Poker News

Ashley Adams

I played my first casino stud after I had read a book on Stud strategy that was geared to the $5/10 game. It was a winning strategy for a tight and aggressive game. But these low limit games seemed completely different from the games this author was writing about. He wrote about heads up pots and aggressive opponents. Mine were usually multiway. Hands with loose and passive opponents. He talked about raising to limit the field. But when I raised I just got a lot of callers most of the time. It seemed like he was writing about a different game.

He was. Tight-aggressive fixed limit games are different. If you’re in a loose spread limit game, you can loosen up your starting hand selection. While normally you’d fold any one-gapped straight like 8-9-J, if the game is likely to have four or more callers on Third Street and if your cards are completely live, then you can call the bring-in bet of $1.00 even in early position. This is because you are not expecting the pot to be raised. If it is raised, however, and you will be one of only three or fewer left in the pot, you should fold. If there are still going to be three other callers, then you can call too. You’re willing to call that bet because of your huge implied odds with three other callers.

On Fourth Street, if you don’t hit your middle card (in this case the 10) or if more than one of your straight cards (7 or Q) is dead, then you will fold. Thereafter you will play the hand exactly as you would in a more conventionally structured game.

You can also play some low pairs that you wouldn’t play in a tighter, fixed limit game. If, for example, you are dealt (3-4)3 - normally a hand you’d fold - you can call the bring-in. If the pot is raised you can also call if there will be four or more of you likely to see fourth street. Keep in mind that you need to hit a 3 in a large multi-way pot. Hitting a 4 for two low pair really doesn’t keep you in the hand unless there are many opponents or if there is only very light (less than the maximum $5.00 bet) pressure on you. If it’s two or three way and the full bet is made, then you should fold those two low pair.

Flush draws can be played differently. In the standard game, you’re folding some 3-flushes if they’re not headed by a high card. In these games, you can surely call with any 3-flush for the bring-in. And you can also call with any 3-flush if the pot will be four handed going into Fourth Street. Of course, your flush cards need pretty live - no more than two are out.

This hand plays differently on Fourth Street as well. Normally, if you don’t make a Premium Pair or if you don’t hit a fourth flush card, you will fold. But in a loose spread limit game, if the betting is light or the action is four-way or more, you can usually call if your suit is still very live. This is because though the odds of drawing a flush have diminished substantially if you only have a 3-flush on Fourth Street, they are still sufficient to draw a fifth card when the pot is likely to be enormous. But fold if you don’t hit your 4-Flush on Fifth Street.

Next time: When to tighten up.

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