Poker News

Stud 8 Myths

Last time, we looked at two of the biggest myths that players learning stud 8 make - that any hand you’d play in stud you can play in stud 8, and that any pair is playable. As you read (or have learned by experience) doing that is a sure-fire way to lose money, because you are frequently just playing for half of the pot. Stud 8 is allabout the scoop - and when you only go in one direction, you end up a long-term losing player.

There are two other myths that new stud 8 players often make. One is that they get excited anytime they see three cards of eight or less. The other big myth is any flush or straight draw can be played. Let’s look at these two fallacies in-depth:

Myth #3: Any three low cards are playable.

Many players new to stud 8 will play any three small cards - like 468, 568, etc. While you want to go low in this game, you want to start out with a quality low draw. That doesn’t mean your three cards always have to be suited or in sequence, but it does mean you want three cards of six or less or three cards of seven or less with an ace or two cards that are suited or in sequence. When you’ve got the eight, you are drawing to one of the worst lows, and may be setting yourself up to get trapped later on in the hand. Remember: just as you don’t want to only be going high, you’d like your low draw to have some chance at the high too. A hand like As 3s 7s has that potential - a hand like 3s 6d 8c has the potential to cost you a stack.

Myth #4: Any flush or straight draw is playable.

A common mistake a stud player makes is to be looking down in front of him as the cards are dealt, look at the doorcard, then quickly look at the hole cards, see that they are all the same suit or in sequence, and toss out a chip or two to see fourth street without looking around first. This is a big mistake in 7-card stud - it’s an even bigger mistake in stud 8, because you may be on a draw for just half of the pot and it may be a poor draw at that.

When you’ve got three cards in sequence or three suited cards, you need to pause and look to see: 1) How many of the cards are eight or smaller and 2) What your opponents are showing. You always must be aware of what the other players are holding, and this is especially important in stud 8. You do not want to be on a draw to a flush or straight for just half of the pot and have poor drawing odds. Good guidelines to follow for flush draws are to dump the hand if you have no low cards and more than one card of your suit is gone. If you have an ace or two low cards, you can limp in as long as no more than two cards of your needed suit are gone.

If you’re fortunate enough to have three suited cards of eight or less, you’ll be playing in pretty much any circumstance, unless you have something like 5s 7s 8s, four spades are gone and an ace completed the bring-in. As far as straight draws are concerned, if it’s a draw to a high straight, dump it - it’s just something that will get you in trouble. For marginal straight draws, like 678 or one-gap straight draws like 568, limp in if all of the cards you need to improve are live on the inside-straight draw and no more than one card is gone for the open-ended straight draw. If it’s a beauty (any three cards in sequence of six or less) you’ll be seeing fourth street no matter what.

Stud 8 is a lot tougher than it looks - but the beauty of the game is many people who play have no idea what they are doing, meaning more money for the skilled player. The game takes time and patience to learn as any poker game does. More strategies on this game and stud will follow in future articles, but by eliminating these myths from your mind as you head to the stud 8 table, you set yourself up for longterm success.

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