Mixed Games, Where to Start? Part II (Stud Games)

My last article was a beginner’s guide to transitioning from no-limit Texas hold’em to the various mixed games, starting with the draw games. This article will again focus on how to learn new games with a concentration on the various seven card stud games you will encounter.

Stud Games

The stud games in question that are the most commonly spread include: seven-card stud high, seven-card stud eight-or-better, razz, and razz-deucey.

Seven-card stud high: Players start with three cards where the first two are dealt face down clockwise starting from the left of the dealer, one card at a time, and the third is dealt face up, otherwise known as third street. Players ante prior to receiving any cards. The bring-in bet is a forced bet which must be paid by the lowest face up card on third street. Once the bring-in is determined, action starts to the left of the bring-in. The bring-in always has the option to bring-in for the minimum or the maximum amount as predetermined by the game structure. For the sake of clarity, a brief example may help. The $12-$24 stud mixed games spread at the Aria casino in Las Vegas have a $3 ante per player, and the bring-in minimum is $6, the maximum is $12. The bring-in minimum is typically around 25 percent of the big bet amount for the game, although this varies by game, limit sizes, and player agreement. After the action is complete on third street, the dealer distributes fourth street face up to each player in clockwise rotation. After the action is complete, the dealer fans out fifth street, where the bet size doubles. After fifth street comes sixth street, again dealt face up. After action is complete, seventh street is dealt face down. The best hand is a royal flush. Some key concepts in this game: Your position changes throughout the course of the hand based on the high card on board after third street. When first learning this game, players often are taught to try to remember all the face up cards, even after people drop out of the hand. This is a tough skill to acquire for a lot of people, so I would shorten this message to remembering the dead cards that would have helped improve your hand. If you start with aces buried, or down, on third street, it is extremely valuable information to know how many of the two aces left in the deck are still available and live to improve your hand.

Seven-card stud eight-or-better: Same structure as stud high only, and the forced bring-in is always the lowest card on third street. If for example, there are multiple deuces out on third street, the suit determines the lowest up card. The order of suits is as follows: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, then Spades. (if the deuce of hearts and the deuce of spades were out, then the deuce of hearts is the forced bring-in.) An important concept exclusive to stud eight-or-better is the idea surrounding a three or four card hand versus a five card holding. For the sake of discussion, we will define a three card hand as trips, a four card hand as two pair, and a five card hand as a straight, flush, full house, quads, or straight flush. One of the biggest mistakes I see players make is when they pump the pot with a three or four card hand after fifth street versus hands that are freerolling against them! A player who makes a low with any kind of straight or flush draw to go with their low (or if they already made a low straight) are now freerolling against the high only hand with the three or four card holding. For those unfamiliar with the concept of freerolling, this is a situation which occurs in eight-or-better games where the person “freerolling” cannot possibly lose the pot, has half locked up, and is now able to win the entire pot if they hit their straight or flush card to go with their low. This is such an important concept and will be the source of significant profit if you can find yourself in spots where you are on a positive freeroll. Conversely, being on the negative end of a freeroll will make your heart sink, as you are fully aware you are now at the mercy of the poker gods! So the takeaway here is, be very careful with three or four card holdings on or after fifth street, until you make a five card hand, don’t bloat the pot by raising and reraising. As you develop a better feel for the game, you can be a bit less conservative, but make no mistake about it, this five card holding concept is one which eludes some excellent players, and is a key concept to saving extra bets when others are freerolling against you.

Razz: Same game structure as the other stud games, with the exception being the forced bring-in is the highest card on third street. After third street, the lowest board is now forced to act first. Razz is played for low only, and is a one winner game except in the rare instances where two players make the same low. The best hand is a wheel or the ace-to-five straight. Straights and flushes do not count against you in this game, only the card values matter. Of all the stud games, razz plays more straightforwardly with fewer opportunities to bluff or make fancy plays. Be aware of the concept of having a player board locked. Having another player board locked is a situation where you absolutely can beat their best possible holding. An example will aid in the illustration. Your opponents board reads 9-10-3-K after seventh street, and your board reads 7-3-10-Q. You know for a fact that the best possible holding your opponent can have here is a 9-4-3-2-A since his three buried cards, if perfect, would be A-2-4 to go with his 9-3 on board. If you can beat a perfect nine, you have your opponent board locked. Be aware of when you have your opponent board locked so you can bet and raise at will until he stops putting in bets, and conversely, don’t pump the pot when you can be board locked yourself. One final concept, bet your own hand. Going for check raises in this game will only save bets for your opponent who is behind in the hand, as they will almost always check back if their board indicates they cannot beat your holding.

Razz-deucey: This is a new game which is a hybrid of razz and badugi. Badugi is a draw game in which the nut hand is A-2-3-4 rainbow. (all four suits, one club, one heart, one diamond, and one spade.) Since draw and stud have morphed together to form razz-deucey, the game is played with the standard stud structure. The high board on third is the bring-in, but after that, the low board acts first as in razz. The game is played as a split pot game where half the pot goes to the best razz hand, and half goes to the best badugi hand. In the event no player holds a four card badugi, half will be awared to the best three card badugi, and so on until the best badugi hand is identified. So the nut nut hand would be A-2-3-4-5 with one of each suit. I suggest players new to this game play it like razz, and just go for the best low hand. As you become more comfortable with the game, you will begin to incorporate suit holdings into your considerations.

Some general tips for playing stud games:

1. Try to remember the cards which are dead and the ones which are live that would improve your hand.

2. In stud eight-or-better, try to make a low hand first, and back into a high hand.

3. It is critical to play more conservatively until you have a five card hand in high low (full house, straight, flush, etcetera)

4. Watch your opponents expressions as their board develops, watch for tells.

5. Be aware of when you opponents will call you down, it is rare for a player to get to seventh street and not call the last bet.

6. Aggression shorthanded or with few opponents left to act can be profitable as an ante steal.

7. Beware of the concept of being or having someone board locked, and make sure you think about this on seventh street so you can maximize your winnings or minimize your losses when board locked.

8. Be honest with yourself, if you play three hands badly in a session, it is probably time to go home.

Learning the stud games is absolutely necessary to becoming a great all-around player. Virtually every mixed cash game and mixed tournament includes several seven card stud variants. As always when learning a new game, ask your friends for their opinion on hands. Start discussions at the table if you are comfortable discussing strategy with your opponents. And if you find yourself lost in a game or confused, play tighter until you feel more comfortable or go for a walk to decompress. I would also highly recommend Ray Zee’s book on high-low split-pot games, as I still revisit this book several times a year to reaffirm concepts and challenge myself to play my best.

Jonathan Green is a Commercial Manager for the General Electric Company and a semi-professional poker player, currently living in Las Vegas, NV.  Jonathan spent 2004-2011 living and playing on the east coast tournament trail, with annual trips to the WSOP since 2007. In between tournaments, Jonathan can be found playing middle limit mixed cash games in L.A. and Vegas. All feedback is welcome at: [email protected].