(Distributed Oct. 17, 2006)
OBSERVANT PLAYERS HAVE EDGE IN SEVEN-CARD STUD
When I spoke last week before a local service club, one question from the audience was: “Why do you prefer seven-card stud when Texas hold’em is so popular?”
I answered that stud was what I first played almost exclusively for 20 years or so. Our home games were “dealer’s choice,” so I also learned some wild and crazy games as the deck was passed around the table. But we always played stud when it was my deal.
The main reason I preferred stud was because of the edge it gave me, I told the Kiwanians. Unlike hold’em, in seven-card stud you get to see your opponents’ cards as their hands develop. Remember, in stud you start with two down cards and one face-up. Three more up cards follow; the last card is down. You use five of your seven cards to make your best hand at showdown.
My edge came from paying attention to the up cards, especially at the start. In a full eight-handed game, you see seven additional cards beyond the three you hold. You know if your cards are live or dead, and can make your most important decision — play or fold.
For example, if you have a pair of fives in the hole with a ten visible as your “door card,” and there’s a five and a ten showing among your opponents’ up cards, you should fold. Only three cards are left in the deck — one five and two tens — that can quickly help your hand. Your chances of winning without improving are slim.
Conversely, with three suited cards to start, if no more than one card of your suit is visible among your opponents’ up cards, you should stay for another card or two because your flush draw is live. The same holds if you have a live pair to start along with a big side card.
Like other stud players, I made the transition to hold’em when it became the dominant game in card rooms. That’s OK, because I like it, too. I’m not changing my license plate, though. It reads: “SVNCARD.”
WHAT’S BEHIND ONLINE GAMBLING LAW?
Just before President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act last Friday, S.D. of Illinois posed a theory on why the legislation made it through Congress.
The bill, as you probably know, doesn’t make online poker illegal for players but it does restrict banking transactions for customers depositing money at their favorite Internet gambling sites.
S.D. thinks some big U.S. casinos backed the GOP-led gaming legislation with an eye toward crushing the offshore online sports betting business to benefit their own sports books. Then, the theory goes, when the time is right those same casinos will push to legalize online gambling so they can cash in on the $12 billion industry themselves.
I suppose anything’s possible, but I know for sure an estimated 10-15 million U.S. online poker players were miffed that the bill carved out exemptions for online horse race betting and state-run lotteries but none for poker, a skill game played legally in hundreds of casinos across the nation.
Immediate fallout from the legislation saw a few offshore poker sites terminate transactions with U.S. players, including the biggest of them all, PartyPoker. Most sites, completely legal in their respective countries, continue to operate.
Also, both the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour now say they won’t accept tournament registrations from third-party online sources. An estimated 5,000 of this year’s record-shattering 8,773 players in the WSOP main event won their seat by qualifying online for much less than the $10,000 buy-in.
The uproar is far from over. U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., scolded Republican legislators from the floor for attaching the bill, at the last moment before the election recess, to a completely unrelated homeland security measure destined to pass easily.
She called instead for a federal study to assess how technology and regulation might assure safe and honest U.S.-based online gaming. She also could have mentioned the billions of tax dollars up for grabs annually.
We’ll see what happens. Until then, Ol’ LuckyDog and 60 million other U.S. poker players still will enjoy their home games, visit card rooms, and play online — even if only in the free games.
E-mail your poker questions and comments to russ@luckydogpoker.com for use in future columns. To find out more about Russ Scott and read previous LuckyDog Poker columns, visit www.creators.com or www.luckydogpoker.com.
COPYRIGHT 2006 RUSS SCOTT
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