A Little Stud Action

I've been on punishment for a month and a half and I'm not allowed to play No-Limit until Nov. 1. For the most part I have been able to do it, but when I am watching MT play against these terrible people, I need to get into these games. But, alas, I've reduced to sitting in the girlfriend seat and watching from corner.

So, I thought of a way around it. I'll play 7-card stud.

For those of you who have never gone into a casino, it's usually dominated by the senior citizen crowd playing stud. They LOVE stud. Stud used to be the game of choice, but the popularity of Hold 'Em Poker changed that and the only people left at the stud games are the old cronies.

$1-$5 is relaxing. There is a lot less pressure and the most you are going to end up losing on a hand could be around $25. Compare this to No Limit where your whole stack is up for grabs at any time.

Last night MT and I played 7-card Stud and I sat down to rolled up Jacks (three jacks on the first three cards). Ridiculous. This was the second time I was ever playing stud. I won a hefty pot (stud-size) on this hand. The guy I was going up against ended up with aces up (two of a kind) on his first four cards and he and I were just raising each other until he was all in. Seventh street paired one of my open cards, and not that I needed it, but I won with a full house.

It's an easy game when that happens.

Not so much an hour later, I look down to rolled-up sevens. MT was floored when this happens because apparently the odds are pretty ridiculous to get rolled up hands. He said it's like 1 in every 660 hands are something along those lines. I should have looked up. Again, I made maximum money because someone had two pair by fifth street. I won again.

An hour later, you guessed it, rolled up jacks again. Unreal.

Unfortunately, there was no one single person in the pot. The only time I didn't raise was pre-fourth street with rolled up cards, I get no action. Oh well.

It was a nice lesson in stud and MT thinks it's a better suited game for me than Hold 'Em. I don't think it will be the last time I will play Stud. I might have to go to Harrah's and hit up the dealers with a few tips to make their night worth while.