I named my dog Keith

"Seventh Street Decisions in Seven-Stud"

I got this doozy in my email a few weeks ago. No offense Keith, but come on. There is better 7CS advice in Hellmuth's book.

A few weeks ago, I offered some pointers for playing fourth steet in Limit Seven-Card Stud (http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/proLessons.php?lesson=62). For this tip, I'm going and show how you might improve your play on seventh street.

My first suggestion for playing on seventh street is that you need to look at your pot odds when facing a final bet. When playing $5-$10 Stud, for example, you'll often need to call a $10 river bet while looking at a pot of $70. In this spot, where you're getting 7:1, if you have any suspicion that your hand is good, you really ought to call. The odds are so favorable that throwing away a lot of marginal hands would be a mistake. This is very different from no-limit poker, where you'll need to make some big laydowns late in a hand. If you're making the transition from No-Limit Hold 'em to Limit Stud, keep this very important point in mind.

This is okay enough advice, but if you have been playing for more than a few weeks and don't realize that, it's time to fire up the ice cream truck and start selling rocket pops to 8 year old kids again.

Some of the tougher decisions on seventh street arise when you're holding one pair. Let's say you start with a pair of 6s and your opponent open-raises with a King as his door card. He bet all the way, representing a pair of Kings, and you called. Neither of you seemed to improve on fourth, fifth or sixth streets, and he bet out on the river.

If you make a habit of playing hands like split 6s for raises and calling all the way on 4th-7th when you don't improve, I can guarantee that you will lose money. Especially if you are playing pots head up most of the time, which is likely in a 5/10 game. Furthermore, he is giving no consideration to what your 3rd card is. If it is an ace and none of the aces are dead, it is a much better hand of course. If it is a 10, this should be an easy fold.

At this point, you can be fairly certain that he doesn't have a pair of Kings. Most people don't have the heart to bet one pair on the river. So, in this case, you're likely up against something like Kings up, some sort of hidden hand, or a total bluff. Given this range of hands - and knowing that a bluff is a possibility - you should make the final call. You'll pick off a bluff enough of the time to make the call profitable.

Well, you should almost never find yourself in this situation, but yes you should call the final bet.

I want to point out here that, since it's proper to call with a lot of marginal hands, betting with one solid pair on the river is often a good idea. If you start with something like a pair of Kings and your opponent doesn't seem to catch anything, don't be timid on the river. Oftentimes, you should bet, knowing that a lesser hand is likely to call.

I don't really like this advice either. I think you're going to get raised enough by a made hand or called by a weak 2 pair to make this a poor play.

Now, let's look at another river situation. Let's say that after the river has been dealt, you have Q 10 9 8 with three clubs showing. You made a straight on the river after your opponent has been aggressively betting his hand the entire way, showing Ad Kd 9s 6h.

After betting into your hand on sixth street, he again bets into your hand on seveth street. In this situation, you have to think about what your opponent is betting into. Most players will not bet into such a scary board with one pair or even two pair.

We have to assume that our opponent is either bluffing with a weak hand and is unconcerned with our hand, or has a huge hidden hand and is hoping to get three bets on the river. This could be a situation where you might just call, especially if there is a third hand behind you who might over-call with a marginal hand that he would fold if you had raised.

I raise here every single time. A flush or a full house has to be perfectly hidden to be able to beat your hand and a higher straight is unlikely given your hand. It's much more likely that your opponent is still betting his aces or aces up because you haven't put any raises yet. You NEED to raise here.

When playing Limit Stud, be sure that you're making enough value bets and crying calls on the river. Keep the pot odds in mind and you're likely to make the right play.


--Keith Sexton

Honestly, after reading this again I think he is intentionally giving out bad advice here in the hope that you will take this new found "knowledge" and come play the 5/10 game at fulltilt with him.