Stud Thoughts

It been a while since I tried to do a Stud article. In that time I’ve played it most days and usually several sessions. I can’t really figure out if I’m doing better or worse. I’m trying a lot of different things. I’ve seen a lot of variance that doesn’t really seem part of my varying my game. Or at least it doesn’t nearly account for the variance.

It seems you need a decent hand to win a lot. That a big Duhh! Someday’s my great drawing hands make it with ease. Other days that never happens. At other times those solid hands meet even better ones. There are a lot of nice hands in sessions and you meet the occasional concealed hand that leaves you talking to yourself when all three downs play or those quads are shown.

I do a fair – and only fair – job of remembering cards mucked. Some days are better than others at that. I’m trying to play a bit shorter sessions to make that more optimal. That does help a bit.

There are parts of my game that are horrid. I sometimes loosen up my game unconsciously. I am not sure how or why. But, I can fall into the trap for a few hands. I usually correct it promptly but dropping a few big blinds that way is stupid.

Here is a really dumb example on Full Tilt:

If you can’t figure out how stupid I was and why I finished 4th in a 4-way pot, you need to read your stud book again. Speaking of stupid and how Stud tends to generate good hands, there wasn’t a lot of betting going on early and it is hard to detail what probable holding were throughout the hand. But, the simple fact is the only reason to be in the hand was being the bring in. Pretty certain the AA guy completed and Q86 suited isn’t a hand to put a lot of faith in. My thinking at the time was the .15 wasn’t a bad investment in a $+ pot. It wasn’t. But where do you get off the hand. With any betting going on the answer is a fold. I didn’t and ended up 4^th in a 4-way pot. But, the betting did die down a bit and the pot odds made me want to be a fool.

Here’s more typical FT play. The table was aggressive.

Statistics for 21 Hands

Street Saw Saw/Total

Fourth 5 24%

Fifth 3 14%

Sixth 1 5%

Seventh 1 5%

Showdown 1 5%

Street Won Won/Saw Won/Total

Third 0 0% 0%

Fourth 0 0% 0%

Fifth 0 0% 0%

Sixth 0 0% 0%

Seventh 0 0% 0%

Showdown 1 100% 5%

21 hands and I am now up 5 BB’s

Statistics for 38 Hands

Street Saw Saw/Total

Fourth 9 24%

Fifth 7 18%

Sixth 3 8%

Seventh 2 5%

Showdown 2 5%

Street Won Won/Saw Won/Total

Third 0 0% 0%

Fourth 0 0% 0%

Fifth 0 0% 0%

Sixth 0 0% 0%

Seventh 0 0% 0%

Showdown 2 100% 5%

Here’s where I walked. Still 5 BB up. Horrid cards along the way but a profit. But, I won every time where I reached the river. That’s a nice session; regardless. I might of folded some hands I could have won with. But I didn’t give away bets chasing anything.

I then went over to PokerStars for a bit. It was the loosest table I think I have ever played. There was no way I could put anybody on a hand. People were betting 9-high from 4^th street position every hand. It made no difference what they had. I won 3 hand in the session. Two of them with full houses and because people were chasing like fools, they were nice pots. It wasn’t quite a half hour of play and I left with 11 BB’s. That was nice as Stars has been rather brutal on the last couple of sessions. Even today my set of 8’s lost. That isn’t a shock but it is a disappointment.

ADDENDUM:

NEVER SAY TO A COP

1. I can’t reach my license unless you hold my beer. (OK in Texas, Beer Vending Machine Drive throughs as a matter of fact )

2. Sorry, Officer, I didn’t realize my radar detector wasn’t plugged in.

3. Aren’t you the guy from the Village People?

4. Hey, you must’ve been doin’ about 125 mph to keep up with me. Good job!

5. Are You Andy or Barney?

6. I thought you had to be in relatively good physical condition to be a police officer.

7. You’re not gonna check the trunk, are you?

8. I pay your salary!

9. Gee, Officer! That’s terrific. The last officer only gave me a warning, too!

10. Do you know why you pulled me over? Okay, just so one of us does.

11. I was trying to keep up with traffic. Yes, I know there are no other cars around.. That’s how far ahead of me they are.

12. When the Officer says ‘Gee Your eyes look red, have you been drinking?’ You probably shouldn’t respond with,’Gee Officer your eyes look glazed, have you been eating doughnuts?’

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Here is my 2nd FT session for the day.   Seem to be doing better than the last few day and picked up 10 BB’s for the session.  Would like to get one more bonus payout before it expires at the end of the month.

Statistics for 55 Hands
Street    Saw    Saw/Total
Fourth    20    36%
Fifth    16    29%
Sixth    10    18%
Seventh    8    15%
Showdown    7    13%
Street    Won    Won/Saw    Won/Total
Third    0    0%    0%
Fourth    1    5%    2%
Fifth    1    6%    2%
Sixth    1    10%    2%
Seventh    0    0%    0%
Showdown    5    71%    9%

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 10:08 am and is filed under Journal, Other poker. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.