Seven Stud Skills Event

2nd Place is the first loser; it really is amazing that even when you win you feel the sting of defeat. I was the big chip leader with 98,000+ with six players left and after that it was a bumpy ride mostly downhill. I’m partial to the players I know and having LJ at the table made me more focused on the hands I wasn’t in, having a second person to root for, unfortunately our styles overlap and we ended in a lot of pots together. When it was down to the two of us and surflexus I really wanted one of us to pull ahead but it didn’t happen.

Looking back I see both the good and the bad, how I built my tower of chips, and what I did to cause it to crumble. Let’s start with the good. People expect the most basic plays and there are three types of players you want to extract chips from.

1) The over-aggressors: This can be dangerous, but the key is to abandon draws and hands as soon as you fall behind because there will be at least one bet on every street. It makes big pairs vulnerable and drawing hands to straights and flushes much more powerful.

2) “Correct” Players: This is where knowing the game and the “standard” play comes into effect. Bring it in for a raise with the highest door card, if you have a high pair underneath, “9s or better wired; Jacks or better split.” The check raise is huge against these players because the gap concept makes them give you A LOT of credit. I started with 5c 6c and 4c up top and called a raise. Hit a 4 on fourth showing a pair and checked it…check behind. A blank and a bet on 5th and I took down a pot against a higher pair because of the possibility of trips.

3) Short stacks: The entire game changes when you only have three or four bets, all of a sudden players are allin committed once they make it to Fourth Street. Knowing the implied odds and the likely holdings, this can lead to a lot of easy chips, especially when players get desperate.

The bad plays: Most of the time you don’t lose on your last hand, you lose on paying off extra bets and seeing too many streets with marginal holdings. Some players lose money on missed draws and bad beats, but by maximizing gains and minimizing losses your stack can usually handle the variance. I don’t remember many hands but I do remember several mistakes from last night. On Seventh street my opponent was showing sevens and had bet the whole way. I had tens and folded to a river bet even though I was getting 9 to 1, I even wrote it in the chat field…risking 10,000 to win 100,000 could have been huge and I really wasn’t 90% sure I was behind, maybe 80%.

My biggest mistake in Seven Card Stud is river bluffs and lack of value bets at the end. I also let myself get squeezed from behind on middle streets. Like in flop games position is extremely important to gain or avoid extra bets. In stud however, the rotation can change from street to street so it’s important to see the shifts and the possible reactions. Betting on seventh street is rarely successful at chasing out a better hand and rarely causes a similar hand to fold. A middle pair may pay off a flush because there is so much money in the pot…and unlike in no limit games opening up the betting on the river in position is not as detrimental because there is no fear of an allin, just an extra bet.

Many players check seventh if they believe the other player is on a draw so as to call one bet rather then two when they are behind, but it is important to realize the likelihood that they make their hand on the river. Usually the best case scenarios are 4:1 to hit the draw and if one out of five times you pay off two bets, as long as they are willing to call your last bet half of the time when they miss (and have a pair or some other semblance of a hand) the bet becomes a break even. The advantage comes in the times when you fill up against a straight or flush and get two extra bets even if that only happens 4:1 x 5:1 = 1 time in 20 or so. That three bet gain 5% of the time makes the play more profitable than checking, but of course everything changes according to the field.

I’m enjoying writing and will try to play more live games and internet mtts as law school ends and life frees up. Until next time wish me luck.

“I don’t believe in luck, I believe in cause and effect.”