stud 8 than in regular 7-card stud on Sixth Street, with everyone showing a playable hand, a raise in this situation isnt going to eliminate anyone. A raise with a low needs to achieve its desired result if you are going to raise to play defense so in a situation where you are not sure of the strength of your low hand and believe that raising will not eliminate any of the players who may be on a draw to a better low or have made a better low than you, just call. Aces Calls as opposed to savvy lay-downs are better when you have a pair of aces with your low when you believe a bet or raise wont eliminate other players, are not sure about your hands strength for the low and it does not look like players have hit a high hand better than aces. Aces can be a blessing and a curse with a low hand and aces, calling is the best move even when you think you might not be the best low but believe that the 165

aces have a reasonable shot at the high. Obviously, you want to get players out of the way, but when you are in a multi-way pot with several players going low who have possibly made low hands already, raising wont get the job done. Folding is gutsy and not recommended with aces unless you are certain you are beat, because aces alone frequently win the high half of the pot and are a good insurance policy. By this point you already have several bets involved in the pot, and being you have aces with a low hand you have a shot at both ends of the pot and still might to scoop. That being said, you do not want to be oblivious to what other players hold and still need to get away from aces with a made low when you are looking at a probable straight, flush or full house for the high along with a probable low that is better than your hand. Most of the time though, when the decision is between folding and calling, call. Folding Just because you have a hand that qualifies for the low does not mean that you will play it every time. But many players do. As you know by now, there are good low hands and low hands that are only good at getting you in trouble. Just as you must avoid getting married to a pair that should not be played past Fifth Street, you need to avoid getting married to a low hand that looks like it is beat. Obvious warning signs are when a player who looks to have made a low hand that is better than your hand bets or raises. Whether or not you stay involved depends on your knowledge of your opponent (does he bet or raise with anything or only when he has the goods?), who else is involved in the pot and what they are showing, and if you have other outs. For instance, suppose a player holding Ah 3s 5c 9h comes out and bets. A player showing 4c 5s 6h 2d quickly calls, and now the action is to you and you are holding a

166

hand of 3c 4d 5d 7s 8d Qs. Yet to act is a player who looks to be going high with Ts Js Qd Ks, a possible straight showing along with a possible flush. Here, folding is obviously the right decision because your low is of poor quality and you are very likely not the best low hand. You also have no chance of hitting the high. If you had four to the flush though, you could call depending on how many of your cards to hit the flush were gone (it should be no more than five) because there still is a chance you could also catch an ace or a three to hit a low straight. Without the four flush, the hand becomes too dangerous to play. Anytime you are facing two bets and the raise has come from a player who looks to be going low or have made a low hand, you need to carefully assess your situation. An eight-low is usually out, unless of course you have trips to go with it, a straight, a flush or a pair of aces. Seven-lows are playable for two bets depending on what makes up your hand. If you held 2c 6c 5c 4s 7d Jc, your hand would be more playable than it would be if it did not hold a flush draw. Suppose a player with Kh Ks 8d 9d bets, is raised by a player showing 8h Ah 2d 5s, and the action is to you. Here, calling two bets would be okay, because you have an inside-straight draw and a flush draw to go with your low hand. The number of players who are involved will also affect your decision to stay or drop. If your low is of marginal quality and there are more than two players with three or four low cards showing that represent a low hand better than yours, drop if there are no outs to a high or a better low. If you are sitting on a marginal low that has an ace and gives you a draw to an excellent low (especially a small straight) you can call up to a bet because you are getting very good implied odds.

167

The key questions you need to ask yourself when holding a low hand are: 1) What is the quality of my low hand, 2) Do other player(s) have other low hands already made that are better than mine, 3) Do I have a high hand or a chance at a high hand that will win me the high half of the pot and 4) What are my chances of scooping if I improve? Remember: just as you cant play any three low cards on Third Street, you cant play any low hand on Sixth Street. Carefully assess your situation. Many times a low will be played to the river, but when it looks like you are behind in the hand, dont toss in chips hoping for improvement or feel you must call to protect your hand. There is a big difference between a good low and a trash hand knowing the difference between the two will be a big key to your success at stud 8. Quick tips for play of low hands that have been made on Sixth Street: RAISE or BET anytime you believe doing so will narrow the field of other low hands or players who are still drawing to a low hand. You also want to bet or raise when you are free-rolling either that will get rid of the high hand(s) or, more likely, help to build up the pot for the half that you will win. CALL when you are not sure about the strength of your low hand and believe that raising will not eliminate other players, and can stay involved for no more than one bet. Call more than one bet only if you have a pair of aces or good chance for a flush or straight that you believe, if made, will win you the high half of the pot. Never call when you are behind on the low and only going in one direction.

168

FOLD when you believe that you do not hold the best low hand and do not have realistic chances of hitting a high hand that would win you the high half of the pot if made. Full Houses Full houses are usually always playable until the river. Under most circumstances,

you will be playing the hand aggressively, betting with it and raising with it at each opportunity. You certainly want to do that anytime you think there is a chance that low hands or draws will be eliminated. Aggressive play also makes sense in multi-way pots, because while they are likely to be split, you of course want to build up the half of the pot that you will be winning. Slow-playing Playing full houses slowly is a rarity in stud 8, due to the fact that low hands involved in the pot will stay in, not worrying about raises from a high hand. But, there are two situations in which playing the hand slowly (betting but not raising) is the right move. One is when you are up against weaker high hands and believe that a raise will cause them to drop. For instance, suppose you have tens full and a smaller pair showing on your board (a pair would have to be showing for you to have a full house at this stage). An open pair of sevens bet, and behind you to act are another small pair and a four-flush who does not have any low possibilities. If you raise into the bigger pair, its a signal you have made a full house you want to keep these hands involved, hoping they make their high hands on the river. If one of them does re-raise though, raise it up again.

169

The other instance where you do not want to raise is when doing so is likely to get you heads up against a low hand obviously you do not want to be heads up against a player with whom you will split the pot. This often occurs in a small field of four players or less. For instance, suppose there are three players in the pot. You are first to act with two pair showing, queens and tens (you have queens full). Yet to act are a player showing 4c 5c 6c 7d and a player showing Th Td 9s 8s. If you bet, the four-low is likely to raise and the tens would be hard-pressed to stay involved. If you check though, when the fourlow bets there is still some chance that the tens will stay involved because he will not suspect you have made a full house as you did not bet. So, by checking and calling you get an extra bet (or more if he makes his hand) on the river. Rarely do you ever want to lay down a full house. Obviously, in the unlikely event that a player has made open quads you would drop your full house. When a player may have made a bigger full house than you, you should call if he has open trips and raise if he just has a big pair (unless a re-raise is likely by a low hand), calling if he raises back into you unless you are certain that his raise is indicative of him holding a full house. You can also fold into trips that could represent a bigger full house if it is very expensive to stay involved (more than two bets) and the trips were one of the hands that raised, especially if playing for only half of the pot. Most of the time, a full house will win the high half of the pot, but every so often you will be beaten by a larger full house. Though this is more common in regular 7-card stud, it still can happen in stud 8. The bottom line is that when you have a full house, you have a good hand and need incredibly strong evidence that you are beat if you are going

170

to fold. Play the hand aggressively, only slowing up when a possible bigger full house raises back at you. Quick tips for play of full houses at Sixth Street: RAISE or BET most of the time. Play the hand aggressively, doing what you can to get low hands out of the way. Many times that can not be accomplished, but you still want to build up the pot for the half that you will win. You also need to raise for information if it looks like a player might have a higher full house than you hold, raising a big pair who comes out betting. CALL when doing so will prevent you from getting heads up against a low hand. You can also call open trips that bet if you believe he may in fact have a full house. FOLD rarely, only if you are absolutely certain you are up against a bigger full house or quads. You have a fantastic hand, and will be playing it to the showdown. Flushes As with full houses, flushes are usually played until the showdown, because they are a very good high hand in stud 8. Most of the low hands that are involved back into straights for the low rather than flushes, meaning you can stay involved against low hands unless it looks like they may have hit a flush higher than yours to go with their low hand. Flushes are often played fast, but not always, as how they are played is very subjective to the situation you are in. You want to eliminate highs who may be tempted to stay in and try to outdraw you, and also eliminate lows to increase your chances of

171

scooping the pot. Obviously, the presence of four low cards or a made low hand enhances the quality of your flush being you still have a chance for or have made a hand qualifying for the low half of the pot. Shifting Gears Many times you will be jamming with a flush, but you need to shift gears with the hand based on the situation you are in. When the pot is multi-way and it looks like people will be staying involved to the river who are on lows or low draws, jam with your flush to build up the high half of the pot that you are likely to win unless, of course, they are showing four to a flush that would beat your flush. When that is the case, you have to slow it down and carefully assess the situation, staying in for one bet but no more than that if you are not going low as well. For instance, suppose a player holding Ah 7h 8s 6d is first to act and bets, and is raised by a player holding 4s 7s Ks Qs. You hold 3d 8d Td 9d Jd 7c. You need to fold. You have no outs for the low, and the spades have likely made a flush. It is not worth calling two bets hoping to win half of the pot with a flush that is likely the second best hand. Four suited cards that could be indicative of a better flush than you pose a serious threat, and while it is difficult to fold your hand, that is what you need to do when it looks like you are second best for the high in a pot that is likely to be split. If the bet came from a player holding a pair or other high hand on the board and the four suited cards that could represent a higher flush than you hold were yet to act, just call and fold if the four-flush raises. When a player holds three rather than four suited cards, fold if it looks like he is going high and on a flush, but call if he looks to have a low hand. For instance, if you

172

held a jack-high flush, and a player holding 9s Ks 2d Js raised, fold, as it is clear that he is not going low with the hand. But, if he held 9s 4s 5s 2d and raised, go ahead and call. Raising Raising is a good move any time you believe it will eliminate players. A flush is a good hand, but it will still split the pot with a low hand and is vulnerable to high hands. The best way to eliminate highs is to raise after a low has bet and there are high hands yet to act who have gotten by cheaply up until now, and you suspect that they are on a straight or flush draw, pair or two pair. The less money that a player going high has put into the pot, the more likely it is a bet or raise will eliminate him. Some games are so passive that everyone checks or gets by two streets with just one bet until a player finally makes a low hand and bets with it. A marginal high hand such as two pair or a flush draw is likely to be eliminated if you raise after a low has bet, because they will not want to stay involved in hopes of drawing to a hand that will win them just half of the pot. Low hands are best eliminated when they are on a draw to a marginal low. For instance, suppose you are in a three-way pot and hold 3c 5c 9c Tc Qc 8c. A player holding 9s Ts Kd Kh comes out and bets and behind you is a player holding 5s 8s 9d Jd. A raise will likely get him out of the way. If you just called (especially if he was loose) he would be tempted to stay in because he knows if he catches one more low card he can split half of the pot with the high hand. But even a loose player will have a tough time calling two bets to catch a card in hopes of splitting the pot. Of course, when you have a big flush and believe its the best, raise or re-raise a possible flush that has bet.

173

Calling Whenever you bet or raise, you want to either build up the pot if you believe you are a lock for half of or the entire pot, or eliminate players. There are times though when that can not be accomplished, and it is best to just call a bet rather than raise it up. One instance is when a high hand bets and it looks like a raise will be coming from a hand that is yet to act. For instance, suppose a player with a pair of kings showing comes out and bets. You hold a queen-high flush. Most of the time, you will raise in this situation if the kings are in fact a full house, you will be re-raised and can get away from the flush. But before you automatically say raise, look who is yet to act. If there are four-lows or three wheel cards showing who bet aggressively on Fifth Street, just call. A made low hand is not going to fear kings, and will do the raising for you. Another time when calling is the right move as opposed to raising is when it is down to just high hands, and you believe players will stay involved despite your raise, or that players going high yet to act will fold because of the action from the original better. Be Aware of Open Trips Folding a flush is incredibly difficult, but you need to carefully assess your situation when you are up against trips, folding if the pot will be split and you have no low or very good low draw. Say you are sitting on a jack-high flush, and a player holding Kh Ks Ad Kd bets and the action is to you. Heads-up, or when you are going for the entire pot you can call here and on the river as a flush is about a 5-to-1 favorite against trips. But folding is a safe play, and the right one when the pot will be split. Trips, especially big trips, are a dangerous sign that indicate quads or a full house. A flush will

174

beat trips, but not a full house, so laying it down is a safe play rather than playing for half of the pot only to find out you are beat. A Low is a Go Whenever you are fortunate enough to have a low hand to go with your flush, raise with it. You have the flush for the high, and even if a player has made a straight or a low hell be beat on the high half of the pot. Certainly there will be a time or two over your many hours of playing stud 8 where you will have a flush with a low qualifier cracked anyone at a stud 8 table can share that bad beat story with you but this is a very solid hand and you only slow down with it when a possible bigger flush or player with a full house raises your bet or re-raises your raise. A Tricky Hand Flushes are a good hand, but can also be a very dangerous hand in a game in which the pot is split, which is why you can not automatically be raising or calling with your flush. Laying it down is a rarity, but situations arise where you have to make that tough lay-down. When it looks like you are not the best high hand and the pot will be split, get away from the hand. Open trips are an indicator of that. When the pot is not going to be split, you can take more chances with the flush, calling a bet and even two bets when there is a chance you will win the entire pot. You can also do this if you have a draw to a quality low hand or have made a low hand. Finally, you must remember that players are more likely to fold in this game at Sixth Street than in regular 7-card stud, so whenever you believe you have a chance to eliminate a player who holds a marginal high or low draw, take that opportunity to enhance your chances of scooping.

175

Quick tips for play of flushes: RAISE or BET when you believe doing so will narrow the field, as this enhances your chances of scooping the pot. Also raise or bet in a multi-way pot when you are up against other low hands/draws and believe you are a lock for the high half of the pot to build up the half you will win. CALL when you are not sure how your flush stacks up against other high hands and believe that a raise will not get anyone to drop. An example is a big pair betting with more than two players who look to be on good low draws yet to act. Always call if you have a low with the flush being you have a chance both ways for the pot unless its clear you are beat both ways. FOLD when you have a strong belief that you are not the best high hand, have no low or a poor low draw and the pot is likely to be split, such as when a player looks to have made a higher flush or full house and raises. High Straights High straights are hands that cause many a stud 8 player to have a sick feeling in his stomach. While they are a good hand for the high because they edge out lower straights, you have to be very careful when playing them and be confident that they are the best high hand unless you also have a low or good low draw to go with the straight. Though a straight will certainly be played more times than it will be folded, when playing the straight you want to be sure yours is the best high hand or get out of the way.

176

Reasons to Go Because a straight is not as strong as a flush, you need to play the hand more tightly than you would a flush. That means folding anytime it appears a player has made a hand higher than yours in a multi-way pot, and erring on the side of caution when you are not sure. Youll remember from the previous section that you fold your flush if you believe you are beat and in a split-pot. The same advice applies here, but you need to be even more tight, folding anytime a four-flush bets and lows are involved meaning the pot will be split. Even if the four-flush has three or four low cards, it is still too risky to call him for what will be at the very least two more bets and could very well be more than that if other low hands are involved. Even heads up, fold if a four-flush with three or four to the low bets because a split-pot is likely the best you can hope for. When a pair bets, you can call if you are heads up and going for the entire pot because a straight is a favorite against trips or two pair - but do not call open trips or a big two pair unless its heads up and he just made trips or two pair and can not qualify for the low. When low hands are involved, a lay-down is the safe play when you have no shot at hitting a winning low hand, unless you are very confident that the player with the pair or two pair has not filled up. Raise or Call? The same advice on raising verses calling with a flush applies to straights do so when it will achieve your objective of either: 1) building up the pot which you believe you are a lock to win half of or 2) eliminate players who may be trying to stick around to hit a low on the cheap. When neither of these things apply, just call with your hand.

177

Raising is most effective when there is only one or two low draws involved in the hand and they have invested little in the pot. Here, when the high hand bets (as long as it is not a four-flush or four-straight representing a straight higher than yours) raise if a player or two with two low cards or three lousy low cards (ie, 468) are involved and do not look to have any chance at hitting the high. Ideally, that will get you heads up against the player with the high hand showing. You also want to raise when you believe doing so will eliminate the high player who bet, or of course get any low hand involved out of the picture. This is most effective when three and especially four of the cards of your straight are exposed. For instance, suppose you have a ten high straight. A player with a pair of queens bets, and the action is to you. A player showing 3h 8h 9c 7s and a player showing 2h 4c Qd Js are yet to act. Raise it up. Calls from one or both of the low hands are likely with a call, but not with a raise. Of course if the queens check to you, you bet. Even if you had to act after the low hands, still raise to put added pressure on the queens. A split pot is likely, but do all you can to make sure you hit the high half of the pot. As with flushes, you do not need to raise a high hand when it appears a raise will be coming. So if it is checked, just check and if the high hand you think you have beat bets, just call when it looks like a low hand acting after you will be raising. Of course, you want to be pretty sure the raise or bet will take place, and if you have any doubts at all bet or raise. Bets and raises from lows become more likely the more low hands are yet to act. Finally, you can raise when you believe you are a lock to win the high half of the pot, but you need to proceed more carefully than you would with a flush. This means

178

calling is the safer move as more low hands are involved that have two or more suited cards. For instance, if you held 8s 9s Tc Jd Qs Ad and there were two other players involved showing As 3d 7d 8h and 2s 3c 6d 7h, bet into the lows and re-raise as your straight is nearly a lock for the high half of the pot. But, anytime three or more lows are involved and any one of them has a three-flush, calling is wiser when you believe a raise will not eliminate them because there is a chance they might back into a flush and scoop. Calling should also be done when lows with three suited cards bet or raise, because there is a possibility they may have improved to a flush along with their low hand. When fourflushes are involved, fold if the pot looks to be split and the four-flush bets. Remember that straights are good hands, but are much more risky of a hand in stud 8 than in regular 7-card stud due to the fact that when you lose with them you can end up losing a bundle and when you win with them they are usually just good for the high half of the pot. (A big reason big straights are straights you should back into and not draw to from Third Street!). Play them fast when you think you can get people out of the way and fold whenever you believe you are not the best high hand. Call when you are not sure about the status of your high hand and have a potential to win the entire pot or when you believe raising will not be effective in eliminating the players who might outdraw you. Quick tips for play of high straights on Sixth Street: RAISE or BET when doing so will eliminate other players. This increases your chance to scoop, and also eliminates players who on a high draw. It is especially effective when you raise after a low hand has bet and high draws are

179

still waiting, because then they will have to call two bets to stay involved for half of the pot. CALL when raises or bets will not eliminate the field and when you are playing for the entire pot and believe you might be beat but are not sure. You can also call when it looks like low hands yet to act will be raising after you. FOLD when you believe you are not the best high hand and are in a multi-way pot likely to be split. This is when trips bet or raise and low hands are lurking, and anytime four suited cards raise. Trips Trips can be played if you can see the river for one bet and do not think you are up against any straights or flushes from the lows, and can be played for another bet even if you are behind when there is no chance that the pot will be split. In split-pot situations, trips become problematic and worse as more low hands are involved because it becomes more likely that one of the low hands has made a straight or flush. Therefore, when playing trips, you want to: 1) be up against other hands going high and/or 2) reduce the field to increase your chances of scooping and eliminate hands that might outdraw you. Many times, trips will win the high half of the pot, and you can stay involved to the showdown against low hands if you do not believe that they are drawing to or have hit a straight or a flush. Unfortunately, many times a flush or straight from a low can be hidden, so you need to tighten up with this hand anytime you sense a low may have caught a high hand as well. Do not make the mistake many stud 8 players do and call with this hand to the river hoping it will become a full house when the pot looks like it

180

will be split and a low hand has hit a straight or flush to go with his low, because its just not worth being an underdog for half of the pot. Split Pot vs. Scooping Just how tight should you be with trips? In a pot that looks to be split (a player showing four low cards or at least two players with three-lows) fold anytime a player bets or raises with a four-flush (especially if he looks to be going high with the flush) and whenever a four-straight bets or raises. Folding is also a good idea if a player making two open pair raises in a split-pot situation, unless more than two of his cards to hit a full house are gone. The situation changes when you are going for the entire pot, and you can stay for up to two bets unless you think you are drawing dead. This is certainly a lot more liberal than when the pot will be split, but calling for up to two bets is the right move unless you are looking at open trips that are higher than you or an open pair bigger than you that you suspect represents a full house, because of your implied odds. And of course, if play is passive and players look to be on a draw, bet and make them pay to see the river or raise if you believe a player holds a weaker hand than you, such as a smaller set or two pair. Do not get savvy though and raise to try to drive out drawing hands, as if you are going for the entire pot and a player going high has already bet, the raise isnt going to eliminate him and you may already be behind in the hand. Remember: calling is okay on Sixth Street even when you may be behind in the hand because you are getting good implied odds on your hand. For instance, if you suspected you were up against a flush who bet and was called by a possible high straight, stay in because even though you are

181

behind in the hand if you hit your boat you know the flush and straight will call your raise. Keep reminding yourself that folding with trips is just fine when you have doubts about being the best hand when the pot looks to be split. The more players that become involved, the more you should be apt to fold the hand, because the stronger the chances are of a split pot. Anytime you are looking at two bets, it becomes an automatic fold. The only exception is if you have three-of-a-kind with three low cards to go with it. Quick tips for play of trips on Sixth Street: RAISE or BET when doing so will narrow the field. Raising or betting is especially important because you are vulnerable to lows backing into a straight on the river, and trips are a good but not great high hand. CALL one bet when it looks like the pot is not going to be split. You can even call if you are behind up to two bets against a possible flush or straight because you are getting good implied odds. You can call one bet against low hands but need to carefully assess calling a raise from a low hand, getting out of his way if he has a four-flush or four-straight. FOLD anytime you are in pot that looks like it will be split and have a doubt as to whether or not your opponent going low has made a flush or a straight to go with his low hand. Defensive raises will not help you because you will just get called or re-raised by the low, so get out of the way anytime you suspect you are behind for the high in split-pot situations.

182

Two Pair Remember: two pair is a very dangerous hand in stud 8. Two pair usually have very little likelihood of hitting the low half of the pot, so when you have two pair on Sixth Street and are going to see the river, you must 1) be certain that your two pair are the best high hand, 2) do what you can to eliminate players and 3) not be in a raised pot when lows are involved. Passive Hands The best shot at having two pair win a pot is in games that are passive. While this means that the pot will not be all that large, you are happy to win anything with two pair. When players have gotten a free card or two, it becomes easier for you to get them to fold when they have not improved, being they have very little at stake. So, if you hold two pair, and have players showing weak boards who have checked on Fifth Street, bet your hand and try to take it down. Calling You can call for one bet with two pair when you have a strong belief that it is the best high hand. This happens when a player with a three-low bets (assuming you are not the high) and gets calls from another three-low or four-low hand that does not look to have made a flush or straight to go with his hand. Of course, if first to act in this scenario, bet and try to win the pot or narrow the field. Folding Even though you are a 10 to 1 long-shot to hit a full house, many inexperienced stud 8 players can not resist the urge to call. Facing these long odds is even a bad move in

183

stud when you think you are beat, but in stud 8 it becomes a disaster when you have a feeling that your two pair is not the best high hand and a player or two appear to have locked up the low half of the pot. Therefore, you must tighten up when playing two pair in split-pot situations. Unless its a gem like Ah As 2s 2h 3c 4d, this hand needs to be dumped anytime there is a raise from a player who may have made a higher hand than you or a low who may have hit a straight or a flush. Checking Conventional wisdom when you have a high hand is that you want to bet or raise to protect it. That is the case when you believe you can narrow the field, but there are situations in which that can not be done and a bet from you will most certainly be raised. That is when there is a four-low hand or two or more hands with three low cards of seven or smaller waiting in the wings. If a player or two is waiting to act and they have played passively on Fifth Street and caught a bad card on Sixth and do not appear to have a shot at a straight or a flush, bet if you believe it will eliminate them. Certainly bet your two pair if a three-low and weak high hand waiting look to be hoping for a free card. But with a four-low waiting or several three-lows of quality lurking, a bet will be coming from them unless the game is ultra-tight-passive, so just check and call, folding if its more than one bet. The goal with two pair is to narrow the field as much as possible or win it right here on Sixth Street. When that can not be done, you want to see the river card on the cheap which means calling for one bet as long as you do not sense a flush or straight from one of the low hands involved in the pot. When raising begins from lows or highs that appear to have hit something that will crush your two pair, dump the hand and save

184

yourself the agony of calling to the river with the second or third best high hand unless you have a shot at a great low. Quick tips for play of two pair on Sixth Street: RAISE or BET when doing so will win you the pot or narrow the field. Two pair is a hand that needs to be protected because it is very vulnerable to drawing hands and low hands that may back into the straight. Do not raise or bet though if it appears you will be re-raised, such as when a good four-low or possible flush or straight is going to act behind you. CALL or CHECK when you believe that a bet will not thin the field, such as if you are the high hand but potential low hands or made highs will act after you, as a bet is certain. You can also call a bet if you are going for the entire pot and you are not sure if you are the best hand but feel you have a reasonable shot at the pot. FOLD whenever you doubt the strength of your two pair. Anytime you do not believe you are the best high hand and the pot is multi-way, you need to dump the two pair. You should also fold when bets come from a four-flush or fourstraight, or when you are facing two bets unless you are absolutely certain that the raiser or the initial person who bet do not hold a higher hand than you. Pairs When you are sitting on just a pair on Sixth Street, you have to fold if you do not have a low hand or a good low draw to go with it and the pot looks to be split unless you have aces or are very confident that no one going low poses a threat to hit a straight and

185

your pair looks to be the best high hand. This is done when the field is small, and there are just one or two low hands involved who do not appear to have made anything for the high. When you are not sure, you can call for one bet if you believe that the pair will be good for the high half of the pot and you are on a draw to hit a low hand that, if made, will get you the low half of the pot. But, if you are just going high with the pair and have no chance to hit a low and have a hunch someone might have hit a straight or a flush, your hand becomes unplayable. The only exception is if you held a pair of aces with a four-low or four-flush. If it is anything other than that, you need to get away from the hand. This is because with anything other than aces, you become vulnerable to lows that back into high hands such as a pair of aces, two pair or a straight. Semi-Bluffs An exception to getting away from your pair is when you believe a bet or raise will win you the pot. This happens when you have a board that looks threatening, are in a tight game, and players do not have much invested. For instance, if you held a hand of Kd Kc 2s 3s 5h 6s, you could bet if it is checked to you. (This hand is one you can also call one bet with so long as the bet did not come from a player with a possible flush or straight). Use your exposed cards to your advantage whenever you can, but also be alert to what your opponents hold. A semi-bluff isnt going to win you the pot if players look to have made high or low hands, but when players have been playing passively hoping to hit something and are still on the draw, use what you are showing to your advantage and take a shot at the pot.

186

Avoid Raises Whenever a raise takes place, you need to fold your hand unless you are on an exceptional draw to a low (such as if you held Ad 2c As 3s 4h 6d) or have a good low hand to go with your pair (such as 6s 6h 2s 5s Ad 3c) or have outs to a straight or flush with your pair and have a low or four-low that if made has a good chance to be the best low hand. With hands like these that have a chance to scoop, you can gamble a little as long as you believe there is some chance your low hand will get you the low half of the pot. For instance, suppose you hold 5d 5h 8d Ad 3s 2d and are in late position. A player holding Js Jc 9d Ts bets, and is raised by a player holding 3d 6s 7h 2c. Go ahead and call. The player who raised may have a better low than you, but you have a pair, a four-flush, and a made low hand, so see the river. Note that the above example gives you a low hand, which allows you to call two bets. If you just had a pair with no low draw and there was a raise, dump the hand unless your low options look good and you have outs for a good high. With a good low draw with the pair that also has outs for a good high hand, your chances to scoop are improved and as you know by now, stud 8 is all about the scoop. Remember: do not get married to a pair, especially in stud 8. When your pair does not have a low or good low draw to go with it, or a draw to a hand that will be the best high hand if made that you can see for one bet, dumping the pair is the best move. It can be very tempting to play a pair for another bet when you believe it is the best high hand and your opponents are just going low, but the problem is your opponents may be freerolling and could be sitting on a high hand as well. You can be more liberal when you hold aces with a four-low and are up against another low hand, but most of the time a pair

187

needs to be dumped. Maybe you are the best hand, but its not worth fighting for half of a pot. If few people are involved or you are just heads up, you are just trying to get your money back. If it is a family pot, it becomes more likely that the pair is beat so unless youve got other options with the pair, get away from it and save your chips until you are in better shape. Quick tips for play of pairs on Sixth Street: BET or RAISE when you believe doing so will win you the pot. This is typically done when the field is already narrow, or when you have exposed cards that represent something that looks to be a lock for the low. Raising or betting is also more effective in tight games and in hands when people have limped to see Sixth Street and do not have much invested in the pot. CALL for one bet if you believe your pair is good for the high. You need to proceed with caution though and get away from the pair if there is a raise. Never call for two bets unless the raise came from a low with no straight or flush and you have additional outs to a big high or a good low hand. FOLD whenever you believe your pair is not good for the high unless you have a low or draw to what will be the best low if you hit it. Even with outs for a good high hand, its not worth fighting to get half of the pot unless it has become quite large.

188

Low Draws Your heart is racing when you have a four-low on Sixth Street, because by now the pot may have become quite large. You are sitting on something that has potential, and can either turn into gold on the river or cause a stack of your chips to quickly vanish. So how should you play those pesky low draws? As is the answer in so many cases in poker, it depends on many factors. When you hold four cards to a low, you can stay for one more bet if: 1) You have a high hand to go with it that has a reasonable possibility for winning the high half of the pot; 2) You have a hand that is drawing in both directions and 3) You are in a large pot with high hands and have already called in the previous rounds and believe that if made, your low will be the best. When you have a high hand with your low draw, the quality is enhanced because the possibility to scoop is greater, being you already have what may win you half of the pot. Obviously the bigger your high hand is the better position you are in. The more you have invested in the pot, call rather than fold. When you have invested heavily in the pot on a hand that started out good with promise (such as 2h 3s 4h 6d Ks 9d) you can still call due to the amount you have put in the pot. The only time you fold a low draw is when it looks like you are drawing dead (drawing to a low that even if made will not be the best low). Obviously, draws to an eight-low are highly questionable unless no other low hands are possible, but when youve put a lot in the pot, its worth your while to call once more and see what happens.

189

How Many Bets? Though you can call for one bet with your low draw when drawing to what will be the best low and the pot is large or you have outs for the high, carefully assess your situation when facing more than one bet. When the pot is raised, that raise isnt coming from a drawing hand at this stage (unless the player is a maniac). A raise means a player has hit a high hand that he wants to protect, or has a low hand that he wants to jam the pot with. Dont convince yourself the raise is for some other reason! If you have already bet and are raised, call as long as the raise was not from a hand that looks to be on a better low hand as you have already put money into the pot on this hand. If the raise was from a high hand, call if you have already bet but fold unless you are also on a draw to a high hand that, if made, will allow you to scoop the pot. Heads-Up When you are facing a bet and you are heads-up, or you believe that you will be heads up as other players yet to act will fold to the person who bet, dump the low draw unless: 1) you have put in three bets or more; 2) the pot is quite large or 3) you have outs to the high which will beat your opponent if you hit it and scoop you the pot. If the pot is large, you are of course not likely to be heads up because other players will have invested in the pot too, so heads-up or when there is three-way action, the pot is typically small. With a small pot, you are getting lousy pot odds on your bet, which means you need to get out of the way if you do not have a good high hand with your low draw. Even a good low draw becomes junk because it is just that a draw. For it to be good, you want more hands who may be on weaker draws to pay you off on Seventh Street if you hit your

190

hand. Why try to hit a hand that will win you just half of the pot if you hit it, especially if that pot is small? Summarizing low draws, play them when they look to be a draw to the best low and the pot is large, or when you still have a shot or a draw to what may be the best high hand. Try to see the river for as cheaply as you can being you have a draw, and when you face more than one bet carefully look at your situation and ask yourself who raised and with what he may have raised, getting out of the way if he has a better low than you are drawing to. Finally, dump the hand when have not invested heavily or the pot is small because you are not getting sufficient pot odds to proceed with it. Quick tips for play of low draws on Sixth Street: CALL for as cheaply as you can. Stay in for one bet the larger the pot is, and when you believe you are drawing to what will be the best low. You can also stay in when you have a high hand or excellent high draw to go with your low draw. If raised you can call as long as the raise did not come from a better low hand than you are drawing to. One of the best situations to be in is to have a large field and have a hand with scooping potential because you are getting excellent implied odds. FOLD in heads-up or three-way situations in which the pot is small. Its not worth staying involved just to get your money back. The only time you can stay involved in a heads-up situation is when your scooping potential is excellent, such as when you have a good high hand or great potential to hit a solid high or low hand (such as a four-flush with a four-low).

191

Flush and Straight Draws Flush and straight draws can be played when you also have a draw to the low that you think will be the best low hand. They can also be played if there are no low hands involved and you believe that you are drawing to what will be the best high hand if you hit it. But when you have no draw to a low hand and it looks like the pot is going to be split, dump a flush or straight draw. At best you have about a 4-to-1 shot to hit your hand which will be good for half of the pot if you do hit it. Those four hearts you hold may look nice, but they are just going to get you into trouble if you play them hoping to hit a flush in a multi-way pot where people have already locked up half of the pot, so get away from them! The rule with flush and straight draws is tighten up when its multi-way, staying in when you are on a good low draw with your flush or straight draw, but getting out when you are only going one way. When there is no one involved who can get a low hand, you can loosen up and stick around to the river for a bet so long as you believe you are not drawing dead. Quiz on Sixth Street Play Question 1: You hold two pair, kings and queens. There are three other players involved in the pot. They are showing 2s 4h 8s Qh, 3d Ts 6h 8c and 2c 8d Jc Th. You are first to act with a pair on the board. Do you bet or check? Answer: Bet. None of the other players are showing a possible flush or straight. You may be raised if the two low hands go at it, but you need to protect your two pair and, being the pot looks to be split, should get more money in there from the low hands to build up the half you are likely to win.

192

Question 2: You hold trips, 9s 9h Ks 9c Jd 2s. There are four other players involved in the pot. First to act is a player showing Ts Th 8s 7d, and he bets. He is quickly raised by a player showing 2d 4d 8d 7c, and is called by a player holding 2c 3c 4c Ad. It is now two bets to you. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. Unfortunately your trips are not likely the best hand in this situation. If you were playing for the entire pot, calling the two bets would be an acceptable risk because you would be getting good implied odds on your hand. But when you are playing for only half of the pot and are not sure you are the best high hand, get away from it. The tens likely have trips, and the four-low may have a straight, and the 3-flush might have a flush so release the trips. Question 3: You are on a flush draw, holding 8s Ts Js Ks 4c 6d. The first player to act bets, holding Ac 3c 7c Jh. He is called by a player holding 3s 2h 8c 6h, and the action is to you. Do you fold or call? Answer: Fold. You are in a bad situation if you call because a split pot is nearly certain. The odds are against you hitting your flush, and to make matters worse even if you hit it you might not be the best flush as one of your opponents holds a three flush. If you had a shot at the entire pot, or good low draw to go with your four-flush, you could call, but calling here is a bad move. Question 4: You hold 2s 3s 4c 5h Kd Qs and are in a multi-way pot with four other players. The player holding Js Jc 2s 4d bets. He is called by a player holding 4s 5s 8d Td, and the action is to you. Yet to act are a player holding 3c 6d Ts 9d and a player holding 6c 7d Qh Tc. Do you fold, call or raise?

193

Answer: Call. You are still on a draw, and there is a good shot you are up against a player who has made his low hand. However, you are on a draw to what looks to be the best low if you hit it, and being the pot is multi-way you are getting good pot odds. You also have a shot at a straight, making a call worth wile. Question 5: You hold a pair with a low draw, Qs Qh 2s 3c 4s 6s. There are two other players involved in the pot. The player holding Kh 7s Td 8c is first to act and checks. A player holding 4c Tc 8d Js also checks, and now the action is on you. Do you bet or check? Answer: Bet. Take a shot at the pot right now. Your opponents have nothing threatening, and its worth it to take a shot. Even if you get one or both of them to call you, you still have a good shot to win the pot on the river as neither one of them are on draws to the low that are better than your draw. Question 6: You hold a king-high flush, Ks 7s 8s 9s Js Ad. Three other players are involved in the pot. A player holding Ac 8d 7d 6d is first to act and bets. He is called by a player holding 2h 8h 9c Ts and the action is you. Waiting to act is a player holding 8c Kh 6h 2d. Do you raise or call? Answer: Raise. You have a solid hand in your flush, so raising is the best move. It might get the player with the marginal low hand or draw to fold, but even if everyone calls your raise you want to build up the pot for the half you are likely to win. You look to be in great shape for the high, so play your hand for what it is worth and bang away. Question 7: You hold a nine-high straight with a low draw, 5c 6s Tc 7d 8h 9h. There are three other players involved in the pot. A player holding Ad Ac 3s 6h bets. He is raised

194

by a player who holds 2d 4d Td Kd and the action is to you. Waiting to act is a player who holds 2s 4s 6d 3c. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. This is a tough lay-down, but it is what you need to do. There is no way you are going to win the low half of the pot, and the raise by the diamonds should be a clear signal that you are looking at a flush (especially being he has two high cards). Maybe he raised on the come with a low draw or is trying to buy the pot, but do you really want to take that chance calling two bets here and likely more than one bet on the river? As difficult as it is, fold your hand now and be done with it it looks much better than it is. Question 8: You hold a low-qualifying hand of 2s 5h Kd 7s 8c 6c. There are two other players involved in the pot. One holds Ac Ah 2d 4d and is the first to act and bets. He is raised by a player holding 3s 4s 5c 6d. The action is now to you. Do you fold, call or raise? Answer: Fold. Just because you have a low hand does not mean you have locked up half of the pot. Many players cant resist calling with a low hand, and get tunnel vision. A call in this situation is a bad move because you have one of the worst low hands possible, and there is no way you are going to hit the high hand. Dump this lousy low and wait for a better hand. Question 9: You hold a full house, Ks Kh Kd 7c 7s Ac. There are three other players involved in the pot who look to be going low or on low draws. They hold As 3s 5s 8c, Ad 2d 7d 8h and 3s 4h 5c Qs. You are the first to act. Do you bet or check, hoping for a check-raise?

195

Answer: Check. This is a situation in which you can get more money by checking because a bet or perhaps two bets become very likely. When it comes back to you, you will raise it up because with each of these players holding what could be a good hand in either direction, it will be very difficult for them to get away from their hands so they will pay you off. Question 10: You hold a six high low hand, As 4s Ks 6c 3d 2c. A player with an open pair, 2h Kd Ks 9s bets and the action is to you. Waiting to act are two players, who hold 2d 5h Js Td and 6s 4d 8s Tc. Do you call or raise? Answer: Call. Your first instinct is to raise, but doing that will cost you money. If you just call, then the two players who have two and three low cards showing will be more likely to call. Facing two bets, they are much more likely to fold, meaning you would be heads up against a hand you will split the pot with. You are essentially a lock for the low, so try to keep the other players who are going low involved so your payoff will be bigger on the river. Summary of Sixth Street Sixth Street is a place in stud 8 that can see a lot of action. By this point, players have made a good low hand and are banging away with it, or have made a very solid high hand they are trying to protect. You want to be in great shape in either direction, either having made a hand or have a drawing hand that gives you a great chance to scoop if you hit it. Sixth Street also further illustrates why it is so much better to be going low than high in stud 8. When you have a low hand, you can continue on cruise control against

196

other highs, but when you have a high you have to sweat it out unless its a monster hand hoping that it will hold up for half of the pot unless all of the low hands are gone. Because of that, you can play low draws with outs in both directions or in large pots where you have a shot at the best low, but need to get out of the way with a marginal high hand such as a pair or two pair when you believe you may have run up against a better high hand or low hand who has also hit a high hand. You do not do this in stud where you are playing for the entire pot because you are getting better odds on your draw but when you are playing for only half of the pot high draws or marginal high hands become trash that will only get you in trouble. The keys to success at Sixth Street are knowing when you have the best high hand and resisting the urge to try to outdraw a better high hand for half of the pot, and also knowing when you are behind on the low end. Drawing hands are playable under the right circumstances, but you need to know what those circumstances are. When playing a draw, look at the size of the pot, how much you have invested in it, and most importantly make sure you are not drawing dead. You also have to keep up the pressure on other drawing hands when you have made a low or high hand to protect your investment never give a free card to a hand that has the chance to outdraw you. Chapter 6 Seventh Street Introduction Seventh Street can be a place of relaxation or intense stress. Sometimes youve locked up the low or have a monster high hand, so you can bet and raise with confidence, knowing that at least half of the pot will be yours. Other times, you have a marginal hand in either direction, and will be tempted to fold if its just one bet. 197

How you play your hand on Seventh Street is pretty straightforward in the sense that it is usually worthwhile to call for at least one bet if you have a hand in either direction unless you are certain you are beat. This is because you have put in money on the previous betting rounds, and even if you have doubts it is just one more bet to call. Despite that, you will not be playing every hand the same way there will be times when folding is the right call, and many times you will be betting with the hand. This section will examine the various hands you can hold and how to play them. To avoid repetition, in some cases the advice will be straightforward so there will not be as much depth as on the pervious betting rounds. Other times, hands will be trickier and more detail will be warranted. The section will wrap up with some general concepts to remember when you play your hand on Seventh Street, and one final quiz for you to test your knowledge of how a hand should be played. Monster Highs and Lows Monster high hands include full houses or better and a five or six-low. (Though unless you have a full house of aces full, your boat can at times suffer a bad beat.) With these hands, its rare that you will be beat so you want to bet or raise with them. Playing them passively in hopes of keeping people in is no longer necessary, because there are no more cards to come. People are also more apt to call on Seventh Street with anything, because they have been in the pot for so long its worthwhile to stay involved even if a player thinks he is beat because of the pot odds. But, you do not always want to immediately bet or raise with your hand.

198

Check-Raising Check-raising on the river with a powerful hand is usually not a profitable move in regular 7-card stud, because you are less certain that you will get a bet which you can raise. It can be a good move in stud 8 though. It is better if you are in early position and the player who will bet will be betting close to you. Obviously you want more people involved as well, to up your payoff. An example of a great situation in which to checkraise is when you hold a full house, and a player with a good four-low will be acting soon after you and two or more other players have three or four low cards showing. Here a bet is almost certain, so go ahead and check and wait for the other players to bet. If you bet and are raised by the four-low, it puts more pressure on the hands yet to act but if you check and let a four-low bet who gets several callers and then raise, those involved in the pot will be more apt to call being its just one more bet to them. You can also check-raise on the low end. This is when you have a great low hand that is concealed, such as if you held Ah 2s Kd Ks 4s 5d 3c. No one knows what is coming when your low hand is concealed, and if you check, the first thing players will think is that you have a two pair or trips and are playing the hand passively against good low hands that may have backed into a straight or flush. Here you can check with the hand when it looks like another player will bet and get callers. Calling Calling is not recommended when you have a monster hand. But, every so often you will be up against someone you think may have you beat. When that is the case, how you act depends on what he is showing.

199

When you are up against a player with an open set of trips showing that, if they represent a full house, would beat your full house, check and call one bet. When the player has a big pair showing that could represent a bigger full house, raise if it has not been raised already and call if re-raised. The only time you would just call after a big pair bets is if you were convinced he had in fact made a full house that beats you with three of a kind showing the call is the right move as opposed to the raise, but with a pair he could just be trying to protect trips. Play your hand for what it is worth full houses do not come along very often, and if you are beat you are beat. Playing scared will just cost you money. On the low end, you of course cant lose with a wheel, so bet with it or checkraise. With a six-low, you are a near lock, so play the hand aggressively. If you suffer a bad beat with a player who hit a wheel on one end and a player who hit a flush on the other, about all you can do is blow off the beat. The only time you call with a six-low is if a player showing A234 or 2345 raised. Here, you could be beat or in a situation where you tie for the low, so calling is the right move. The bottom line with a monster high or low is play it aggressively, and maximize what you will win. With full houses, try for the check-raise when you think you can get it, and only call rather than raise when you believe you are up against a bigger boat. On very rare occasions you can fold a full house when you believe you are beat (big open trips bet, a four-low raises, and its to you). On the low end, play your hand aggressively as well, only easing up when you have a belief someone has made a wheel. Quick tips for play of monster hands on the river:

200

RAISE or BET most of the time. You have a great hand so play it for what it is worth.

CALL rarely, only when you have doubts about your hand. This is when a big pair re-raises you, or when a player holding an open set of trips representing a possible bigger full house bets.

FOLD rarely, only when it costs you more than two bets with a full house you have a strong suspicion is not going to hold up for the high. Flushes Flushes are good hands for the high that, as with monster hands, you play

aggressively in most situations. The only time you play them slowly is when you have concerns that you may be up against a better hand. Of course, a flush is enhanced when you have a low hand to go with it as well. One of the most unwelcome sights for a player who holds a flush or straight is to see a big pair or worse, trips, held by another player. Do not raise into trips after they bet unless you believe you are a lock for the low with your flush, but you can raise against a pair that bets, especially if one and certainly if both of the other cards he needs to have trips are gone. You also should have been paying attention to how he played his open pair on Sixth Street. If he bet or raised with it, call rather than raise if you smell a boat. Being there are no more cards to come your raise cant be done for defensive purposes, so you want to build up the pot. If the pair you raise or bet into comes back with a re-raise, call. Low hands should not concern you unless you see three or four suited cards with an ace. When you see four suited cards with an ace, unless you hold an ace-high flush as

201

well, check and call with your flush rather than bet into what could be a better flush. When it is three suited cards with the ace, bet into the hand but do not raise if he comes out betting. As with monster high hands, you can attempt a check-raise if you believe it will be successful and you have no doubt that your hand is good for the high. Again, this is best done in early or middle position when it looks certain that a good low hand will bet and get several callers, as when you raise, the players who have already invested in the pot are hard pressed to fold. Finally, you rarely want to lay down a flush unless you are certain that you are beat. This happens when a possible bigger flush or full house has raised and you are looking at two or more bets to call. Even then, you still want to call if you have both a low and a high hand or are playing for the entire pot. With just a high hand, you can call if you have put a lot of money into the pot unless the raise came from open trips or a big pair or two pair in a split-pot situation, in which case a full house is very likely. Above all though, remember that you must be very certain that you are beat. A flush is a very powerful hand in stud 8, and when you have put in bets on previous betting rounds, you only want to make a difficult fold when it looks very likely you are not the best high hand. That means always calling for at least one bet (and calling one more if you are raised unless you had a perfect read on your opponent) and only backing off when you are facing two bets or more and the raise came from a possible bigger flush or full house. Quick tips for play of flushes on Seventh Street: RAISE or BET frequently with this hand. Its a powerful hand, so play it for what it is worth. Do not raise an open set of trips who bet, or re-raise an open 202

pair who bets. Also, do not re-raise a player who has four suited cards that could represent a bigger flush than you hold. CALL always for up to one bet unless you are convinced you are up against a better high hand. Even then, you need to call if you have a low qualifying hand to go with your flush. You should also call if you have been raised because you invested much into the pot by this point. Losing one more bet is not a big deal; losing half of or an entire large pot because of a bad read is a disaster. FOLD rarely, only when you believe you are beat. This occurs when its two bets or more to you and the raise came from a player with open trips or four suited cards representing a bigger flush than you hold. The fold becomes easier if the pot looks to be split because your pot odds are not as great. Straights High straights are more difficult to play than flushes due to the fact that they are not as strong, and are vulnerable to players who may have hit a flush or better high hand. Even so, straights are a solid hand in stud 8. Lower straights or straights that also have a low qualifying hand to go with them are more valuable due to the increased potential for scooping, but higher straights are also strong in that they edge out lower straights and get you the split pot. The warning signs you need to be careful of are hands that have hit a flush or better hand. As with flushes, you can bet into a pair that has checked to you. You can also raise if he bets and if he did not play the pair aggressively on Sixth Street and there are no potential flushes yet to act, but call if it looks like something threatening is awaiting (such

203

as another open pair who played aggressively on Sixth Street). If you fear the player who bet has made a full house, just call. Though raising is usually more desirable than calling, there is nothing wrong with erring on the side of caution. If four suited cards or another pair who played aggressively on Sixth Street are waiting to act after you can check because a bet is highly likely anyway. You also never know if a player may have hit a flush which will beat your straight, as many times flushes are well hidden. As with flushes, folding a straight is a rarity, and its always worth seeing on more bet (because of what you have already invested) unless its obvious that you are beat. Whenever a raise comes from a player with four suited cards that do not appear to have hit a low, its a good sign your straight is not going to be good for the high. Never fold if it is just one bet because you are getting sufficient pot odds to stay involved but when two bets or more face you, carefully assess the situation and ask yourself who did the raising? If the raise was from four low cards with no three or four flush, call as you can put this player on a solid low hand. But if the raise came from a player with three or four suited cards or a big pair, consider a fold unless you have a chance to scoop, having a low-qualifying hand with your straight. While you never want to cost yourself a pot on the river by a bad lay-down, you are justified in playing a straight more tightly than if you had a flush. In most circumstances, you want to play your hand aggressively by betting or raising with it when you believe you hold the winning high hand. But always be on guard for warning signs and slow down when players who look to be going high start playing their hands hard.

204

Quick tips for play of straights: RAISE or BET when you believe your straight is good for the high half of the pot. Never give a free card unless you are certain a raise will follow from someone yet to act. CALL when you are not sure about the strength of your straight. When an open pair, trips, three or four suited cards bet, calling is a safe play, especially when you have no shot at the entire pot. Always stay involved for at least one bet unless you are certain you are beat. FOLD rarely. Times when you can fold are when you have little at stake in the pot (such as when you have rivered the straight and only put in a bet or two) and are confident you are beat, or when you are looking at two bets to stay involved and the pot looks to be split and the raise came from a hand that may have you beat, such as from an open pair or four suited cards. You can also fold when open trips bet and you have no shot at the low. Trips Trips can be a golden hand when you have a low hand to go with them, or they can be a devastating hand when you have invested heavily only to get none of the pot. How you play them is determined by 1) the presence of a low hand to go with them; 2) how much of the pot you are playing for and 3) what you put your opponents on. When you hold a low hand to go with trips, you want to bet or raise if you believe you are the best hand in both directions. When you have doubts, such as if you held an eight-low with three eights and there is a possible flush held by one player and a good-

205

looking low held by another player, you can check and call. Its fine to play cautiously when you have doubts about your hand, but when youve got trips and a low qualifier, youve got something very solid, so look for a reason not to play it fast. If you are playing for the entire pot, you will be more liberal in how you play your hand, only folding it if you believe youll get neither the high or the low. The problem in savvy lay-downs is you very well may make the right read on a player who holds a better high or low hand than you, only to find you misread the other player for a better hand than he actually held. Trips with the low is a powerful hand, so lay it down only when you are very sure you are beat both ways. If you are playing for only half of the pot, you can play trips more tightly. The problem is many lows back into straights and flushes. That does not mean you lay down your hand if its just a bet because trips very often win the high half of the pot. But when raises start, proceed carefully. If its a high hand who raised, he may very well have you beat; if its a low hand who raised, look at what he raised with if its a four-flush or four-straight, lay down the hand. You can call if youve already put in money on this round because of how much you have invested, but anytime you face more than one bet to get to the showdown, only hold trips and are playing for just half of the pot, be apt to get away from your hand. Finally, with any hand you need to have studied your opponents carefully, but with trips that job becomes even more important. When an opponent bets or raises, use what he is showing and how he bet on previous rounds to help you deduce what he is holding. If he has an big open (especially if he paired his door card) and has been playing it heavily on each round fold if you dont have a low hand to go with it unless the pot can

206

not be split. Similarly, if he has a four-flush or four-straight and played it hard on Fifth and/or Sixth Streets, make the lay down. Quick tips for play of trips on Seventh Street: RAISE or BET when you believe you have the best high hand. The best time to do this is when you either have a low hand to go with your high hand, or are up against other low hands who do not appear to have made a flush or straight. CALL always for one bet, unless it is obvious you are beaten (such as open trips better than you, heavy action on previous rounds and again from a fourflush or four-straight.) FOLD when you are only playing for half of the pot and it looks like you are beat, such as when a four-flush or four-straight raises or bets and it looks like a raise is coming from a player yet to act. Two Pair If you have a good low hand to go with your two pair, and especially if it is aces up with a low, you can keep calling as long as you do not believe that you are beat in both directions. With anything other than aces up with a low, you are very vulnerable especially when another player has an ace showing or a pair that, if it has another pair to go with it, would beat you for the high. As with trips, be alert for the warning signs. If you held a hand like 2h 2s 5s 5c 6c 7s 8h, and a bet came from a pair of aces and yet to act was a player with a three or four-low who had acted aggressively on previous rounds, lay down the hand its not going to hold up. But, if you held a hand like As Ah 2s 2h 4c

207

7s 6d , a pair of kings bet and yet to act was another low, a call is certainly in order unless the low yet to act looks like it can beat your 76-low hand. When you are only going high, you usually have to lay down your two pair in split-pot situations if its more than a bet. Its not worth staying involved for more than a bet unless you have a strong belief that its good. Unfortunately a straight or flush can be very well hidden, so when facing more than one bet or a bet with a probable raise to follow, pause and carefully assess your situation. Folding is the right move unless it seems virtually impossible for a better high hand to have been hit, as staying in a raised pot is very dangerous when you are only playing for half of it. Two pairs are painful calls for many a stud player, but in stud 8 they can be quite costly when you misread what your opponents hold and come away with nothing. Quick tips for play of two pair on Seventh Street: RAISE or BET when you believe your two pair is good and there is no one left in the pot going low, or raise or bet when you have aces up and a good low to go with it, as this hand is usually a winner. CALL for at least one bet if you have two pair with a low. When it costs you more than one bet, carefully assess your situation and proceed to keep calling as long as you have a low and you believe that you are not beat both ways. When it does look like you are beat both ways (such as when you hold a small two pair with a lousy low) get away from your hand. FOLD most of the time when it costs more than one bet and you cant take the low with your hand. A raised pot, even from a low, is dangerous when you are

208

only playing for half of it because something big could be hidden, and its just not worth it when you cant scoop. Pairs Unless its aces, pairs need to be folded if they do not have a low hand to go with them. A pair can often win the high hand; even an ace-high with a good kicker will win many pots. But if you are going for just half of the pot, you need to be confident that your pair is good. Calling for more than one bet is out of the question calling for one bet can be done in a small field when it looks like no better hand has qualified for the high. But when the field is large, the likelihood of your lone pair being good for the high is diminished. Even so, call if you believe its good and thats all it will cost you especially if youve invested heavily in the pot. More than that though and you need to get out of the way. When you have a pair with a low hand, you have to almost treat it as if you have just a low hand, especially if your pair is eights or less. With two pair or better, you are somewhat more safe on the high end, but with just a pair you have to assume that someone may have backed into a better hand. Aces are the exception, as aces often win the high half alone but with anything less you need to be very careful. For instance, if you have Kh Kc 2s 5h 6s 8d 7d, a pair of queens bets and a solid low, four-flush or fourstraight is yet to act who played aggressively on Fifth or Sixth Street, get away from the hand (unless a low hand could not have been hit by your opponents) your kings are likely not good, and your low is one of the worst there is. You can call if it is just one bet and you are last to act in this situation, but if you know a raise is coming, get away from

209

this mediocre hand. If you held a good low with the big pair, go ahead and call as long as you believe your low has a reasonable chance of holding up. The main thing to remember with a pair: always get out of the way when you can only win half of the pot and it is going to cost you more than a bet. Even if its only one bet, look for reasons to fold, such as when an open pair bets (he probably has more than the pair if he is betting) or when a low hand bets who looks like he could have hit a good high hand as well warning signs for that are the presence of an ace or three or four suited cards or cards in sequence. With a low, you can fall into the trap that many stud 8 players do believing that your low is not good but staying involved just because you have a low and a pair to go with it. That strategy will lead you to one of two places the ATM or the door. With the pair, you need to be sure its good for the high if youre going to proceed and have no low or a low you think might not hold up and even than you can only do so for just a bet. Quick tips for play of pairs on the river: RAISE or BET only when you believe your low with the pair is a lock for the low half of the pot, or if you believe you can buy the pot such as if you have a pair of aces and two small cards showing. CALL when you believe your pair is good for the high and can stay in for a bet. Be more apt to call when you have a low hand to go with the pair but this should be anything but automatic! You do not want to call more than one bet when you think you are beat for the low simply because you have a pair to go with the low. A bad low with just a pair is a recipe for disaster if you keep calling with it. 210

FOLD when its more than a bet to stay involved and you have no way of winning the low half of the pot. Also fold anytime you believe you are beat for the high half of the pot and its more than a bet to stay involved, even if no lows are involved a bet from a high hand means he has more than a pair. You also need to fold even when you have a low hand and a pair unless its aces and it looks like you are beat for the low, as not doing so can be very costly. Low Hands How you play your low hand on the river comes down to: 1) Who you are up

against; 2) The strength of your low hand and 3) What you have to go with your low hand. Obviously, if you are free-rolling, you will bet and raise at every opportunity. Unfortunately, there will be many times when players look to have made a low hand that can beat yours. If your low is of questionable quality, stay involved for a bet unless you believe its likely you are beat, such as when a solid four-low bets and you hold only an 87 or 86 low or when a solid low hand is yet to act who bet or raised on Sixth Street. There will be many times when you have an eight-low going into the river hoping to improve but get no help. For instance, suppose you hold 2c 4c 5s 8d 6d Ks 9h. If you think its probable that your low is good for the low half of the pot, by all means call one bet if first to act or its checked to you especially if you have put in bets on previous betting rounds. But you need to pay close attention to what other players hold. When it becomes obvious that you are beat, when three or especially four low cards representing a low that beats your low bet or raise, dump your hand if there is nothing high to go with it as eight-lows are frequently crushed.

211

When you have a high hand that goes with your low hand, be more liberal unless it looks like you are beat both ways, such as when a player holds three or four low cards in sequence or three or four suited cards with three or four low cards and you hold just a pair with a marginal low. Obviously if one of your hands is very strong and looks to win at least half of the pot, you will bet and raise. You can fold if a big pair bets and you are beat for the high and a player who looks to have made a better low than you will be acting after you. Frequently though you will not be sure where you stand. In these situations, calling when you have a low with any type of high hand that is jacks or better is worth it for a bet your low may very well not be the best, but many pots are split with a pair being all thats needed for the high. Raising Doing it and Facing It When you are confident that your low is good, bet or raise with it. If you have doubts as to its strength, checking and calling with it is the safe play. But what about when you face two bets, or called only to have the pot be raised by someone who acted after you? When you face two bets, the most important question is: who did the raising? Many times high hands will raise one another to fight it out for the high half of the pot. If you like the chances of your low hand, call with it. But, if you have doubts about its strength as another low hand is involved dump it do not be fooled into thinking just because you have a low it will win half of the pot. With a marginal low, you need to be very cautious even two small cards held by an opponent can be the tip of an iceberg that will destroy you, so there is nothing wrong with dumping mediocre eight-lows when you face two bets and have no help on the high end. The more high hands that are involved

212

and the fewer low hands that threaten you, the more likely it is that your low hand will hold up. But unless you are free-rolling, it is best to err on the side of caution when your low hand is marginal. When a low hand raises and he holds three and certainly when he holds four suited cards or cards in sequence, dump the low hand unless, of course, you have a straight or flush as well or can beat his low. Low hands raising on the river mean one thing: he has something big. Its either a great low hand, a concealed high hand and very often both. As much as part of you may want to call, you can not do that unless you have a low that you believe is good. For instance, suppose a player holding 7s 8d Jc Jh bets. He is raised by a player who holds 3c 9c 8c 7c. You hold Ah 3h 6c 9d 7d 5s Td. Here, you can call the two bets. The jacks can have at best an 87 low, the clubs are raising with the flush and a likely low too, and you have a decent low hand. But if your low was an eight-low, or the raiser had a possible better low, you would need to get away from it. Finally, when you have called a bet that has been raised, pay it off for one more bet because of all you have invested. But dont be a chump. If the raise came from a hand that obviously has you beat, save yourself the last bet such as if you called an open pair that bet with an eight-low and were raised by a player with four small cards representing a great low hand. The bottom line when you have a low hand is this: raise or bet when you believe its good for at least half of the pot, check and call when you arent sure for a bet, and fold if you think its beat for the low and you have no high to go with your low hand. When its two bets or more, proceed very carefully, staying involved if you are up against

213

highs but dumping it if you smell a better low. Low hands win half of the pot, but just as in regular 7-card stud, the second best hand gets you nothing. Quick tips for play of low hands on Seventh Street: BET or RAISE when you believe you are good for half of the pot. This is when you are free-rolling or when it looks like you are up against other lows. CALL if you are not sure about the strength of your low hand. Calling for up to a bet is fine unless its obvious you are beat for the low and have nothing to get you the high half of the pot. Only call two bets or more if you believe you will get at least half of the pot, such as when a high hand raises another high hand or a low raises and you have a strong high hand (trips or better) to go with your low hand. FOLD when you believe your hand is no good. Many eight-lows get you nothing, so when a high hand bets you can fold if players who had played three and four lows aggressively on Sixth Street are yet to act or if a low hand raised. Quiz on Seventh Street Play Question 1: You hold 5c 5s 8h 8d 4c 2d 3h, giving you two pair with a low hand. There are two other players in the pot. First to act is a player who holds 9s 8d 9h Jd, who bets. He also bet on Sixth and Fifth Streets. A player holding 3s 5d 6c Ks raises, who just called on Sixth Street. Last to act, do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. Its not easy folding two pair with a low qualifier, but that is what you need to do here. The aggressive action on the part of the nines means hes got trips or

214

better, and you likely are beat by the three-low for the other half of the pot. The fact that its two bets to stay involved clinches it dump this hand. Question 2: You hold 4s 4h 4c 5d 7d 2d Ah, giving you trips with a low hand. First to act is a player who holds 8h 9s 8c Ad. He bets. You are next to act. Two other players will be acting after you. One holds 3h 8d Ts Js, who limped to see the river making calls on Fifth and Sixth Streets. The other holds 2h 5c 7c Qh, who also made calls on Fifth and Sixth Streets. Do you raise or call? Answer: Raise. The pair of eights may have trips but one of the other eights is exposed. Even if he were to have eights, he can have no better than an eight-low, which your low beats. Your only risk for the low is the player with the 257 showing, but being you have a 7-low and have trips, its worth taking a shot with a raise. Question 3: You hold Ks Kh 2d 5d 6h 7h 8s. A player with Qd 7s Ah Qs is first to act, and bets. He is raised by a player who holds 3s 4h 6c 7d. This player also bet on Sixth Street when it was checked to him. The action is now to you. Waiting to act is a player with Js 5d 7c Jc. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. You have a low and a big pair but your problem is you are only playing for half of the pot, as the four-low likely has you beat. Your kings beat queens, but do you really want to call two bets just to find out he has two pair or trips? The jacks yet to act also pose a problem. Get away from this hand because not doing so will cost you money.

215

Question 4: You hold 2h 5d 8s 4s 3c 6h Qs. First to act is a player who holds 7d 8c Ks Kh, who bets. He is called by a player who holds Ac 5s 5h 4h, and the action is to you. Do you raise or call? Answer: Raise. The presence players both holding pairs on the board is distressing, but you have a great hand, so play it for what it is worth, and hope you scoop if you dont, its almost certain youll get at least half of the pot. Question 5: You hold Js Jh Td Jd 9c As 3c. Two other players are involved in the hand. First to act is a player who holds Qs Th Qd Ks who bets. He bet on Fifth and Sixth Streets as well. A player holding Ad 4s 5s 7h raises, and the action is now to you. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. Laying down trips is not easy, but here you need to do so because you cant scoop. You may have a good high hand, but theres a good chance that you are beat by the queens who might have trips. Its not worth finding out for two bets. If the fourlow had just called, give consideration to a call, but even that would be a very marginal call because of the aggressive play by the queens on Fifth and Sixth Streets. Question 6: You hold 3s 4s 6h 7h 8h Qd Kd. Two other players are involved in the pot. A player who holds Js Jd Qs Qh is first to act and bets. He is raised by a player who holds Ts Th 7c 9d. Do you raise or call? Answer: Raise. You want to build up the pot as much as you can, being that you are free-rolling. Even though your low is one of the worst there is, there is no way your opponents can have you beat, so bang away.

216

Question 7: You hold 2h 8h 9h Tc Jh 7h As, a jack-high flush. There are three other players involved in the pot. The first player to act holds Ac 4s 7s Th, and bets. He had bet on Fifth and Sixth Streets as well. The next player raises, holding 5s 7d 8c 6d. He had called on Fifth Street and raised on Sixth Street. The action is to you. Yet to act is a player who also looks to be going low, holding 5h 8d 9c 2d. Do you raise, call or bet? Answer: Raise. As when free-rolling for the low, here you look to have a lock for the high. The best high hand looks to be a straight, and with three other players who are going low its likely the first two players will call your raise after already investing in the pot. Raise and build up the half of the pot you will win. If it is raised back at you, just call as there is an outside shot one player may have three hidden suited cards. Question 8: You hold a jack-high straight, 7c 8s 9h Ts 2h Jd Ah. Two other players are involved in the pot. The first player to act holds 3d 5d 6d Ad and bets. He had bet on Fifth and Sixth Streets as well. The action is to you. Acting after you is a player who holds 3s 5s Js Ac. He called on Fifth Street and raised on Sixth Street. Do you raise, call or fold? Answer: Fold. Not getting away from this will be devastating. Remember: you are playing for just half of the pot. If you were playing for the whole pot, call and pay off the flush if he had it (many players like to bluff with four suited cards). But its not worth calling when it looks like you are beat and a raise may be coming from the player acting after you. Question 9: You hold Qs 4d Qh 5s 6s 2h 7c . Two other players are involved in the pot. A player holding Ad 5d 7s 8h is first to act and bets. He is called by a player who holds 6d 8s 7h Ac. The action is to you. Do you raise, call or fold? 217

Answer: Call. You have both a high hand and a low hand, but neither one is spectacular. You can not be certain that the low is a lock because either one of the opponents could have hidden low cards that will beat you. A raise in this situation is too risky, so just call. Question 10: You hold 5h 5d Ks Kh 4c 9c Td. Two other players are involved in the pot. A player who holds 4s Qc Qh 9d is first to act and bets. Waiting to act behind him is a player who holds 8d Js Ts Kc. You have played your two pair aggressively, but both of these players proceeded to call you on Fifth and Sixth Streets. Do you bet again here? Answer: Check. This is a passive play, but a safe one. Either one of these opponents may have hit something, so check and call, only getting away from you hand if the three spades raise it up, as this is a good sign you are beat. Summary of Seventh Street Play When you have made it this far, more often than not you will be staying involved for another bet to see what happens. Youll be doing just what youve done on previous betting rounds betting and raising when you believe youve locked up part of or all of the pot, calling when you have doubts, and folding when it looks like you are beat both ways. The key at Seventh Street is remembering that last part folding. By all means, stay involved when you think you have a shot at half of the pot. But when its more than a bet or looks like it will be more than a bet as someone has bet into a dangerous hand, proceed with caution. No one likes to fold on the river, but remember this is a split-pot game. Do not fold if youve got that chance to scoop, but do so if youre only playing for half of the pot.

218

Chapter 7 Additional Concepts By this point, you have read through each of the playable hands, gotten a good idea of how to play them, and have taken some quizzes to help keep your knowledge of the various streets sharp. But, before you go to your favorite casino or Internet card room, there are a few additional things you need to keep in mind. This final chapter will cover topics such as playing in a shorthanded game, going on tilt, how much you should spend, what limits you should play at, bluffing and another way of attacking stud 8 thats safe for the beginner or more conservative player. Shorthanded Play A shorthanded game is just what it sounds like a game with fewer than eight players. Follow regular strategy until the field narrows to five players or less. When that happens, you need to change the way your are playing. Low hands decrease in value, and high hands become more playable. Aces are huge, but hands such as tens and jacks that you would not want to play all that often in a game that is full become more playable. When the field is four players or less, you can attack the game much in the same way you would were you playing regular 7-card stud. Big Lows Some of the best hands in a shorthanded game are big low pairs, meaning sevens and eights with an ace or small kicker. Hands like 567 and 678 also go up in value. You need to get away from the more marginal low draws though such as 458, 378, etc, because you are not getting the number of players you need to give you good odds on

219

your draw. As fewer and fewer players are involved, it becomes less likely the pot will be split. You also need to be more aggressive with high hands in stud 8 as the hand progresses. Many players have a hard time betting a hand like 8d 8s 4h Qs, no matter what their opponents hold because of the fear factor. They think I just have a pair of eights, I need to wait until I improve before I can bet. Thats a dangerous way to think in a shorthanded game, because it gives opponents a chance to improve. You have to remember that the field is small meaning its more likely that your eights are good. Bet and raise with this hand anytime someone looking to go low has caught a bad card on Fourth Street. This is especially effective on Fifth Street when a player has caught two consecutive high cards eliminate him by betting, even if you just have a pair, because the last thing you want to do is give a free card. When players improve their low hands on Fourth and Fifth Streets, still bet and raise if doing so will help eliminate other players who have caught bad cards. Never allow players who look to have gotten no help to stay in on the cheap bet your hand for value. Remember: when playing shorthanded, the smaller the game gets the more it becomes like a regular game of 7-card stud. Play more high hands and play them aggressively, not feeling as if you have to improve before you can bet with them. Only ease off of the accelerator when something very scary shows up on your opponents boards. Tilting Stud 8 is a great game, but its also a game in which it is very easy to go on tilt. Going on tilt means getting progressively angrier over the course of a game that is not 220

going well, playing hands that should not be played and calling when you should be folding. In stud 8, its very easy to go on tilt because you can get heavily involved with a hand after four cards that looks great, and has great odds to hit at least half of the pot, or get nothing. Or, you may have hands that look great to scoop and get nothing such as a flush that also is a low. Its bad when it happens in a game in which you play for the entire pot, but when a hand looks like a cinch to get at least something and you get nothing, its easy to get pretty steamed. Anyone who has ever played stud 8 can share many bad beat stories about such hands. These things are going to happen. How you react to these things has a big effect on the chips you have left in front of you. If you let bad beats get to you, those chips are going to vanish pretty quickly. If you just blow them off, and remind yourself it was just one hand and you played it right based on the odds, youll be in better shape. After suffering a rough beat, many players want to get back the money they lost as quickly as possible, so start playing trash hands that they should be dumping, losing even more money in the process. When you feel yourself going on tilt, go for a walk, or leave the game and come back the next day. The poker room be it the brick and mortar type or the online type will always be there. It isnt worth the risk to play steamed, because you are not focusing on the game and the odds anymore you are focused on revenge or getting back to even. Either put the bad beat behind you or come back to the game when you can play it right with a clear mind. Only Going Low In a full game, a conservative strategy that is safe for the beginner is only going low. This means only playing three low cards, aces, and low flush draws and straight draws. Theres nothing wrong with that kind of play, and its very safe, especially for the

221

beginner. When you play hands like 2s Js 9s and limp in, catch another spade, its about 50-50 you will hit your flush by the river. If you do not get any help on Fifth Street, it becomes extremely stressful staying involved if raises break out so many players avoid the problem all together and just play flush draws with three low cards with them. They also dump big pairs like kings and queens, only playing these cards when they are rolled up. If you are going to play this way, continue to play aggressively when warranted never forget that even if only going low and improving, you cant get savvy unless you have a huge hand and set a trap. Make draws pay or get them out of the way to increase your chances to scoop. If you only go low and get rid of any high hands minus aces or rolled-up trips, you can still be a winning player. This is a safe and effective strategy for the lower limits, because as you have it drilled into your head by now, low hands in full games have a great potential to scoop and high hands usually have to settle for half of the pot. Playing high hands can be dangerous, but many times a high hand can scoop as low hands catch no help. Other times you can hit a solid high hand and see Fourth and Fifth Streets cheaply for only small bets, which is why this book advocates playing some (emphasis on SOME) high hands that have potential be long-run winners. Semi-Bluffs and Pure Bluffs Semi-bluffs occur when you bet or raise with a hand that probably isnt the best, but has a chance to hit something. A pure bluff is a bluff with a hand that you believe is beat, but attempt to take down the pot by betting with. Bluffs are difficult at the lower limits, because many games are filled with calling stations where a self-appointed table sheriff will call to keep you honest. But that does 222

not mean you can not attempt them. You also want to play the player in that if he is tight-passive, there is a greater likelihood the bluff will work. Use what you are showing and what your opponents are showing to your advantage. Four low suited cards, four cards to a six-low or wheel, or a pair of aces with two cards six or smaller are very intimidating. When you are up against players who appear to have gotten no help and are playing passively, you can take a shot with these hands from time to time on Sixth Street or on the river. Remember though, for a pure bluff to achieve the desired result, its better with a smaller field, tight players, and a small pot as the less people have invested the less likely they are to stay involved. Semi-bluffs are slightly different. If you win the pot right there, thats fine, but they are also a great way to build up the pot when you are on a great draw. A good time is on Fifth Street when you have a four-flush with a good four-low, and it is checked to you. Go ahead and bet. Even if its one bet to you, consider a raise. When you have something great going in both directions and like your chances to scoop, you need to gamble a bit. This play can also buy you a free card at a passive table on Sixth Street so if you are going to call anyway if you dont hit your hand on Sixth, why not just get the money in now? What Level? Some card rooms only have one level of stud 8 they spread; others have a wide array of limits you can play at. So what level should you play at? The answer is simply to play at the level at which you are most comfortable. When you are brand new to the game, your best bet is to play in a home game or online. This is because home games and online games have smaller limits. You can even 223

find a $.04/$.08 game online! This may sound hardly worth your time, but theres nothing wrong with starting out at micro-limits. You will get more experience with the game, and feel comfortable. And as you feel more comfortable, you can move on up to the higher stakes games. Never, ever play at a limit at which you do not feel comfortable. If you are on a limited bankroll, and go to the casino ready to play, but all thats going is a $20/$40 game when you were hoping for $4/$8, dont make the mistake and sitting down just because you are there. Either play another game or go home. When you play at a level your bankroll does not allow you to play at, you become a rock. You call when you should bet, you fold when you should call, and end up missing opportunities.You may have the skill, but if you dont have the money to afford to play at a certain limit, you will not use your skill to its full potential. Online or Brick-and-Mortar? You can play stud 8 in one of three ways you can play it at a casino that offers stud 8, online, or in a home game. As with anything, these three options all have pros and cons. As you just read, if you are new to the game, consider playing online or in the home game at first. Theres nothing wrong with playing in the casino, but many do not offer small-stakes games. If you feel comfortable playing in a $4/$8 game, by all means give it a shot. But if you play online or at home, you can become more familiar with the game and rookie mistakes will cost you less.

224

If you play in the casino or card club, you have the advantage of being able to see your opponents. You can pick up on such things as tells, the body language people give off when they are sitting on a big hand or trying to bluff. You can also watch how your opponent plays hands more closely. If you are playing online, you will not be able to see if your opponent is watching a game, reading a book and playing poker whenever hes involved in a hand. Thats not to say that online play is without its benefits. The biggest of these is convenience; you dont have to drive to the card room or wait to get a seat with the click of a mouse you can be in a game 24/7. Another benefit is variety of games. Many card rooms only have a game or two of stud 8 going; online there are many different stud 8 games going at various levels, so you have more options. Multiple Tables Another option that you have when playing online is playing more than one table at the same time. This is a bad idea. Some people play three or four games at the same time. It can be done, but when you do this you lose information which gives your opponents an edge. You miss how a player bet on a given round, or how they played certain hands. But most importantly, its easy to miss what cards have been folded, which greatly affect your odds so unless you are a genius, just play one game at a time. Ante Structure Having stringent starting requirements is solid play in stud 8, as loose calls on Third Street can get you into a lot of trouble. But that does not mean you can never loosen or tighten up your starting requirements. One thing to keep in mind is the ante structure of the game, and how much it is. A high ante structure, such as a $1 ante in a $4/$8 game, means you are paying more to just be involved in the hand. If you play too 225

tight, the antes will eat away at your chips slowly and steadily. That does not mean you want to play trash hands, but it does mean you can limp into see Fourth Street with marginal hands such as jacks with an ace, or 457. On the flip side is a low ante structure, such as a $.50 ante in a $4/$8 game. The best is in a spread-limit game, where there is no ante and just the forced bring-in starts action. That means you are not spending as much to see hands, so can tighten up and just play when youve got the goods. The key, especially with a high ante structure where you play more hands on Third Street, is maintaining your discipline as the hand develops. That means when you do not improve on Fourth, get away from the hand, or when you improve to a hand you think is second best, you also get away. Not doing that will be very harmful to your bankroll. Tight vs. Loose Games Sometimes you will find yourself in a game that is very tight. In a game like this, you need to tighten up your requirements as well. You only want to play very solid starting hands because obviously, if a tight player is playing a hand he is not playing junk like a pair of nines. Some players in a tight game play passively, only betting when they have something very solid or an excellent draw. These are good games to play in as you can bluff and semi-bluff more often when your opponents catch bad cards. Other times players play aggressively in that they do not play many hands but when they do play them they bet and raise when the odds are in their favor. Playing in a tight-aggressive game is difficult as you are up against tough players who know what

226

makes a good or bad bet. Of course this is the style you want to play, but youd rather not have everyone at the table playing that way. In these types of games, you need to maintain focus and discipline, resisting the urge to loosen up because if you do, you will give the other players at the table an edge. Frequently at low limits (the focus of this book) you find many loose players. This is because players are new to the game, are used to7-card stud, or have the mindset that because seemingly not much money is at stake they can gamble. Loose games are fantastic in that they offer you the biggest bang for your buck over the long haul, but can be extremely frustrating as well when players suck out on you and get lucky. Your first instinct in a loose game is to play loosely too; but thats a mistake. Instead, tighten up and dont be tempted to play marginal low and high hands. This is easier than it sounds, because in a loose game youll see a lot of short-term luck one player who seems to play everything may accumulate a large stack of chips, while you toss in hand after hand waiting patiently for the good hand that never seems to come. Keep your cool, wait for the good hands, and play them hard. You might suffer some bad beats in a loose game, but in the long run these games are incredibly profitable. Reading Hands Another skill you will develop over time is the ability to read hands. Part of this is tells and there is an entire book that is a must for any poker player, Caros Book of Tells. But another part is going with your gut feeling, observing how the player has played in previous hands and what he is holding. If he has paired his doorcard and that card is big, odds are he has trips. If he has three or four low cards showing, he is probably going low. Know too that stud 8 is a game of deception another benefit of going low.

227

What may look like a decent low hand (Ah 2h 7s 8c) may conceal a monster such as three more hearts buried that also make a player have a better high. Because of this, carefully watch your opponents at all times, betting when you believe your hand is best but easing off of the accelerator when you are not sure. The Last Word This book has given you the information you need to become a winning 7-card stud 8 or better player. By now, you know how to avoid bad bets, how to maximize the amount of money you will win, and how to avoid the mistakes that many stud 8 players make. Its up to you to implement that information. You also need to remember that how you play various hands are very subjective to the situation you are in. There are general guidelines for various hands which have all been covered, but in a game like stud 8, how you play a hand changes based on what your opponents hold, and whether or not you are playing in a shorthanded game, for half of or the entire pot. Because of that, you cant afford to be unfocused. When you are involved in a hand, watch carefully how your opponents play and what they catch, and most importantly, pay careful attention to how many cards you need to improve are gone. As the cards you need to hit a given hand go out, the odds get worse. To illustrate this, odds information is presented in the appendix to give you a better idea of just how bad a draw can become when too many cards you need to hit your hand are dead. Finally, be patient. You can not get a defeatist attitude if you have two or three losing sessions in a row. On the flip side, you cant think you are ready for the World Series of Poker Stud 8 event because you leave up $10 at a $.25/$.50 table at an Internet card room. Keep careful records, and if you are down over the course of 25 sessions or 228

more, evaluate your play. You can not think of poker as one session, but rather something that you do over the course of many sessions. The goal is to be a long term winner. In between periods, there will be inevitable ups and downs. How you deal with the rough periods is a key factor in your success. Keep a positive attitude, keep playing your A game and remember how the odds tell you to play in a given situation. If you go against the odds, you might get lucky a time or two, but odds dont lie a hand is either a longterm winner or a long-term loser. Stud 8 can be a terribly frustrating game, but if you want to make money, its arguably the best poker game to play. Be patient and always be learning how you can make your game even better. There will be bumps along the road, but if you keep your game sharp and work hard at improving it, you will be a long term winner. Appendix A Odds Information Knowing the odds is a key element of success in stud 8. When you are only going for part of the pot, it becomes even more important to make sure you are making good bets with your money. Following are odds information for straights, flushes and low hands, the most common drawing hands in stud 8. The information provided shows how the number of players involved in the pot and how many cards that are gone affect the odds and probability that you will hit your hand. Odds information varies slightly based on how many people are involved in a pot. The odds are not listed for every conceivable scenario, as this would easily fill another book! Rather, given are various scenarios and you can estimate how they change based on how the field grows or narrows.

229

Odds for Hitting a Low Qualifier These are a sampling of odds that you will hit a low qualifier when you hold four cards to the low. This means that you will hit a hand that will qualify for a low hand not necessarily that you will win if you hit your low hand. Fourth Street includes information for eight and four players; Fifth and Sixth Streets include information for a field of five and three players. Note just how bleak your situation is on Fourth Street when you catch a bad card and still need two cards to hit a low-qualifier. This is one of the most important concepts of stud 8 that many players miss. One Card Needed Fourth Street, 8 players 16 low cards left .16 to 1 12 low cards left .35 to 1 8 low cards left .77 to 1 4 low cards left 2.11 to 1 Fourth Street, 4 players 16 low cards left .22 to 1 12 low cards left .45 to 1 8 low cards left .93 to 1 4 low cards left 2.44 to 1 Fifth Street, 5 players 16 low cards left - .32 to 1 12 low cards left - .62 to 1 8 low cards left 1.25 to 1 4 low cards left 3.20 to 1

230

Fifth Street, 3 players 16 low cards left - .43 to 1 12 low cards left - .78 to 1 8 low cards left 1.5 to 1 4 low cards left 3.70 to 1 Sixth Street, 5 players 16 low cards left - .69 to 1 12 low cards left 1.25 to 1 8 low cards left 2.38 to 1 6 low cards left 3.5 to 1 4 low cards left 5.75 to 1 3 low cards left 8 to 1 Sixth Street, 3 players 16 low cards left 1.06 to 1 12 low cards left 1.75 to 1 8 low cards left 3.13 to 1 6 low cards left 4.5 to 1 4 low cards left 7.25 to 1 3 low cards left 10 to 1 Two Cards Needed Third Street 8 players All low cards live - .68 to 1 16 low cards live 1.30* to 1 (varies from 1.27 to 1.37 to 1 based on how many of a given rank are gone.) Fourth Street 5 players All low cards live 1.02 to 1 16 low cards live 1.9 to 1 (varies from 1.88 to 1.93 to 1 based on how many of a given rank are gone). Fourth Street 3 players

231

All low cards live 1.20 to 1 16 low cards live 2.18 to 1 (varies from 2.15 to 2.21 to 1 based on how many of a given rank are gone). Flush Odds A flush is one of the most common draws in stud 8, so its helpful to know what the likelihood is youll hit your flush. As with the odds for a low, presented are a sampling of odds based on how many people are involved in the pot and how many of the cards you need are gone. As you can see, its preferable to have a larger field when you are on a flush draw as this improves your odds; however as the field is larger it of course becomes more likely that cards you need to improve will be dead. One Card to Complete Fourth Street, 5 players 9 live cards - .73 to 1 8 live cards - .89 to 1 7 live cards 1.09 to 1 6 live cards 1.37 to 1 5 live cards 1.77 to 1 4 live cards 2.36 to 1 3 live cards 3.57 to 1 2 live cards 5.34 to 1 1 live card 11.3 to 1

Fourth Street, 3 players 9 live cards - .80 to 1 8 live cards - .97 to 1 7 live cards 1.19 to 1 6 live cards 1.48 to 1

232

5 live cards 1.9 to 1 4 live cards 2.52 to 1 3 live cards 3.57 to 1 2 live cards 5.68 to 1 1 live card 12 to 1 Fifth Street, 5 players 9 live cards 1.04 to 1 8 live cards 1.3 to 1 7 live cards 1.5 to 1 6 live cards 1.9 to 1 5 live cards 2.4 to 1 4 live cards 3.2 to 1 3 live cards 4.5 to 1 2 live cards 7.1 to 1 1 live card 15 to 1 Fifth Street, 3 players 9 live cards 1.26 to 1 8 live cards 1.5 to 1 7 live cards 1.8 to 1 6 live cards 2.8 to 1 5 live cards 2.4 to 1 4 live cards 3.7 to 1 3 live cards 5.1 to 1 2 live cards 8.1 to 1 Sixth Street, 5 players 9 live cards 2 to 1 8 live cards 2.4 to 1 7 live cards 2.9 to 1 6 live cards 3.5 to 1 5 live cards 4.4 to 1 233

4 live cards 5.8 to 1 3 live cards 8 to 1 2 live cards 12.5 to 1 1 live card 26 to 1 Two Cards to Complete Third Street, 8 players 10 live cards 3.2 to 1 9 live cards 4.1 to 1 8 live cards 5.3 to 1 7 live cards 7.1 to 1 6 live cards 9.9 to 1 Fourth Street, 5 players left 10 live cards 4.8 to 1 9 live cards 6.1 to 1 8 live cards 8 to 1 7 live cards 10.7 to 1 6 live cards 15 to 1 5 live cards 22.5 to 1

Fourth Street, 3 players left 10 live cards 5.4 to 1 9 live cards 6.9 to 1 8 live cards 8.9 to 1 7 live cards 11.9 to 1 6 live cards 16.7 to 1 5 live cards 25 to 1 Fifth Street, 5 players left 10 live cards 10 to 1 9 live cards 12.8 to 1 234

8 live cards 16.7 to 1 7 live cards 22.6 to 1 6 live cards 32 to 1 Fifth Street, 3 players left 10 live cards 13 to 1 9 live cards 16.5 to 1 8 live cards 21.5 to 1 7 live cards 29 to 1 6 live cards 41 to 1 Straight Odds Straights are a fantastic hand in stud 8 because they have a good chance of scooping. Frequently you will back into a straight when going low or when already holding a low. The following odds information is based different numbers of players involved, and the odds change based on how many of a given rank are gone and how many overall cards are gone to improve your straight. As with flushes, being straights are drawing hands your odds improve as more people are involved in the pot. Obviously you will not have exactly three or five people in every pot you play, but the odds given are general guidelines, so keep in mind that they will go up slightly as you have more people in the pot, and decline slightly as you have less people involved. One Card Needed Fourth Street, 5 players 8 live cards - .89 to 1 7 live cards 1.09 to 1 6 live cards 1.37 to 1 5 live cards 1.77 to 1 4 live cards 2.36 to 1 3 live cards 3.35 to 1

235

2 live cards 5.34 to 1 1 live card 11.3 to 1 Fourth Street, 3 players 8 live cards - .97 to 1 7 live cards 1.19 to 1 6 live cards 1.48 to 1 5 live cards 1.9 to 1 4 live cards 2.52 to 1 3 live cards 3.57 to 1 2 live cards 5.68 to 1 1 live card 12 to 1 Fifth Street, 5 players 8 live cards 1.25 to 1 7 live cards 1.53 to 1 6 live cards 1.9 to 1 5 live cards 2.42 to 1 4 live cards 3.2 to 1 3 live cards 4.51 to 1 2 live cards 7.13 to 1 1 live card 15 to 1 Fifth Street, 3 players 8 live cards 1.5 to 1 7 live cards 1.81 to 1 6 live cards 2.23 to 1 5 live cards 2.82 to 1 4 live cards 3.7 to 1 3 live cards 5.17 to 1 2 live cards 8.13 to 1 1 live card 17 to 1

236

Sixth Street, 6 players 8 live cards 2 to 1 7 live cards 2.43 to 1 6 live cards 3 to 1 5 live cards 3.8 to 1 4 live cards 5 to 1 3 live cards 7 to 1 2 live cards 11 to 1 1 live card 23 to 1 Sixth Street, 4 players 8 live cards 2.75 to 1 7 live cards 3.29 to 1 6 live cards 4 to 1 5 live cards 5 to 1 4 live cards 6.5 to 1 3 live cards 9 to 1 2 live cards 14 to 1 1 live card 29 to 1 Two Cards Needed Starting with 345 TJQ Note: outs include two cards in either direction to hit your straight for a 345 cards that would help you include A267. It is highly unlikely that you will ever have all of your outs to hit a straight live; these odds are presented to show how tough it is to hit a straight when you catch bad cards on Fourth and Fifth Streets. Third Street, 8 players 16 live cards 3.05 to 1 12 live cards (one dead card from each out) 5.56 to 1 Fourth Street, 5 players 16 live cards 4.52 to 1 12 live cards (one dead from each out) 8.28 to 1

237

Fourth Street, 3 players 16 live cards 5.08 to 1 12 live cards (one dead from each out) 9.25 to 1 Fifth Street, 5 players 16 live cards 9.3 to 1 12 live cards (one dead from each out) 17.4 to 1 Starting with JQK or 234 Third Street, 8 players 12 live cards 4.85 to 1 9 live cards (one dead from each out) 8.6 to 1 Fourth Street, 5 players 12 live cards 7.09 to 1 9 live cards (one dead from each out) 12.7 to 1 Fourth Street, 3 players 12 live cards 7.9 to 1 9 live cards (one dead from each out) 14.2 to 1 Fifth Street, 5 players 12 live cards 14.5 to 1 9 live cards (one dead from each out) 26.6 to 1 Fifth Street, 3 players 12 live cards 18.7 to 1 9 live cards (one dead from each out) 34 to 1 Starting with QKA or A23 Third Street 8 players 8 live cards 9.48 to 1 6 live cards (one dead from each out) 16.7 to 1 238

Fourth Street 5 players 8 live cards 14.18 to 1 6 live cards (one dead from each out) 25.2 to 1 Fourth Street 3 players 8 live cards 15.8 to 1 6 live cards (one dead from each out) 28 to 1 Fifth Street 5 players 8 live cards 30 to 1 Fifth Street 3 players 8 live cards 38.4 to 1 One gaps 245 through TQK Third Street 8 players 12 live cards 4.85 to 1 9 live cards (one dead from each out) 8.58 to 1 Fourth Street 5 players 12 live cards 7.1 to 1 9 live cards (one dead from each out) 12.7 to 1 Fourth Street 3 players 12 live cards 7.9 to 1 9 live cards (one dead from each out) 14.2 to 1 Fifth Street 5 players 12 live cards 14.5 to 1 Fifth Street 3 players 12 live cards 18.7 to 1 239

One gaps A34, A24, JKA, JQA Third Street 8 players 12 live cards 9.5 to 1 Fourth Street 5 players 12 live cards 14.2 to 1 Fourth Street 3 players 12 live cards 15.8 to 1 Fifth Street 5 players 12 live cards 30 to 1 Fifth Street 3 players 12 live cards 38.4 to 1 General Odds for Hitting Various Hands Following are odds for hitting various hands. These assume no knowledge of unseen cards, and are to be used as a general guide when you are playing trying to calculate whether or not to stay involved. Odds of Making a Full House When You Hold Trips on third street: 2 to 1 Trips on fourth street with one odd card: 2.5 to 1 Trips on fifth street with two odd cards: 3.5 to 1 Trips on sixth street with three odd cards: 4 to 1 Two Pair on fourth street: 3.5 to 1 Two Pair on fifth street with one odd card: 5 to 1 Two Pair on sixth street with two odd cards: 10 to 1 Odds of Making a Flush When You Hold Three suited cards on third street: 4.5 to 1 Three suited cards and an odd card on fourth street: 8.5 to 1 Three suited cards and two odd cards on fifth street: 23 to 1 Four suited cards on fourth street: 1.25 to 1

240

Four suited cards and one odd card on fifth street: 2 to 1 Four suited cards and two odd cards on sixth street: 4 to 1 Odds of Making an Open-Ended Straight When You Hold Three to a straight on third street: 4.25 to 1 Three to a straight and one odd card on fourth street: 8 to 1 Three to a straight and two odd cards on fifth street: 22 to 1 Four to a straight on fourth street: 1.5 to 1 Four to a straight and one odd card on fifth street: 2 to 1 Four to a straight and two odd cards on sixth street: 5 to 1 Odds of Making an Inside Straight When You Hold Four to a straight on fourth street: 3 to 1 Four to a straight and one odd card on fifth street: 5 to 1 Four to a straight and two odd cards on sixth street: 10.5 to 1 Odds of Making a Single-Ended Straight When You Hold Three to a straight on third street: 13 to 1 Three to a straight and one odd card: 25 to 1 Appendix B - Glossary of Poker Terms At the card room, you will hear much in the way of poker lingo. The dealer will be happy to explain any confusing term, and terms are quick to learn. Following is a list of some of the most common terms you will hear from the dealer or other players during the course of the game. Action: The betting that occurs in a game. If the game has a lot of action, there is a lot of betting. A game with not a lot of action is tight and passive, with little betting. All-in: Putting all of your money in the pot. Ante: The required bet to allow you to play in a hand. The most common ante at the low limits is $.50. Many spread-limit games have no required ante at all. Bad beat: Having a powerful hand get beat by a bigger monster. Spend an hour in a poker room, and you will hear the first of many stories from other players about bad beats they have suffered during play. Bankroll: Money you have for your poker wagering. Bet: Putting money in the pot before other players have done so (when it becomes a call or raise).

241

Bettor: The person who puts the first amount of money in the pot. Bluff: Placing a bet or raise when you do not believe your hand is the best. Board: The face up cards on the table in a players hand. Boat: Another term for a full house. Brick: A term for a face-card. IE, he caught a brick on Fourth Street. Bring-in: A forced bet required of the low card, it can be for a minimum (half of the small bet) or full amount (a full small bet). Busted draw: A hand that didnt complete. Buy-in: The amount of chips you start out with. Most card clubs have a minimum buy in for each table that changes as levels increase. Always start out with more than the minimum. Call: Placing an amount of money in the pot that equals the amount of money that another player has bet. Calling station: A person who will call most of the time, but not raise or fold. Cap: Putting the last raise that is allowed in the pot. Frequently three raised are the maximum. Case: The last card in the deck. An example: you hold two pair, nines and fives, a nine is dead, and get the last (case) nine. Cold call: Calling a bet that has been raised. Come bet: Refers to a semi-bluff bet, betting on a hand that has potential to improve. Check: Not betting anything when the action is to you. Check-raise: Checking and raising when the action comes back to you. Chip/Check: The round token used in play of hands. Different colors are used to separate denominations. Come hand: Having a hand not yet made that has more cards to come. A four-straight with on sixth street is an example. Crack: Beating a hand, usually a big one.

242

Crying call: Calling with a hand that you do not feel has a good chance to be the winner. Dog: Slang term for an underdog. Door card: The first card exposed in a players hand. Drawing dead: Drawing to a hand that will not win because another player has already made a larger hand. Early position: The position of betting when you need to act before most of the other players in the hand. With eight players, early position includes the first three. Family pot: A pot that involves most of the players at the table. Fifth street: The fifth card that is dealt to each player. Fill up: Making a full house. Fish: An inexperienced player who makes many mistakes, tending to be very loose with his money. Flush: Five cards that are of the same suit. Fold: Laying down your cards and dropping out of the hand. Forced bet: The required bet when you are the low card on third street. Fourth street: The fourth card that is dealt to each player. Free card: A card given to each player when every player has checked. Free-rolling: Locking up the low half of the pot where it is impossible for one of your opponents to hit a low better than you hold. Full house: Holding three cards of the same rank and two of another. Gut shot: Drawing to an inside straight. Hole: Those cards that are face down. Inside straight: A straight that can only be made when a card of one rank is dealt. Example: You hold 4-5-7-8. Only a six will complete your hand. Kickers: Your side cards outside of the hand you currently hold. Example: You hold AA-Q. The queen is your kicker.

243

Late position: Being one of the last players to act in a betting round. In a full game of eight players, this is the seventh or eighth spot. Limit: The amount of money that can be bet on a given round. The limit increases in structured limit games when action gets to fifth street, and is always the same in a spread limit game. Limp in: Getting to the next round as cheaply as possible by just calling as opposed to raising. Loose: Playing more hands than are justified by the odds. Loose game: A game in which most of the players stay in to see hands rather than folding. Loose games tend to have higher pots. Low Qualifier A hand qualifying for the low half of the pot. It must be five cards of eight or less that do not overlap, such as 23567. Middle position: Being in the middle of the betting action. With eight players, this includes the fourth, fifth and sixth spots. Muck: Folding a hand. Odds: The mathematical probability of hitting a hand. Open-ended straight: A straight that can be made with two cards. Example: You hold 4-5-6-7. A three or eight will complete your straight. Open pair: A pair on the board visible for everyone to see. Outs: Card that will improve the quality of your hand. Example: You have a four-flush, and there are four dead cards. You have five outs for your flush. Paint: A term for a face-card. Pass: Another term for checking. Pocket: Another way of referring to hole cards. Pot: The total amount of money wagered in a hand, placed in front of the dealer. Pot odds: Odds calculated by figuring a ratio of the amount of money that is in the pot to the bet you need to call to continue with a hand. Protecting a hand: Betting aggressively to force other players out who could draw to a bigger hand than what you hold.

244

Quads: Four-of-a-kind. Rags: Term for lousy cards held by a player. Raise: Adding money to a bet made by another player. Rake: The amount of money taken out of each pot by the card room. Re-raise: Raising after another opponent has raised. River: The last card that is dealt face down. Rolled-up: Three of a kind on the first three cards. Running cards: Cards that come back-to-back. Example: having a three-flush on fifth street and then catching two of the same suit on sixth and seventh streets to complete your flush. Sandbag: Playing slowly with a monster hand in an attempt to keep other players in. Scare card: A card dealt to another player that could indicate a powerful hand being made. Semi-bluff: Betting with a hand that is not the best but has a chance of improving to the best. Seventh street: The last card, it is dealt face down. Set: Another term for three-of-a-kind. Short-stacked: Playing when you have few chips remaining in front of you. Side pot: A second pot created when a player goes all-in. The player going all in has no stake in the side pot. Sixth street: The sixth card dealt in a hand. Slow-play: Another term for sandbagging, playing a hand slowly to keep other opponents in to pay you off when you hold a powerful hand. Stealing the antes: Betting heavily on third street to force all of the other players out so you will win the antes. Straight: Five cards of different suits in sequence.

245

Straight flush: Five cards of the same suit in a sequence. Table stakes: Rule in most games that a player can not take out extra money from his billfold during the course of a hand. This is why a player low on chips must go all-in, if he does not have enough chips to call a bet or meet the structure requirement. Tell: Body language by a player that gives clues to what they are holding. Tip/Toke: A small amount of money given from the pot winner to the dealer. Trips: Another term for three-of-a-kind. Underdog: A hand in which the odds are against it winning. Under the gun: On third street, it is the player with the low card who is first to act. Later on, it is the player to the immediate left of the player who bets. Wheel The best low hand in stud 8, an ace-through-five straight. It is a lock for the low. Wired pair: A hidden pair in the hole

246

Appendix C Ranking of Low Hands What low hand beats what? This list ranks the low hands from best to worst. 1. A-2-3-4-5 2. A-2-3-4-6 3. A-2-3-5-6 4. A-2-4-5-6 5. A-3-4-5-6 6. 2-3-4-5-6 7. A-2-3-4-7 8. A-2-3-5-7 9. A-2-4-5-7 10. A-3-4-5-7 11. 2-3-4-5-7 12. A-2-3-5-7 13. A-2-4-6-7 14. A-3-4-6-7 15. 2-3-4-6-7 16. A-2-5-6-7 17. A-3-5-6-7 18. 2-3-5-6-7 19. A-4-5-6-7 20. 2-4-5-6-7 21. 3-4-5-6-7 22. A-2-3-4-8 23. A-2-3-5-8 24. A-2-4-5-8 25. A-3-4-5-8 26. 2-3-4-5-8 27. A-2-3-6-8 28. A-2-4-6-8 29. A-3-4-6-8 30. 2-3-4-6-8 31. A-2-5-6-8 32. A-3-5-6-8 33. 2-3-5-6-8 34. A-4-5-6-8 35. 2-4-5-6-8 36. 3-4-5-6-8 37. A-2-3-7-8 38. A-2-4-7-8 39. A-3-4-7-8 40. 2-3-4-7-8 41. A-2-5-7-8 42. A-3-5-7-8 43. 2-3-5-7-8 44. A-4-5-7-8 45. 2-4-5-7-8 46. 3-4-5-7-8 47. A-2-6-7-8 48. A-3-6-7-8 49. 2-3-6-7-8 50. A-4-6-7-8 51. 2-4-6-7-8 52. 3-4-6-7-8 53. A-5-6-7-8 54. 2-5-6-7-8 55. 3-5-6-7-8 56. 4-5-6-7-8

247