On the Starting Line in Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better - Part II

What makes a desirable starting hand? Generally, they are hands with two-way possibilities that allow you to scoop a big pot when you get lucky with them. The example discussed last issue, 5 4 3, is a perfect starting hand. It contains three cards to a wheel – the very best possible low – yet can easily become a high hand, too, by making either a straight or a flush. If you get extremely lucky, you might even make a straight flush. Most starting hands are not in that league – not by a long shot. Still, there are many other starting hands that are very playable, and in this, the second column in a three-part series, you'll learn about many of them.

Since they're simultaneously the highest and the lowest card in the deck, aces are like two cards in one, and whenever you have an ace showing as your upcard on third street, it's guaranteed to give pause to your opponents. They have no idea whether you have a potential high or low hand, or both. If your holecards are 6-5, you're working on a very good low. On the other hand, if you have another ace in the hole, you have the highest hand at that point unless one of your opponents was rolled up – and that's very unlikely.

If you continue to catch low cards, your opponents will assume you are drawing to a low hand. If you catch a high card and continue to contest the pot, your opponents won't know whether you have only a pair of aces, have paired one of your holecards and now have two pair, or simply have caught one bad card and are still chasing the field for the low side.

Suppose you start with (6-5) A, catch a trey on fourth street, and then pair your ace on fifth street. Now, an opponent must take a very hard look at his own hand. He sees that you've paired aces, and has to consider the possibility that you're holding three of them or have made aces up. He also has to think about four cards to a good low along with a pair of aces as a valid possibility. Against a lone opponent, hands like these stand an excellent chance of scooping the pot. Aces are not only the most potent cards in this game, they are also the most powerful scare cards you can hold.

Another excellent starting hand is two aces with a low card, and it's even better if that low card is a deuce through 5, a wheel card that's suited to one of your aces. In this case, it does not matter too much whether you have an ace or deuce showing, although if you show a deuce, catch a few low cards, and then connect with a third ace, your opponents will never suspect that you have a high hand. Now if you pair your board, your opponents will think you've missed your low draw, when in reality you've made a full house.

The profit potential is huge whenever your opponents think you are going in one direction and you're actually headed the other way. Suppose that two other players, one going high and the other obviously holding a low hand, are involved in this pot, too. The player going high will think you have a low hand, too, and will continue to raise because he believes he will win half the pot while you and the obvious low hand fight over the low end. And you will keep reraising, knowing that your aces full is the best high hand. You will win half of a very large pot, and if your other opponent fails to make his low, you'll scoop a monster.

You'll find that most of your opponents will play an ace with any two low cards, even if they are very rough. How playable is a hand like (A-7) 8? It depends. And what it depends on is the quality of your opponents' draws. If you have an 8 on board with an ace and a 7 in the hole, and your opponents are all showing high cards other than an ace, it is obvious that you have the only low draw, and if you make your hand, you can generally count on winning half the pot. But if other players also hold low cards, you are faced with an entirely different problem. No longer are you concerned only with making a low; the issue now is making the best low. It doesn't do any good to draw against two other opponents who are each drawing to a better low hand than yours. As is the case in other forms of poker, the best starting hand usually winds up as the best hand at the showdown.

One of the problems with four- and five-stretch low hands such as 7-5-2 or 8-4-3 is that they cannot make a high hand unless you are fortunate enough to make two pair or a flush as well as a low hand. You cannot make a straight with cards that stretch from 7 to deuce or 8 to trey, and that substantially reduces your chances to scoop. It doesn't necessarily render your hand unplayable, but it does limit you to playing for one end of the pot only. When you set off down that road, you should make sure you are the only one headed in that direction or have the best of it by far.

Any ace in an opponent's hand on third street is a potential killer when you hold a low draw that can't make a straight. Not only does a hand with an ace look to be a better low draw than yours, it is also a better high hand. That ace has surrounded you, and regardless of the direction you are heading, it's probably uphill. If you are up against a lone opponent showing an ace, he can scoop or split the pot, while your low draw figures to either split the pot or be scooped. Confrontations like this can cost an enormous amount of money that needn't be lost. You're better off folding one-way hands than you are playing them unless the pot odds and opponents' exposed cards justify it.

Since the ace is both a low and a high card, holding one is akin to having an extra card, and it's almost like playing eight cards against your opponent's seven. But as strong as an ace is, not every hand with an ace is playable. A hand like (9-8) A is utterly worthless. You probably won't win no matter which way you go, and you most assuredly are not ahead right now. You'll find more than enough hands to play in 7-stud/8, so toss your ace away if your other two cards don't support it.

Next issue, I'll discuss high hands and two-way hands, and provide a handy chart summarizing 7-stud/8 starting hands.

Raise your game with Lou Krieger at http://www.royalvegaspoker.com. His newest books, Internet Poker: How to Play and Beat Online Poker Games and Winning Omaha/8 Poker, are available through Card Player.