Games with a door card (see glossary at bottom of article) are in the stud family. But the three games included in HORSE are quite different. I’m still struggling with all three. It may be a feature of them that one always will.
All three games include a lot of variance. They all provide late situations where the pot dictates a bit of chasing.
At stud (high) a 3-flush at the start is normally a great hand. But there is a difference to keep in mind. If they are low cards and it is a raised pot, it becomes a foldable hand. Should you get the 4-flush on the next street, it is still slightly less than even money you’ll complete. A hand with high cards, especially where the card(s) is greater than any of the door cards is likely a hand to raise with. It has much greater potential. The flush may also offer some straight potential. Again, lower examples are much weaker hands. Completing a straight with 4 to the straight is still a 43% likelihood to complete. Low versions mean you’re pretty much dead when you blank on 4th street.
Betting can be a nightmare and you see a lot of bad betting at the tables I frequent. The rule of thumb is to place a bet when you believe you have the best hand in multi-way pots. But at times, where you’ve made a really solid hand, you want to keep people in the game along with concealing your strength. This is especially helpful where the table leans toward aggression and you feel one of the decent looking hands will be betting anyway. There is nothing like having a well concealed powerhouse on such a table.
You’ll get a pretty good idea of the bluffers (not the best idea at stud usually) and the calling stations and must tailor your play to those participating. That requires more thought process in how you will play. In high low, you’ll often get people chasing the low
I asked JBHarshaw to take a read of this. I got the following by YM!:
I can see why you might be having problems. Your view is oriented toward your cards. You have to take the opps cards into account.
And although chasing can cost you money, If you are not catching your share on the river, you are losing. You have to chase but you also have to restrict to when you have the proper implied odds. Which in most cases can be "reverse"
In hold’em you base your reads on the actions of your opp. In Stud you also base it on his cards.
Good Post.
7-card is one of my weakest games.
I too have been trying to improve by
playing more of the mixed games.
Unlike you, I lose money in the
mixed games then go make it up in the
sit-n-go’s.