One of my goals for the year was to put some time into improving my play in poker games besides No Limit Hold ‘Em. I bought Poker Tracker Stud and spent a good deal of time in January playing Stud games, but since then I haven’t done much towards this goal.
At a cost of just $45 (if you already have Poker Tracker, which you should), Poker Tracker Stud is a nice program to have even if you use it only for tracking your results. It is somewhat less useful than the Hold ‘Em version, as there are more starting hand combinations in Stud and more situational considerations on 3rd street than there are preflop in Hold ‘Em, but it is still a great product.
Anyway, today I decided to play a little Stud/8 while doing some reading for work. Early on, I played a big pot very aggressively with a big draw:
7 Card Stud High-Low ($5/$10), Ante $0.50
3rd Street – (0.40 SB)
chopula: xx xx 5h___folds
Mephys: xx xx Qh___raises___calls
foucault82: 6d Ad 2d___raises
erich_fromm: xx xx Th___folds
4th Street – (4.40 SB)
Mephys: xx xx Qh 5s___bets
foucault82: 6d Ad 2d 8s___calls
5th Street – (3.20 BB)
Mephys: xx xx Qh 5d Qd___bets___raises___calls
foucault82: 6d Ad 2d 8s Td___raises___raises
6th Street – (11.20 BB)
Mephys: xx xx Qh 5s Qd Ks___bets
foucault82: 6d Ad 2d 8s Td 9c___calls
River – (13.20 BB)
Mephys: xx xx Qh 5s Qd Ks xx___bets___raises___calls
foucault82: 6d Ad 2d 8s Td 9c 3c___raises___raises
Total pot: (21.20 BB)
My opponent had quad Q’s and was pretty upset that I took half the pot, but I ran the odds later, and even against his actual hand, which was better than I expected it to be, I was almost even money. If he had a buried pair with a diamond, I would have been a 53.5% favorite on 5th street, and if he doesn’t have a diamond in the hole, my equity improves to 56%. In truth, I probably should have pushed him harder on 4th. On the river, I’m guaranteed half the pot, so I might as well jam it.
The Stud hand converter that I used can be found here, by the way. I used Two Dimes to do the equity calculations. Both of these tools are free and very useful.