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Two Things to Watch For in Seven Card Stud

November 17, 2009

One of the most important aspects of playing seven card stud is keeping a keen eye on your opponents and their up cards. The up cards on the board paint a picture for the hand and provide a framework for how it could unfold. Not being aware of these cards puts you at a clear disadvantage. One of the pitfalls for new seven card stud players is playing in a cave and not realizing that paying attention to what their opponents may have is as important as paying attention to their own hand. With this in mind, there are two key things to watch for in seven card stud that will help you get off to a good start in the game:

• An opponent pairs their door card: This is a critical time in a hand of seven card stud and you must understand the possibilities of what could be happening. Realize that if this is a capable player, they most likely are in the hand because they had something halfway decent to start with. If they now have paired their door card you have to be astute to the possibilities. If they have a wired pair, then it is very likely they now have two pair. Or to make matters worse, if there pair was split, then now you are staring down three of a kind. Next time an opponent pairs their door card think long and hard about the situation. Make sure you can beat their hand or have a solid chance of beating it in the future to continue.
• An opponents door card is an ace: Check out our article on playing the ace in seven card stud for information on how to play when you are the lucky one holding the ace, for now, we need to cover how you can best manage the situation when your opponent holds the ace. Studying your opponents is the single best thing you can do to help manage this situation. Loose and overly aggressive players will almost always try to push you around when they have an ace. Your strategy then will need to be to play right back at them. Sometimes a raise or an opening bet is all that is needed to deflate someone who is overconfidently betting their ace. Strong players introduce a whole new problem in that they are hard to read and they usually play strong hands. Make sure when a strong player is showing an ace that you have the potential to beat him, if there is any question or the pot odds are off, make the right decision and save the battle for another time.