7 Card Stud: Dealing with Low and Medium Pairs

If you have been playing 7 Card Stud for a while now, you know how powerful high pairs can be. But what happens when you are dealt uncertain hands, like low and medium pairs? Do you play or throw them out?

When players are dealt a 55 or below, the usual 7 Card Stud strategy is to simply fold the hand. However, that is not always the proper thing to do; instead you should consider the situation on the table, and the other hands that you are facing.

Assume that you are holding a 55 and your up card is a 9. You are on the button and all the others have called on a $5 bring in from a 4 of hearts. You should bet. Why? Because the very fact that they called instead of raising strongly suggests that they do not have a made hand.

Of course, if instead of a 4h it was a Q, then the ideal move would be to fold. Another instance of when you should fold is when you are holding a 66 and another player holds the 6 up card. A player with a higher card makes a raise.

The proper 7 Card Stud strategy would be to fold. Not only does the higher hand probably got you beat, but the chances of you getting the other 6 are quite remote.

When playing low and medium pairs in 7 Card Stud, it is important that you should pay heed to the other cards on the board. It is important that they are still live. If they are dead, or on the door cards of the other players, then your chances of making the hand will be weakened if not totally eliminated.

Of course, a good 7 Card Stud player also mulls over the action of the other players on the table. Very often in online play, players tend to be chatty, and this often gives away their hands.

If your opponents love to talk, do not discourage them, as this can offer you clues as to what they are holding and how they are feeling at the moment. Very often the vulnerability of their hands, or its strength, will manifest itself in the manner by which your opponents suddenly quiet down.

By keeping these principles in mind, you will never have a problem in deciding whether to play low or medium pairs in 7 Card Stud.