Strategy

The key decision in Seven-Card Stud is made on Third Street. You need to decide whether to play your hand or to fold it. It is important to recognize that certain hands are more suitable in multi-way pots while other hands work better with shorthanded pots. Drawing hands are most suitable for multi-way pots while big pairs play well in shorthanded pots.

Patience is an important virtue when playing Seven-Card Stud as you need to be very selective about what hands you play with. Playing too many hands ends up being a very costly mistake

Below is a list of issues to keep in mind when you are contemplating whether to play a a hand or not:

• What cards are out?
• How many players are already in the pot?
• Are you sitting at a tight or loose table?
• Number of players at the table?
• Has the pot been raised? By whom?

Hands

As you are contemplating whether or not to play a starting hand you have to look around and see if your hand is live, i.e. the cards you would be drawing for is not among the open cards on the table. For example, (Td-9c) 8h is a lot stronger starting hands if all jacks and sevens are live.

Here is a list of the best starting hands in Seven-Card Stud:

1. Rolled-up trips (three of a kind), starting with aces.
2. Big pairs, AA-JJ. A hidden pair makes your hand stronger since it is more deceptive to play against. The kicker is also important to determine the strength of your hand.
3. Big suited connectors, down to ten.
4. Medium pairs (TT-88) and medium suited connectors down to seven.
5. Big suited semi connectors, for example As-Qs.
6. Your position in relation to the raiser