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Stud Eight or Better Advanced Strategy

April 10, 2009

In our recent beginner and intermediate Stud Eight or Better strategies, we’ve set the foundation for a solid poker game. If you’ve been following along, you should be well adapted to these tactics by now and ready to move on the the final, advanced 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo strategy.

Our beginner strategy covered the basic “values” – the value of good starting hand value, under-valuing the door card value and over-valuing the low hand. Our intermediate strategy went further into table concepts – using the up cards on the table to your advantage, how to act (and not react) at the table, plus choosing the right stakes and knowing when to increase them.

The last chapter in our strategy guide, the Stud Eight or Better Advanced Strategy, will take you one step father into the psychological aspect of the game. We’ll teach you how to find a player’s weaknesses and use them against him, how to conceal your own weaknesses, and everyone’s favorite – bluffing!

Stud Eight or Better Advanced Strategy – Playing the Player

7 Card Stud Hi-Lo is not just a game of cards versus cards where the highest hand always takes the pot. If it were, lady luck would be the only prevailing factor and the term “poker face” wouldn’t even exist. Poker is a game of psychology, pitting the mental strengths of one player against the other.

In order to defeat your opponent, you must get inside his head. You don’t need a medical license to read a player, you just need to be observant and have a good memory. Watch for patterns in betting and behavior. Most reactions occur on a situational basis. For instance, a player who slow plays a monster hand will always slow play a monster. He may offer up a bet on every marginal hand, but check every great hand in hopes of pulling off the check/raise. One who bluffs in late position will usually do it repeatedly until called. Once you can identify these patterns, you can predict your opponent’s holdings and force him into an unfavorable situation.

Other behavior to watch for would be a player who double checks his hole cards at a live table. This usually means he’s checking for the Flush Draw, or is trying to appear doubtful and weak when he’s not. If a player’s hands go anywhere near his or her face (scratch chin, fingers through hair, wipe eyes, adjust glasses, etc), this can be a sign of something. It’s a nervous reaction that means they’re either bluffing or have a great hand. The first time they do it, watch to see whether they had a strong or weak hand. Were they bluffing, or semi-bluffing, or did they honestly think they had the hand won? Maybe they did go on to win the hand.

If you can use a player’s behavioral and betting patterns, you’ll be right up there with the pros in terms of player recognition and predictability. Practice by targeting a single player and once you’ve got them down, move on to the next. Patterns become very easy to identify as you get accustomed to it, as most players fit into one category or another and, with some experiencing reading players, are easily recognized within a few hands.

Stud Eight or Better Advanced Strategy – Don’t Get Played

We just spent a great deal of effort teaching you exactly how to use a player’s weaknesses against them. Now we’re going to reverse this theory. Consider for a moment; if you’re putting this much mental capacity towards reading your opponents, you can bet your last poker chip that your opponents are doing the exact same thing to you.

Do not let yourself become predictable. All general poker strategies tell you to pick the type of player you want to be, use a corresponding poker strategy, and stick to it. At low stakes games where your competition isn’t very experienced, this might work. But as you climb the stakes ladder to stiffer opposition, that stream-line strategy won’t work anymore. You must mix things up, changing your situational betting style every few hands. Go from passive to aggressive, tight to loose, rock to maniac. Never fall into a pattern and you’ll drive your opponents insane trying to figure you out.

Stud Eight or Better Advanced Strategy – Bluffing / Semi-Bluffing

Everyone loves to bluff in a poker game. Unfortunately, 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo is one of the hardest games to pull off a proper bluff. Since there are two hands and a potential split pot, the chance of players staying active in the hand are about twice that of single-winner games like Texas Hold’em. For this reason, straight-out bluffing is rarely recommended. Instead, we recommend the Semi-Bluff.

A semi-bluff is just like a normal bluff, placing a substantial bet to scare your competitors away from the pot, except that you actually have a decent hand at the time. It may not be the best hand at the table, but it has enough outs to be workable. There are two great advantages to semi-bluffing, compared to straight bluffing. First off, if you get called, you have something to fall back on. And secondly, if you get called, you won’t be labeled a bluffer.

The only time to straight-out bluff is when you have created a threatening, aggressive table presence. If your opponents fear you, and you are not known to bluff, you’ll have a much better chance of everyone folding the pot to you. It helps to have a great Door Card, especially an Ace, and helps even more if your opponents all have bad Door Cards, like 8s, 9s and 10s.

Stud Eight or Better Advanced Strategy – Conclusion

We’ve walked you through a comprehensive, 3-part Stud Eight or Better strategy guide that we hope will help you become not just a better player, but a consistently winning player at all stakes. If you would like to review any of our 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo pages, please use the links below.

Stud Eight or Better Rules & Starting Hands
Stud Eight or Better Beginner Strategy
Stud Eight or Better Intermediate Strategy

Written by Rob · Filed Under HORSE Poker Strategy 

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