Rolled up high in Stud -8

[Kevin J]

A tight player raised with a queen in his door, and I re-raised with rolled up jacks. I was licking my chops thinking I got him just where I want him. I was called by what looked to be a couple of lows and the queen called.

On 4th, an eight paired his door and... The queen paired his door card and bet. I assumed my once beautiful rolled up jacks were now worthless, and I folded. Ironically, the paired eight called, filled up, and scooped against the 3 queens who couldn't improve.

It was certainly possible the the queen raised 3rd street with AA, or a bigger pair underneath and I was still in good shape. But I don't play this game much, and I didn't want to go all the way to 7th to find out. Especially, since it looked like I was still against a couple of possible lows. Is this the right way to think in this game? Or, did I play this weakly? Thanks.

[Andy B]

Assuming that he will only raise with (AA)Q, (KK)Q, or (Qx)Q, and given that he has now caught a Queen, there are six ways he can have AA, six ways that he can have KK, and about 80 ways that he can have a Queen in the hole. Furthermore, even if he "only" has two pair, they're both higher than yours, so you'll lose when you both fill up. The pot isn't that big, and you're playing for half of it. You have a fold.

[Runner Runner]

The key in Andy's justification that you can fold is that you are playing for half the pot. But are you? One low paired, what happened with the other low? If they both bricked, I think you gotta at least peel one off and see how things progress. I know that you could very well be against trip Queens, but even though there are way more ways of having Queens then Aces, some players won't even play split Queens if they cannot get it headsup. I think you have to go to 5th at least, and at that point be fairly certain that a low will make it there in order for you to fold.

[Kevin J]

The other low caught another low card in the str8 zone. I just didn't feel like paying all the way to 7th street with the possibility of getting jammed, only to find out I was in bad shape. Yeah, it was possible he had a big pair underneath, or even if he did have three queens, I might make a full house while he missed.

I'm still kinda new to stud, but the one thing I'm learning is that when someone pairs their door card, you should probably take it seriously. Thanks.