Stack Management in Seven Card Stud Tournaments­ — Part 1

In previous articles, I examined stack management in limit hold’em, Omaha eight-or-better, and deuce-to-seven triple draw, games that all use the same small-blind, big-blind structure. This article enters a different realm of upcards and antes, examining the games of seven-card stud, razz, and seven-card stud eight-or-better.

Antes: Why They Matter

Similar to no-limit hold’em tournaments, the size of an ante frequently changes between stud levels, usually fluctuating between a sixth and a twelfth of the big bet. In limit games with blinds, there is nothing analogous – an uncontested preflop raise always wins one and a half small bets. However, in stud games, the dynamic ante size changes what a third-street completion wins.

In no-limit hold’em, I spend a lot of time counting how many big blinds I have and what M is (how much is already in the pot for me to win, and what one orbit of folding would cost me). In stud, I pay attention to two types of odds – stealing and defending the bring-in.

For example, here’s a cross-section of levels that the World Series of Poker uses for its $1,500 stud tournaments and the relevant odds:

Ante Ante Fraction Bring-In Completion Limits Stealing Odds Defending Odds
75 1/8th 100 300 300-600 2.33-to-1 5-to-1
100 1/8th 100 400 400-800 2.25-to-1 4.33-to-1
100 1/10th 200 500 500-1,000 2-to-1 5-to-1
100 1/12th 200 600 600-1,200 1.67-to-1 4-to-1
200 1/8th 200 200 800-1,600 2.25-to-1 4.33-to-1
200 1/10th 300 1,000 1,000-2,000 1.9-to-1 4.14-to-1

When I first started playing in these tournaments, I would write down all this information on a structure sheet. Deep in a tournament, I have the entire day’s levels written down to refer to. For instance, at the start of the 600-1,200 level, I’ll look at my edited structure sheet and think, “I should open and defend tighter here.”

Sometimes, it’s not that simple. For instance, in the 500-1,000 level, I won’t play particularly loose with a two-to-one stealing ratio, but definitely have to defend particularly wide given large defending odds cause by an irregularly large bring-in.

Short Handed Play Deep In the Tournament

It’s important to pay attention not only to ante size, but also how many antes are in the pot. This is usually not an issue, as tournament tables are typically full, which mean you can assume there will be eight antes in every pot. Once there are three tables left remaining in the tournament though, there can be five or fewer players at a table.

In games with a big blind, short-handed play revolves around late position play and blind defense. This is also true in the stud games, but the difference is that the math completely changes. Stealing and defending odds both plummet, so the obvious adjustment is to play tighter.

In limit hold’em, if you are defending your blinds at the proper frequency at a nine-handed table, you should be defending with the same range at a five-handed table. The math stays the same, but this is not the case in the seven-card variants. In stud, what you should defend depends on what is in the pot, a function of how big the antes are, and how many players there are.

Tighter play is advantageous for smaller stacks because they can move up the pay ladder if other players bust. In these situations, it’s acceptable to be patient, and play a couple notches tighter than you are used to playing. Both the structure of the tournament and the reduced number of antes dictate it. Conversely, chipleaders looking to bully the table are only able to steal small pots. Even though no-limit hold’em tournaments feature the same phenomenon, it doesn’t apply as much because post-flop bet sizing is scaled with it. In stud, the bets stay the same size, making the small pot not as worth fighting for.

Final Table Dynamics

Once both tables merge at the final table, which often starts nine-handed, the amount of antes in the pot jumps from five to nine. This occurs even though this is also the most crucial part of the tournament to avoid putting your stack at risk in marginal spots.

There is a tension between the two factors – shortstacks would like to fight for the large amount of dead money in each pot, but also need to play tight to avoid variance. Paying attention to the stack distributions serves as a guide for exactly how much these players need to tighten up. If there are several players with tiny chip counts, stack preservation and forcing others to be put at risk become the top priority. If stacks are more even, it becomes more important to try and accrue chips. As players are eliminated from the final table, antes are simultaneously removed from the pot, and this factor diminishes.

Here’s an example from my 2014 World Series of Poker $10,000 seven-card stud final table: I started the day in fifth place with nine players remaining, not near wanting to get into marginal confrontations for a large percentage of my stack, but ended up playing lots of pots, such that David Tuchmann and the guest commentators noted how frequently I was getting involved.

When we were five-handed, Steve Landfish had 100,000 chips and I was also struggling at 160,000, which was only four big bets. We were the two shortest stacks left, so I had tightened up considerably and was thinking about whether I was supposed to fold three overcards when Landfish entered the pot. This was a function of there being less antes in the pot to fight over and the large payjump that would be rewarded to the player who stayed in longer. My play changed drastically over the course of a few hours, mostly because of how many antes were in the pot, a testament to how fundamentally important something as simple as number of antes can be. ♠

Ben Yu attended Stanford University but knew even before finishing that he wanted to embark on a journey to become a one of the finest professional mixed-game players. He made his debut onto the tournament scene in 2010 with a second-place finish in the World Series of Poker $1,500 limit hold’em shootout and followed it up in 2011 by leading the WSOP with seven cashes across six different games. In 2012, he moved to Rosarito, Mexico in order to continue playing online and was enthralled to perform well at the World Championship of Online Poker, including a final table appearance at the $10,300 poker 8-Game High Roller, and a cash in the main event.