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Pokerteam articles 26

Seven Card Stud Starting Hands Strategy

One of the things you are going to hear around the online poker rooms is that Starting Hands are not such as big deal in Seven Card Stud Poker. This could not be further from the truth. A starting hand consists of two cards face down and one face up. Nearly half of all the cards you are going to end up with.

Such being the case easier to do well if you already have the cards. Off the bat you want your cards to be pretty high. Chances are your hand will not improve that drastically from there to seventh street. You need to be wary of split pairs and concealed pairs.

Your goal is to knock as many of your opponents from the hand as quickly as you can. Trips would be the ultimate starting hand and then flush draws. Pairs and straight draw following. Concealed Aces are great and if you have a rainbow of nothing you are going to be hard pressed to make anything of that hand and should probably fold.

With a flush in the offing, you want to see as few of the same suit you see around the table and then there are the face down cards which you have no idea what they are.

So what should you do given your starting hand?

  • If you have High trips from 10’s to Aces then be aggressive.
  • With low trips you should be slow-playing. No one would figure that your face up four is one of three of a kind.
  • With a high pair you need to be aggressive to knock some players out.
  • With a low pair you can slow play but fold if you see the cards you are looking for pop up in other people’s hands.
  • Flush and straight drawing hands are ones you should be slow-playing.
  • If you have nothing fold. There is no need to hang around. You don't have to be one of those online poker fish who do nothing but give their chips to everyone else.

Pauline Davis - Poker Expert

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