Why Stud is a Dying Game

About eight years ago, I used to spend the majority of my poker-playing time camped out in a $15-$30 seven-card stud game at the Mirage in Las Vegas. It was the only red-chip stud game in town, and there were always a few games going, along with a couple of $20-$40's. I made a decent living doing this and for the most part I enjoyed my time in the room. The best things for me about those days gone by are some of the wonderful friends I made during that time. One is my very dear friend Joan Destino. She is a writer, gourmet cook, decorator, mother, grandmother, wife, and poker player. She and I played countless hours together over a few year's time, and formed a bond of friendship that is to be envied. Recently, she asked me what had happened to all of the stud games. Gosh, I don't even play stud much anymore. We got to talking about it, and I suggested she write a guest column, which she agreed to do. So, let me introduce Joan Destino and her thoughts on what has happened to all of the stud players.

Most of us who grew up in pre-Internet generations learned to play poker around the kitchen table. After family dinners, Mom and Dad, a brother or sister or two, Uncle Rufus and Aunt Fern, and maybe a couple of cousins would pull up chairs around a table that had been covered with an old blanket and count out matchsticks, pennies, M&M's, or whatever else was used to denote bet increments. We were taught such games as Follow the Lady, Baseball, and Black Mariah. These games were fun, and infinite combinations of wild cards could bring on rollicking bouts of betting. But the premier game, the classic, the true poker player's game, we were told, was seven-card stud. It was the glamour game. That's the game they played on Maverick. That's the game our dads and uncles told us was "the poker player's poker game."

Nobody even knew about flop games. The first time I heard about Texas hold'em, I thought it was some kind of wrestling match. And Omaha? This seems to be a game favored by masochists, psychotics, or players so brilliant that they can bring a whole dimension to the game that most of us who are merely of above-average intelligence can't comprehend.

Let's fast-forward to the new millennium. With exceptions like Bellagio and the Mirage in Las Vegas, and some casinos in Los Angeles, Connecticut, Arizona, and Atlantic City, very few cardrooms spread seven-card stud at limits higher than $1-$5. Even in those casinos, the numbers of tables dedicated to stud are decreasing all the time.

Why are seven-card stud players so rare to find these days? It could be for the same reason that it's hard to find a good manual typewriter anymore. A lot more stud players are qualifying for Medicare than just getting out of college. Are they all old fogies? Certainly not! But their numbers are dwindling, and the same people sit across the table from each other day after day, pitifully grateful for any new player who comes along. Mostly, stud players shove their chips back and forth among themselves, eliminating the weaker ones who go broke (or die).

The discussion about the demise of seven-card stud has been heard at the tables for some time now, and there are the obvious answers: The Internet, that phenomenal advance in global gaming, has certainly favored hold'em. Go to any of the dozens of sites and look at the game choices. Hold'em and Omaha prevail. Sign up for a stud game or one-table tournament and be prepared to spend many hours watching your little icon while sitting and waiting.

There is no question that the game of poker in general has grown exponentially in the last few years. So, why are younger generations more inclined to be impressed with flop games? First and foremost is the action, and that action stems partly from the fact that hold'em is a much easier game to learn than stud. Hold'em is probably much harder to master than any other game, but learning the basics is a slam-dunk, requiring minimal thinking skills and little mental discipline. Once the hierarchy of hand values is mastered, it's easy to jump into a game.

The astounding publicity that now surrounds televised poker brings new players into the game with more knowledge of and familiarity with hold'em. Add to this the phenomenal adventure of the fatefully named Chris Moneymaker, whose amazing exploits have been sent around the world through cyberspace as well as by major television networks like ESPN. A young man who had never played poker in a brick-and-mortar poker room comes to Vegas and wins $2.5 million and the most coveted prize in the poker world. This is a poker story of epoch proportions, fueling the dreams of every card-playing wannabe on the planet.

But there's more to it than that. The truth is, being a winning stud player takes a lot more of the not so glamorous attributes of good card playing, like remembering cards, for one. Stud is a game of keeping track of cards as they are folded, and using a process of elimination and deductive reasoning to ascertain what your opponents could hold and how that compares to your own hand. In hold'em, once you figure out what could be the best hand made with the three, four, and five cards on the board, knowing how your hand fits into that hierarchy makes it somewhat simpler to play. Now, I am not saying that hold'em is not a complicated game. But, the kind of mental gymnastics it takes to play hold'em are different than in stud.

Generation X and younger players are looking for a dot-com type of experience, in which big growth can be derived from minimal investment. Like input in a computer, the more information there is to process, the more complex that process becomes. Playing stud is like writing a letter. A great deal of patience and concentration is needed to analyze the hands as they develop. Hold'em players get less basic information and utilize more probability, psychology, and intuition. Hold'em is more like text-messaging.

Is seven-card stud going to survive in the frenetic world of casino, tournament, and Internet poker? My guess is that there will always be a number of players who enjoy the distinct characteristics of stud, just as some of us still enjoy writing letters with pen and paper.

So, where have all the stud players gone? Some to Omaha and hold'em, some to the few poker rooms that still offer a good game, and some to heaven.

And with that, class dismissed.

Please e-mail me your questions and comments.