bet the river?

[djr]

stud hi/lo $0.5/$1 on party. Can't find the hand history but it's not necessary.

Here's the deal. I'm dealt J92 and bring in. 6 people limp. It gets checked around to seventh street where I hit two pair, jacks and fours. One person is showing a pair of 8s (but no other eights are shown) and another is showing a possible low, but neither bet before me. No one else is showing anything obvious. Do you value bet even when the pot is this small (just the ante/bring in thus far)?

[Andy B]

How many people are left to act behind you? If everyone has checked, you might bet for value, but if there are three or four people yet to act, someone may have hit something. Even though no one has shown any strength thus far, a lot can happen on the river. For example, your J92 turned into two pair. And the other players most likely started better than you. I'd probably check and call one bet.

I seem to bring it in with hands like J92 a lot. Is that really fair?

[djr]

there were 3 people left to act after me. I ended up betting and getting called by someone with queens up.

[ QUOTE ]
I seem to bring it in with hands like J92 a lot. Is that really fair?

[/ QUOTE ]

if I have too, then yes it's fair /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Andy B]

The Queens-up might well have bet anyway, so it costs you the same. Not that big a deal. I think I check with three people left to act, though.

When you bring it in with J92, it doesn't cost you $10.

[bholdr]

do yourself a favor and move up to 1/2- the ante is just STUPID high at .50/1 on party. If the other players wern't SOOO TERRIBLE, it wouldn't even be beatable, IMO.

Why the heck don't they have 2/4, i wonder? that's my fav limit right now, and though i'm pretty damn confidant that i could be beating the 3/6 hi lo games, i just don't have the roll right now. I played off my bonus at two hi lo 1/2 tables and a couple 1/2 6max holdem tables and made a killing this month! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Andy B]

Bankroll requirements for stud/8 are smaller than they are for hold'em and stud. If you have 300 BB for $2/4 HE, you also have 200 BB for $3/6 stud/8, and that should be more than enough if you can play at all.

[bholdr]

hmmm.... as i depend on my poker winnings for my mad money and cable and phone bills, i've been keeping a 500BB bankroll- enough to play all the games comfortably and take shots at higher limits when the games look good, with a least 1k in reserve in case a good reload comes up (i am a huge whore for bonus). I will be playing more 3/6 soon, though. I've heard from many sources that 7stud hi/lo requires the smallest bankroll of all poker games.

I'm not into risking my money, i want a BIG edge before i play. at party 1/2 hi/lo i have a HUGE edge. Is 3/6 really almost as easy to beat?

thanks for the advice/ encouragment, as always. if i do well this month, i'll try to make the move to 3/6 full time.

[Andy B]

I don't play on Party, so I can't really compare the $3/6 with the $1/2 game.

You shouldn't do anything that isn't within your comfort level, but $2000 strikes me as an absurdly large bankroll for $3/6 anything, let alone stud/8. I mostly play live, and the local games are $4/8, sometimes $6/12, and rarely $8/16, as well as the regular $30/60 game. I don't really keep track, but if you take the smaller games as a group, I'm pretty sure that I've never had a losing streak of more than about $400. My biggest losing streak at $30/60 stud/8 was about $6500, and there was a certain amount of steam involved there.

Now I'd hate to see you go without cable, so you might not switch to $3/6 stud/8 full-time right away, but I think you should take a shot, perhaps waiting until the game looks really good. I really think that there is a significant body of players who unnecessarily hold themselves back by adhering to ridiculously conservative bankroll figures. Then you have idiots like me who think nothing of taking their last $1200 into the local $30/60 game....

The reason to have $3/6 instead of $2/4 is simple, to my way of thinking. $3/6 stud with a $.50 ante and $1 bring-in has the ideal structure for stud, in my opinion. With $2/4, the ante is either too big or too small, and the same goes for the bring-in.