A Bizarre Stud Hand - A suspenseful ending to an interesting seven-card stud hand

I recently played my most interesting seven-card stud hand ever. Considering how long I've been around poker, and that I played nothing but stud at the start of my poker career, that is saying a lot!



It was during a $220 tournament at the Oaks Club. We started with $1,300 in chips, and I had worked my way up to $2,000 in seat No. 6. My good friend Wes was to my right in seat No. 5, and he was clearly my toughest opponent. I had been doing my best to avoid confrontations with him, but that strategy went out the window when this wild hand came up.



The Wild Hand
We were about an hour and a half into the tournament. The limits were $100-$200. Wes was the $40 bring-in with the 3. I had the 8 showing with the J 4 in the hole. No one else had a heart, a 4, an 8, or a jack showing. I liked my potential, but with the entire table yet to act behind me, I decided to merely call the $40. Seat No. 7 folded, then seat No. 8 completed the bring-in to $100 with the A showing. Surprisingly, seats No. 2, 3, and 4 all called the $100! When the action came back to Wes, he raised to $200, which brought the action back to me.



I had not at all expected Wes to raise. For him to raise after an ace completed the bring-in, he had to have either pocket aces or rolled-up threes. He simply would not make that play with anything else. With that knowledge, it probably would have made sense for me to fold. But I was blinded by the huge pot that would be up for grabs. I saw this hand as my ticket to the final table if I managed to get lucky. So, possibly against my better judgment, I called the extra $160. The other four players all called, so we were sixhanded going to fourth street..



My next card was the favorable Q, giving me a four-flush. There were still no other hearts showing anywhere. Seat 8 caught the Q to go with his A, while Wes caught the innocuous 6. The A Q was first to act and bet. Seats 2, 3, and 4 all called, and none appeared to be a threat. Then, Wes raised with his 3 6, and the action was to me.



At that point, I gave him about a 90 percent chance of having rolled-up threes, yet I liked my situation. I was drawing to a completely live flush, I was getting extremely favorable pot odds thanks to all of the inexplicable dead-money calls, plus I knew that if Wes made an open pair, I could dump my hand without further investment. I seriously considered three-betting, but saw that the A Q in seat 8 was prepared to reraise all in, so I merely called. The A Q reraised as expected, Wes capped the betting when it was his turn to act, and all six of us remained.



On fifth street, Wes caught the Q for a 3 6 Q board, and I caught the 4 for an 8 Q 4 board and a useless pair of fours. Seat 3 caught the A, making it even less likely that Wes was sitting on pocket aces. Based on the exposed cards and Wes' actions, I was virtually certain that he was rolled up. Seat 8 was high on the board, but all in. Seats 2 and 3 checked. Seat 4 had the J 7 2 showing, and appeared to be contemplating a bet, but it seemed to be merely a ploy to make Wes slow down. Either way, he posed no threat to me. The A, K, and Q had all appeared in other players' hands, so even if he managed to make a club flush, my potential queen-high heart flush would be higher. He eventually checked, and Wes fired again. I called, and finally seat 2 folded. Seats 3 and 4 called.



And Then, on Sixth Street, the Fun Began

To my great surprise, Wes caught the 3 for an open pair of threes. In the second before my card landed,

I thought to myself, "Wow, he just made quads! Good for him! He should make the final table now, and I'm getting the hell out of this pot." Of course, you can probably guess the next card that hit me. Yup – it was the 4. Now I had trip fours, and the 4 was nowhere in sight. I was high with an open pair of fours, and of course I checked. Everyone checked to Wes, and, naturally, he bet.



Now I had a most unusual decision to make. Was it worth it to draw to my one-outer? At that point it was strictly a mathematical decision, and it didn't take long to realize that I clearly had to call! There was approximately $4,700 in the pot, and it cost me $200 to call. I had seen 25 cards on the board, plus I knew Wes' two holecards, and presumably the original third-street raiser had an ace in the hole, so I could account for 28 cards. That meant that the 4 was among the remaining 24 unknown cards. The current pot odds, combined with the action I was sure to get on the river if I spiked quad fours, made it mandatory to call.



The tricky part, I knew, was that I would have to convince myself to fold on the river if I made a flush or fours full. How crazy it would be to fold fours full for $200 with more than a $5,000 pot at stake! And yet, there was no doubt that Wes had quad threes, so a call on sixth street would be correct only if I could make myself fold a rivered flush or full house. With that in mind, I mentally gave myself a good lecture, and threw in my $200 call. Seat 3 called, while seat 4 folded.



Squeeeeeze!

When the river card arrived, I squeezed it for all it was worth. The first thing I looked for was the suit, and of course I was dying for a spade. But, when I saw it was a heart, I laughed inside. It had come time to exercise some discipline. We checked to Wes, he bet, and I showed my flush to seat 7 before folding. Seat 3 called and Wes tabled his quad threes. That huge pot gave him a significant chip lead, and he consequently had little trouble making it to the final table.



I hope it was half as interesting for you to read about this hand as it was for me to play it. Of course, it didn't have the happy ending that I had hoped for. What a thrill it would have been to catch the 4 to beat his quad threes! Nevertheless, with the possible exception of my loose call on third street, I have no problem with the way I played the hand. Even though I was drawing to only one out, I was drawing live, and was getting the correct price to try. In the long run, that's all that really matters. If you do that often enough, you cannot help but come out ahead.



You can find more of Matt's articles in the Online Poker News, at www.CardPlayer.com.