7 Card Stud Mistake #1 – Chasing Hands

In games like Texas Hold ‘em and Omaha Poker you can often see your first five-card hand for a pittance thanks to the three-card flop. A lot of players like to limp along and see what happens in games with multi-round deals. Unfortunately, in Seven Card Stud chasing hands can get pretty expensive. Most cash games have an ante and up to five rounds of betting. If you’re hoping for a single card toward a straight or flush, you could bet four times only to get stiffed on your final card. Because so many stud players follow a tight strategy, more aggressive players can often limp through to that final round without a major investment. What they fail to realize of course is that each of their opponents has approximately the same odds of getting lucky in the draw, and they’ll often have a full table of said opponents. Logic would suggest that more often than not you’re going to get the short end of the stick, and taking risks like that often can really add up.

7 Card Stud Mistake #2 – Playing Only Your Cards

Players accustomed to draw-style poker and even to the community card games often underestimate the advantage of being able to see their opponents’ face up cards. Players whose strategies are based largely on their own starting hands often fail to take advantage of what’s right in front of them. If all signs indicate that your mediocre hand is still the best thing going on the table, then sometimes it’s ok to push forward. Alternately, even if your hand falls high on the starting hand list, if an opponent already has you beat with their upcards alone you’re only going to pump their pot by continuing on.

7 Card Stud Mistake #3 – Giving Up on Tells

Being a somewhat slow and concentrated game, many poker players mistakenly assume that reading their opponents is a lost cause at 7 Card Stud. In truth, being able to read your opponents will give you an advantage at virtually any live player vs. player poker game. Because any good player follows a strategy, it’s not hard to pick up on trends in their betting and playing style. Over time, you’ll find that many players make the exact same bets on the exact same hands, and recognizing and remembering their patterns is almost as good as taking a peak at their down cards.

One of the scary things about playing a Seven Card Stud tournament is how important a single hand can be. One hand can make or break you. If you’ve got some familiarity with a basic 7 Card ring strategy, then you know a lot of the game is spent waiting. In a tournament, the clock is ticking and you can’t wait forever. When the cards aren’t coming, should you keep folding, bluff, or settle for less and start betting? This is a dilemma that any Seven Card player will face at some time.

While it’s hard—and sometimes inadvisable—to bluff when more than half your hand is visible to your opponents, Seven Card Stud tournaments give tactful players many good opportunities to employ the semi-bluff. This tactic should be used sparingly, but when you desperately need to start growing your stack and the good cards just aren’t coming this can be a lifesaver. When should you semi-bluff? When you have the best visible hand of upcards plus at least a small combination to back your bets and your fellow opponents are limping along in their own bets, that’s the optimum time to try a semi-bluff. There’s a good chance you’ll still win the hand if you see it through to the showdown, but if you bet aggressively there’s an even better chance you can scoop the pot early.

Whereas most other poker tournament strategies advise a player to be somewhat aggressive, the best Seven Card Stud multi-table tournament strategy should be a tight one the whole tournament through. It might be hard to watch more aggressive players bully their way into a big stack in the early rounds, but eventually these players will get trapped when tight players get the hands they’ve been holding out for. By choosing your hands carefully, you can go a long way toward avoiding that situation.

Many new players assume that if they can just find the perfect strategy they’re guaranteed to win. In truth, a good strategy should help you win more, but more importantly it should also help you to lose less (not losing does not always equal winning). As one infamous gambling song advises, “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em; know when to fold ‘em.” That’s exactly what a good 7 Card stud ring game strategy should help you decide. If you’re going to be playing long cash game sessions, then knowing when to fold your hand is an invaluable skill. Unlike Texas Hold ‘em where you can get three cards for the price of the flop, in Seven Card Stud you pay for every card you see after the initial deal. If table rules require an ante, that means you’ll be ponying up three times before you see your first potential five-card hand. Unfortunately, while you can sometimes limp your way through the Hold ‘em streets or bluff your way through Omaha, most stud pots truly go to the player with the best hand. Since each player gets seven cards, that’s that many more opportunities for one of your opponents to get a truly good hand. Do the math, and you’ll soon realize the logic behind frequently folding.

Another part of strategy that amateurs often overlook is table selection. In some cases, this can be just as important as hand selection. Look for a table that suits your skills. When you play among the fish, you might be able to scoop some small stakes, but you might also get pushed around by relentless calling stations. Alternately, playing at high stakes tables that are above your level is a good way to run your bankroll down fast.

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7 Card Stud Hi/Lo Ring Game Strategy

Let’s face it. Seven Card Stud just isn’t a game for players that like hard, fast, ongoing action. It’s a game for players that are smart and patient. The best 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo cash game strategies will require that you be both. When you look at lists for the best Hi/Lo starting hands, you may be surprised to see common kickers like Aces mixed with low cards. Because the Ace swings both ways in Hi/Lo, it gives its holder a shot at the best of both worlds. Of course you alone would have only a 1/13 chance of every card you get being an Ace, and you’re sitting at a full table of players with the same odds. You can’t rely on the kickers that high-style players often prefer anymore.

Looking at Opponents Cards

It should go without saying, but surprisingly many players also underestimate the advantage of being able to see more than half of their opponents’ cards. As you play, much of the proof of your opponents’ strength is on the table. Use this information wisely. After the first round of dealing, your strategy should rest heavily if not entirely on the strength of your starting hand. Once you’ve opted in for the next round of dealing, your strategy should shift to consider your opponents’ hands.

While you should never set out to play just a high or low hand after the initial deal, we all know that the coming cards can wreak havoc on your hopes for the whole pot. If after a couple more rounds it’s clear you’ve been outranked on either the low or the high hand, it’s time for you to assess your current investment vs. your potential winnings.

At this point in the game, it’s hard for many players to walk away from what they’ve put in the pot. The temptation is to wait it out and hope that you luck into a better hand. This is a temptation that occasionally pays off in games like Hold ‘em but that is ultimately very dangerous in 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. If you’ve got a good chunk of change in the pot, but you also believe you’ve got the best shot at either the high or low hand, it’s ok to proceed. But if you’ve lost one half of the pot already and are contemplating going on with a mediocre high or low only hand, it’s time to cut your losses and walk away.

7 Card Stud Tip #1 – Practice

So much of Seven Card Stud is best learned by playing the game. There’s great strategy advice all over the web—from beginner to advanced and addressing every game style or scenario you can imagine—but if you don’t understand the game to begin with, you won’t understand technical advice. These days, this situation is easily fixed. Way back when there weren’t many people that casually played a detailed game like 7 Card Stud. You had to hit up a poker room to get any sort of action, and in that environment most amateur players were totally overwhelmed. Thanks to the popularization of online poker in every form, games like 7 Card Stud are now available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. You can test the bankability of your skills at a small stakes table, or you can remove the risk altogether by playing at the free tables first.

7 Card Tip #2 – Play Cheap Buy-in Tournaments

If you want to stretch your bankroll and still get a good shot at making some decent cash playing 7 Card Stud, then we recommend seeking out the best cheap buy-in tournaments. We’re not talking about sit-n-gos here. In fact, as far as stud goes sit-n-gos are often a bust, but that’s another topic for another time. It’s not uncommon to find an open multi-table tournament online with a modest $50 buy-in. If you’re a relatively strong player, you can get at least a couple hours of constant play plus a moderate chance of leaving the table with some cash for this relatively small sum. This deal is especially good for players who can’t stand paying constantly just to fold constantly at the cash tables.

7 Card Stud Tip #3 – Don’t Ignore Tilt

One important thing that all players should learn to accept before sitting at any poker table is that no one is impervious to tilt. While poker is above all a game of skill, there is nevertheless an element of luck. That means that sometime in your poker-playing life you can probably expect to get a really bad beat. Maybe you’re all-in in the final rounds of a big tournament or you’ve been playing ring games all night and just can’t seem to get a good hand. Either way, it’s going to happen. The really frustrating thing is that even if you know and accept this, it won’t prevent you from going on tilt. Everybody does it some time. You’re angry; your bankroll is hurting; you’re tired… Before you know it you’re thinking more about hands that are already over than you are about the one you’re currently playing. Whatever you do, don’t take it out on your bankroll. Control is critical in a game like Seven Card Stud, and once you lose it the best possible thing you can do is stand. Even if you’re down a lot of cash, you’re not going to get it back by playing dangerously.