Stud Strategy – Seventh Street

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We’ve been covering Seven Card Stud strategy for a couple of months now and today we will cover what may be the easiest street to play in the game. Seventh Street is where you pretty much knew where you’re at in a hand and have pretty standard decisions to make.

However, this is a street that even great players can misplay if they overanalyze their hand. Let’s take a look at how you should be playing the river in Stud poker.

You Should Know Where You’re At

Seventh Street is called the river in Stud poker just as in Texas Hold’em. This is when hands go to showdown and by this point, you should know where you’re at in a hand the majority of the time. You will know nearly 60% of your opponent’s hand and should be able to figure out whether they are drawing or trying to bluff you.

Remember that the high hand on Sixth Street will also bet first at the river and you need to act or react accordingly.

Bet for Value or Save a Bet

Your decisions on the river are going to be simple. You are either going to bet your hand for value or you’re going to slow down and save a bet. If you have a strong hand or are reasonably sure you’re in the lead, the best play here is to bet your hand. Don’t try and slow play here as you would in NL Hold’em or PL Omaha.

When you are sure you’re behind or you’re out of position against a potential drawing hand, then you want to slow your roll here. If you bet into a draw that got there, you are going to be giving up an additional bet. Saving bets on the river makes a big difference in your hourly rate in Stud.

You’re Calling Most Bets on the River

In Seven Card Stud, be prepared to call a bet on the river. Stud poker is Limit Poker, which means you will only be calling a single bet. For a $2-$4 Stud game, that would mean $4 at the river. This isn’t Texas Hold’em or PLO where the bets are huge.

For many hands, you will have pot odds to make the call at the river with a majority of hands. There will be times where you will call down when you think you are beat because you have pot odds. For example, if you have a pair of aces and a flush draw on Sixth Street and miss your draw on the river, you’ll still opt to call a bet.

Often, you are going to be looking at a pot of 5 to 7 bets at the river (assuming bets on all streets), so you’re going to have odds to call in many cases.

Betting According to Player Tendencies

One thing to keep in mind is that Stud poker will have more rocks and solid players than your standard poker game, and this gives you some opportunities to extract value in certain spots. For example, an opponent who will not bet into your draw unless they have a better hand. This is a spot where your aces or jacks-up may be good and worth value betting.

Another example is someone that always checks when they miss their draws at the river. If you’re sitting there with two pair and a draw checks, put out a value bet.

The last few weeks, we have given you a very basic strategy for playing Seven Card Stud. This game takes a ton of patience but is also much less swingy that NL Hold’em or PLO. It is a good idea to learn Stud if you plan to become a well-rounded poker player.