Common Situation Ignored by Stud 8 Players

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Stud 8 or Better is one of the few poker games where strategies don’t vary significantly over the years. It sometimes amazes me how today’s Stud 8 players make the same mistakes that you’d see players make 20 years ago.

There are several situations in this game that players often overlook because this is a split pot game. Today, we will look at the most commonly overlooked spots in Stud 8 to help you improve your game.

Ignoring Paired Door Card

If you are a Stud high player, you likely already know that a paired door card means no worse than two pair. It often means trips. Players in Stud 8 will often overlook a paired door card, particularly if the door card is low. They automatically assume that the player started low and now just has a pair.

This is a bad assumption as a player coming in with a low card may have a low pair. Such as a split pair of deuces with another low card. What if the player has a buried pair of aces with that low card. They now have two pair. Ignoring this situation is just giving away bets unnecessarily.

Not Betting When You Can’t Be Scooped

I played with 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion Greg Raymer during a Stud 8 Event in 2007. During that event, he told me, “If I can’t be scooped, I’m going to bet.” This advice seems obvious, but many players go the cautious route when playing Stud 8.

For example, you have a six-low on fifth and it is clear your opponents are going high. Rather than push the pot, some players will passively check-call bets hoping to keep players on the hook. This often results in fewer bets being places in the pot.

Bet or not to be when you can’t be scooped? BET!

There is also the chance that betting may force your opponent to fold. During a Stud 8 event at Binions a few years ago, I had such a situation occur. I had a six-low in five and bet every street to the river.

My opponent had a pair of sevens showing on the board with a couple of high cards. When I bet the river, he looked at his hand and commented that “If you can bet into my sevens, I can’t win.” He then folded. Aggressive betting led to me scooping a pot that I would have otherwise chopped.

Aggressively betting when you cannot be scooped can help you increase your half of a guaranteed pot or can help you scoop pots against weaker opponents.

Failing to Let Go of Low Draws When Key Outs are Dead

There are some players that will hang onto low draws regardless of how many outs are live in the hand. Sometimes this is due to the player not committing cards to memory. Other times, it is because they refuse to let go of a good starting hand until it is too late.

For example, let’s say you were dealt A-3-5. You look around and see a 2, 4, 6, 4, 3, and six. Immediately, you have lost about half of your key outs for a scooper. At this point, you should definitely proceed with caution if not get out of the hand entirely.

What happens too often is that a player stays in the hand and when additional key outs hit the other hands, they continue anyway. Sure, you could improve to a 7 or 8-low, but you are chasing after half of the pot at best and drawing much thinner than you normally might.

When you’re in a situation where key outs to a scoop hand are low, it is better to abandon the hand. The exception is when it is clear that opponents are going high. However, this perfect scenario happens too infrequently to be a profitable move long-term.