Pay Attention To Your Outs: Breaking Down A Profitable Hand Of Stud 8Mazmanian Breaks Down A Hand From A Recent Mixed-Game Session |
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I recently played a hand of Stud Eight-Or-Better (Stud 8) at $40-$80 which was rather intriguing.
All seven of us at the table anted $10, and I was dealt (5-6) down with a 2 up. The other exposed up cards were an A, 8, Q, J, 7, and K.
For my hand, it was good not to see any threes or fours since I need those to complete a straight and potentially scoop. Simultaneously, I could use an ace, eight, or seven to improve my low, so seeing those three cards dead hurt my holding too.
As a penalty for having the lowest card, I brought in for $10. The Ace then completed to $40, and the 8 called. I called, the 7 called, and everyone else folded.
So we took fourth street with $230 in the pot. I peeled a glorious 3, the Ace paired another Ace, the 8 paired an 8, and the 7 added a Jack.
The pair of aces led for $40 (a double bet on paired boards is not allowed in stud 8). The 8-8 called, and with the 7-J showing behind me, this is a spot where I must raise to give him a lousy price to continue in the hand. The 7-J folded, and A-A immediately three-bet, which 8-8 called.
I now could decide to flat or four-bet, and there is merit to both.
If A-A started with a pair, he would now have trips, which would also mean an additional Ace is unavailable to complete my low. If the 8-8 started with a pair, that would also mean an additional eight unavailable to complete my low. I needed an Ace, four, seven, or eight, and any four would also give me a straight to compete for the high.
With one seven, two eights, and two Aces exposed, this reduces 16 outs to 11. If indeed both opponents have trips, my outs are down to nine. Furthermore, the player showing A-A was extremely aggressive and could be jamming with a hand like J-J in the hole or even 8-6.
Finally, all things considered, I four-bet and both players called, growing the pot to $710.
On fifth street, A-A added a 7 and 8-8 added a 3, and I bricked with a Queen.
Losing the seven decidedly decreased my equity in the pot, and seeing A-A potentially pick up a low draw is also bad for me. A-A-7 bet $80, 8-8-3 called, and I called, making the pot $950.
On sixth street, A-A-7 got a 9, 8-8-3 got a 10, and I hit gin with a 4! Now my board was 2-3-Q-4 giving me a potential low.
Aces elected to check, presumably because of my new board, eights checked, and I bet. Now to my surprise, A-A-7-9 check raised! 8-8-3-10 tanked for a while and finally folded, and I had an easy three-bet.
In the moment, I considered the pros and cons of his play. On the plus side, by making it two bets cold to 8-8-3-10, he did eliminate an opponent who could potentially beat his high. On the downside, his play can only work when I bet. If that four pairs me and thus doesn’t improve me to a low, I should be checking behind with a frequency of 100% given the boards I am looking at.
As such, when I bet, I will always have at least half the pot, and likely have some type of straight draw to three-bet his raise with nearly 100% of my range. Alternatively, when I do check behind, it would be because I didn’t make a low on the four, and thus he would miss value when scooping by allowing a free street.
On the other hand, if he elects to lead, I will call when I don’t make a low and raise when I do. As such, he would then have an opportunity to put in a three-bet and still potentially force a fold from the other player at the price of calling a four-bet from me, or he could just call my raise and not put in extra action when behind. Either way, I overall like leading more than his check-raise, since when attempting to check-raise, he will accrue no value when scooping and I check back.
As played, we each put in $240 on the street so pot ballooned to $1,430.
Finally, he checked dark and called my river bet, so the final pot was $1,590, which I was fortunate to scoop based on some interesting choices from my opponents. By paying attention to dead cards, tendencies, and accurate range reading, Stud 8 frequently offers fun and profitable scenarios like this.
Mark Mazmanian has been a mixed-game specialist for more than two decades playing in games all over the country. The Las Vegas resident can be reached on IG maztastic1 or by email at markmaz17hotmail.com.
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