In a nutshell, the key to winning money at Seven-Card Stud is to start with the best three-card starting hand. The most powerful starting hand in Seven-Card Stud is three aces, which I will be indicating as (A-A) A, followed by (K-K) K, (Q-Q) Q, (J-J) J, and so on; when you start with three of a kind in Stud, you are said, in poker slang, to be “rolled-up.”
Phil Hellmuth Jr. is an 11-time World Series of Poker Champion, leading all poker players in the world. His latest book, “Deal Me In,” is on the fast track for being another best-seller. His books, clothing line, blog, tips and more can be found at PhilHellmuth.com. This column is an excerpt from “Play Poker Like the Pros.”
Poker
Poker: Powerful Hands in Seven-Card Stud
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The next most powerful hand is a pair of concealed aces, such as (A-A) 5, followed by one concealed ace and one unconcealed ace, such as (A5) A. The reason that the concealed aces (or indeed any concealed pairs) are more powerful than the unconcealed aces is that the concealed pair is more deceptive: No one will think you have a hand as powerful as aces.
Next on my list of powerful hands is a pair of kings — first concealed, followed by unconcealed. Then we have a pair of queens, pair of jacks, pair of tens, and (A-K) Q suited (“suited” means that all three of your cards are in the same suit). Poker legend John Bonetti ranks (A-K) Q suited ahead of (J-J) 10. So our list of powerful starting hands begins with rolled-up trips (three of a kind), moves on to high pairs, and then moves on to high-suited connections like J♦-Q♦-K♦. All these are premium starting hands in Seven-Card Stud. The premium starting hands, then, are: 1. Three of a kind or “rolled-up” trips, beginning with (A-A) A 2. High pairs, concealed or unconcealed, starting with aces and moving down to jacks 3. High-suited connectors, such as (A♦-K♦) Q♦ Strong and medium strength starting hands are: 4. Medium-rank pairs like 8-8 through 10-10 and medium-suited connectors, such as 10♠-J♠-Q♠ 5. High suited semiconnectors, such as 10♥-J♥-K♥ Now that you understand what the most powerful Stud hands look like, let’s move on down the list and compare a couple of the more modest hands to help you think about which hands are more powerful. Which would you rather have, (10♣-J♣) Q♣ or (8♣-8♠) Q♦? That’s close, but give me (10♣-J♣) Q♣. If you understand why I prefer the first hand, you’ll have come a long way toward starting to think like a good Seven-Card Stud player, rather than remaining someone who has simply memorized a list of starting hands. The hand (10♣-J♣) Q♣ contains three overcards above the eights of the other hand. This means that if I hit a 10, jack or queen (and unless I see more sitting around the table), I will be a pretty strong favorite to win this hand. By contrast, the hand (8♣-8♠) Q♦ has an equal chance to catch one of three remaining
queens, and a chance to catch one of the two remaining eights to make trips. But take note that I’m comparing these two hands “in a vacuum,” not taking into account the visible queen in the hand with the concealed eights.
Phil Hellmuth, Jr.
The contrast between the two doesn’t end there, though. Although much of the strength of the hand (10♣-J♣) Q♣ does come from the high cards that make the high pairs, I could also catch cards that could make me a flush or a straight or even a straight flush. If I look around the table and don’t see many nines or kings (the cards that would give me an open-end straight draw), the hand’s potential grows stronger. It grows stronger still if I don’t see many eights or aces (the cards that would complete the straight if I caught a nine or a king). But what I’m really keeping my eyes open for are clubs (a flush beats a straight, after all). There are 10 clubs left in the deck after we take my three out of consideration. If no one else has a club for a door card, my chances of making a flush have improved. But if I see four other players who show a club, I can consider my chance of making a flush rather remote. All this might seem tedious or technical, but if you’re not prepared to analyze hands to this extent, you won’t ever be serious about Stud. Besides, it will take only a dozen seconds to assimilate all this information. Here’s another comparison for you. Which hand would you prefer — (5♥-6♥) 7♥ or (9♣-9♦) 10♠? If you’ve pondered categories 4 and 5 above, you already have your answer, because a medium pair like nines makes category four, but a low straight flush isn’t listed. I agree: Give me the pair of nines (9♣-9♦) 10♠, because the straight flush cards are all lower than the pair of nines. Most of the value in the hand (5♥-6♥) 7♥ comes from the potential for straight and flush, and although it looks pretty, the hand is still a long way from making a straight or a flush. How about (10♥-J♠) Q♦ versus (2-2) 7? I’ll take (10♥-J♠) Q♦, even though it’s not suited, because I could make a straight or a pair of 10s, jacks or queens; and even if none of that happens, I could still beat a measly pair of twos with some random event like hitting a three on fourth street and then another three on fifth street. Although you may feel that when it comes to getting good starting cards, you’re more or less at the mercy of Lady Luck, you should realize that you can make your starting hand seem a bit more powerful than it actually is through aggression, or weaken it through passivity. The hand that’s doing the betting always has the edge, because the other hand may fold rather than contest its bet.
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