7 card stud poker

Seven Card Stud is not among the most popular poker games and respectively any information regarding any strategies or tips on it is considered quite valuable. In fact there is another reason that is also contributing to the shortage of available information about 7 card stud poker – it is a game of uncertainty where luck plays a big role. There is not established strategy that can be applied in all situations as in some other poker games like for example blackjack. What cards you have and how you play them really depends on what the opponent players have in their hands. So it is impossible to cover all situations in this article but we will try to describe the best methods of approach to be followed in the first stage of the game and to advise you what you should be paying attention to.

Starting hands
Like in almost all poker games one of the most important decisions you have to make is if you are going to play right after seeing the cards you have in your initial hand or not. It is mathematically estimated that the first 3 cards make up about 40% of your final hand which is quite a high percentage. The first thing you should do is to see the face up cards of the other players. That is more for you to check if the other players have cards that you need for building a strong hand. By doing that simple thing you can save time and money.

The best possible starting cards you can have are three aces. In fact 3 of a kind is always considered a strong starting hand. When you have a pair in your initial 3 cards and that pair is matched by your first face-up card that is called you are being “rolled-up” but the chance for that to happen to you is less than 0.5% so it doesn’t happen too often. Besides 3 of a kind here are some other options you can consider as good starting hands:

• A big open pair (one strong card down matched by one up)
• A big hidden pair (a strong pair constructed of 2 face-down cards)
• Three cards in sequence
• Three cards to a straight flush (or to a straight of flush)
• Three high cards to a flush
• Low or middle hidden pair with no matches by the other players’ face-up cards

Folded cards
In 7 card stud poker a very important thing for you as a player is to remember the cards that were folded by your opponents so you should never be waiting for a card that is already unavailable. And you should be doing that on every turn when cards are being folded. Once you see that 3 or more cards of a particular suit were folded you can stop counting that suit as it is more likely nobody will get a flush of it.