Stack Management in Seven-Card Stud Tournaments — Part II

In my last article, we examined how structural differences between levels and number of players at the table should change how you play, but this time I will get to the fun stuff—cold, hard strategy.

Even though the structure of stud games vastly differs from hold’em and other games with blinds, the most fundamental rule of stack management remains the same. When deep in a tournament where stack preservation becomes a consideration, avoid making bets of small edge with little or no fold equity.

Continuation Bet Less On Fourth and Sixth Street

The way this materializes in stud games is different than in the big blind games. In seven-card stud, there is little fold equity on fourth and sixth streets. Barring a strong change in boards, players are usually priced into peeling another card because the bet size is the same as it was the previous street. If they were getting three-to-one to call on third street, they are getting five-to-one on fourth street and will find it difficult to fold.

Don’t Reraise Third Street Against Opponents That Do Not Fold

A similar type of logic also applies on third street. There are some players, because they don’t steal very often or because they are particularly stubborn, won’t ever fold third street after they have completed. Against these people, it reduces variance significantly to not reraise on third street, and just call when playing a hand. This should only be utilized when there are not many players behind you who could possibly overcall. In such cases, it’s still better to reraise with hands that want to encourage a heads-up pot. Multi-way hands such as three-flushes can still be called to induce multi-way action. One benefit of flatting pairs in these situations is that your calling range won’t be overly dominated by three-to-a-flush.

However, against people who fold even a reasonable amount of time, it is better to just reraise and risk playing a bigger pot, because the times they fold reduce the overall variance you will face. When a player folds immediately, there is no fluctuation, you win the chips that are already out there, always a nice pickup for a short or middling stack.

Range Balancing

One of the challenges behind playing more passively in these situations is that it can be difficult to make sure your hands are not easy to read. Once you decide to check some hands, it is imperative to make sure your range stays balanced – this means you’ll have to check some made hands in addition to bluffs. The mist of tournament poker and ever-changing table draws can help keep you disguised, but it is still worthwhile to protect your range distribution.

Open Completing When On Life Support

For the most part, it is incorrect to open-complete the bring-in. However, with less than three small bets and a hand that wants to commit, it is better to complete because it allots some fold equity. Even with a good hand, a short stack is happy with everyone folding because of the large amount of antes and blinds that can be picked up without having to face elimination. Even if it doesn’t get through, the possibility that someone else will reraise and isolate your complete is also a good outcome.

With monsters, such as rolled-up trips, it is still reasonable to bring it in for the minimum and try to trap. Not all hands want to commit in this spot – there are many hands you are still bringing it in and folding – and, by the time you have put your chips in, they will be laid big odds to see showdown and would be hard-pressed to find a fold.

Save Your Last Ante

I’ve written extensively about the value of your last ante. In a previous article, I calculated that an ante blindly all-in in no-limit hold’em is worth more than three antes, so preserving your last ante is often crucial. There is no option to ask your opponents to be all in for everything but your last ante, so often saving your last chip will involve some crafty maneuvering.

By counting how many bets are in your stack, and looking ahead in the hand, it is possible to make sure you will have some chips left after the hand, even if you lose. In stud, a complete on third street and a bet on each street amounts to four big bets, so having even one more ante than that usually means you will survive elimination.

By getting any streets checked through, it is possible to reduce this number. If one of the big bet streets is checked through, any chips you have more than three big bets will be saved if only one bet goes in on every other street.

Here’s an example from my 2014 World Series of Poker that illustrates this concept:

It is day two of the 2014 WSOP $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament with limits of 6,000-12,000. There are 32 people remaining from 200 who entered the tournament and 24 of them will make the money. I am a short stack and want to preserve my stack in marginal situations.

On sixth street, my hand is (J 8) K A 5 7 vs. my opponent’s board of (x x) 10 J 6 7 with the 8, K, 5, 5, 9, and 6 as dead cards from third street. I completed on third from a non-steal position and bet on fourth and fifth streets, all of which my opponent called. On sixth street, I am left with 19,000 in chips, or just more than one and a half big bets. Checking here allows me to save my last ante against an opponent who is rarely folding and will sometimes raise just to “get it in.”

If I check, my opponent still has the option to bet, but I can call, and just fold if I do not improve on the river. I will still have to stack off if I catch a pair of jacks, kings or aces because of the significant odds I am receiving, but get to save my last 7,000 (two antes) the times I completely brick. I also still have the option of leading the river if I make my flush, when I am almost certain to have the best hand.

The same argument can be made against a bet on fifth street, but there I have a reasonable amount of fold equity, given it is the first time my opponent has had to face a big bet, when I have a reasonably scary board. On sixth street, my opponent is very unlikely to fold, and possibly will raise, which I will have to call all in, a disaster when I can save that last bet by checking.

I ended up making the flush and winning a sizeable pot and continued to grind out more short-stack situations until the bubble burst on my way to a 20th-place finish. In this exact situation, it didn’t matter that I would have saved my last bet if I missed, but they continued to matter in the hands that followed and throughout the rest of the summer. ♠

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 on 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.