Reading Hands in 7-Stud: Part Two

BY: Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud

Betting Action and Exposed Cards

In my last column we dealt with putting your opponent into general categories based on their style of play. Once you have figured out the general category into which to place your opponent, you can gain insight into what he is likely to hold by considering his betting action and the exposed cards.

Let's quickly look at a typical situation. Here's what you see on the deal. You are in the SEAT 8, to the immediate right of the dealer.

SEAT 1: Qd
SEAT 2: 4s
SEAT 3: 3c
SEAT 4: 9d
SEAT 5: 6h
SEAT 6: 2s
SEAT 7: Ah
SEAT 8: (Kc-Jd)Kh

You are holding a Pair of Kings: (Kc-Jd)Kh.

Your opponent has raised the bring-in 2 of Spades with his Ace of Hearts, right before you have to act. You want to figure out if he is likely to have a pair of Aces, whether he might have another legitimate hand, or whether he is just trying to steal the antes. You will use this assessment to determine your action. What clues do you have in helping you figure out what your opponent is likely to have?

Here is my list of the seven significant clues to an opponent's 7-Stud hand.

1. The Type of Player They Are
2. The Cards You See
3. Their Betting Action and Position
4. The Cards That Have Been Folded
5. The Type of Player They Think You Are
6. The Size of the Pot
7. Other Tells

You use these clues more to rule out unlikely hands than to pinpoint exactly your opponent's holding. You're constantly weighing these clues to steer your estimation in the right direction. The better able you are to narrow down what your opponent is likely to hold the better you will be at figuring out your correct action.

Consider the last column on categorizing players first. What kind of a player is he? If he's a tight, conservative, passive player then he's likely to have either a pair of Aces or a Premium Pair in the hole. But if he's an aggressive maniac he may very well not have that other Ace. He may have any wired pair, he may have another high card or two in the hole, he may have a 3-Flush, or he may have absolutely nothing. Use your obsevations about him to help guide your initial

Are there any other clues you can use?

Consider the obvious ones first. What are the exposed cards. He was first to act after the bring-in so you don't have to remember anything. Just look around. What do you see?

Let's keep this simple. Look for other Aces. If you see an Ace in front of another player it's unlikely the raiser really has a pair. Not impossible, of course. But his chances of having one have just gone from three out of 42 (the total of the unseen cards) to two out of 42, or, simplified, from 13:1 to 20:1.

Then, look for suited cards. If there are a couple or more Hearts out then he probably is not raising with a three flush. Few players do this anyway, put if he's a particularly aggressive or tricky player it is always something to think about. The more of his suit you see, the less likely he is making this play.

Don't forget the other Premium cards. Did you see any of them? Well, you surely did -- even without looking further than your OWN hand. You have two Kings and a Jack. So he's very unlikely to have a Premium pair of Kings and pretty unlikely to have a pair of Jacks either. You also see a Queen. So it's less likely that he has a hidden pair of Kings, Queens or Jacks than that he has a pair of tens in the hole.

What was his betting action? He raised. Most players, if they are playing a 3-Flush from early position will just call the bring-in. They figure that with a drawing hand they want to see their cards as cheaply as possible -- at least until they have improved to a 4-Flush. Some players, better ones in fact, will occasionally throw in a raise with a 3-Flush to either try to steal the antes, as a semi-bluff, and to mix up their play so you can't get a good read on them. But this is much less common from early position. And this raise was from early position. So unless the player was a maniac, you can probably rule out the 3-Flush.

Keep in mind that most of the time, poker is a game of probability, not certainty. You will rarely be able to completely rule out a particular holding, but you can narrow down the possibilities of certain hands by what you see. Don't get carried away with your inferences, however. It's critical that you reexamine your early reads as the hand progresses. Don't blindly stick with your initial assessment as the hand progresses. You will not CONCLUDE that your opponent has a particular hand but rather PUT THEM ON A HAND until and unless new information causes you to change your assessment.

In my next column we'll deal with the other clues and use them as the hand progresses to Fourth Street and beyond.

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