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7 Card Stud Beginner Strategy

April 22, 2009

7 Card Stud is a classic poker game played in just about every land-based and online poker room. Players of all skill levels can be found around the felt, but if you want to become one of the better 7 Card Stud players, you’ll need to develop a solid 7 Card Stud strategy.

A good 7 Card Stud strategy is made up of many different elements that come together into a winning poker game, but it can be overwhelming, to say the least, to try to adapt all of these elements at once. For this reason, we’re providing a 3-part 7 Card Stud strategy guide that ranges from beginner strategies, to intermediate, to the most advanced levels of strategic poker play.

In this, our first installment – the 7 Card Stud Beginner Strategy – we’ll go over some of the basic requirements of a good 7 Card Stud strategy. These will include the importance of starting hand selection, the value of Door Cards, and the emotional aspect of the game. Patience and discipline is essential to any good poker strategy.

7 Card Stud Beginner Strategy – Starting Hands

If you read our previous article, 7 Card Stud Rules & Starting Hands, you should already know all about what makes a good starting hand. If you have not read this section, please refer to it now, then come back and continue.

7 Card Stud Rules & Starting Hands

Stating hand selection is crucial, as it makes for the optimal poker game – one that reduces chip loss and maximizes profit at the table. If you starting hand is not good to begin with, you can’t honestly expect it to get a lot better as the streets go on. Yes, you might get lucky, but the odds are against you. Fold a junk hand and conserve your chip stack for a better opportunity.

7 Card Stud Beginner Strategy – The Door Card

The Door Card is the single face-up card given to each player in the initial deal. This card can make or break your hand; sometimes, regardless of your hole cards.

When you have an excellent Door Card, especially an Ace, and no other player has a Door Card higher than 9, this puts you in an excellent position to scare others away from the pot. From late position, your hole cards may not even matter. From early position, however, a straight bluff is not recommended.

In reverse, having a terrible Door Card can work to your advantage as well, but only if your hole cards are very strong. Pocket Aces or Kings, high suited connectors, these kinds of hole cards are worth moving on with if you have a low Door Card since it will help you draw more chips into the pot. Others will consider you weak, therefore may stay in the hand with marginal holdings simply because they think they’ve got you beat.

7 Card Stud Beginner Strategy – Patience & Discipline

The ability to maintain patience and discipline at the table is essential to a winning poker strategy. If you let yourself become frustrated, your game play will suffer, and your opponents will be able to tell, giving them the open door to take advantage of such a weakness. You need the patience to wait for good starting hands and the discipline to stay calm, no matter how long it takes to get that premium starter.

Upgrading Strategies

We highly recommend practicing this 7 Card Stud beginner strategy before moving on to a higher level. Start out at low stakes and when you have each of these elements memorized and easily implemented, only then should you adjust your strategy to include the next levels of strategic play.

7 Card Stud Intermediate Strategy
7 Card Stud Advanced Strategy

Written by Rob · Filed Under HORSE Poker Strategy 

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