When Canterbury first opened, the $4/8 stud/8 game was wild and loose. And I got my ass handed to me. [img]/images/smile.gif[/img] After enough people went broke, the game got to be pretty tight, and it was hard to make any money in it. It was also hard to get a game going for quite a while. I think that the renewed interest in the game is due in part to the recent success of the $30/60 stud/8 game. $6/12 stud died off for a while, but there was renewed interest after they raised the limits and there were some bigger stud games for a while. You don't see too many big high-only stud games anymore (pity, that), but they still get $6/12 stud going on weekends.


There was a guy who claimed to be taking about $600 a week out of the $4/8 stud/8 game. I haven't seen him for quite a while. If he was winning like that, there wasn't too much left for anyone else. I The overhead is just insane. The jackpot drop is a killer. If you're playing at all properly, it's just too hard to make quads, as you should be throwing away most of your pairs. Apparently most of your opponents weren't. There should be a separate stud/8 jackpot (I'd prefer it if it weren't jackpot eligible, myself), since stud and stud/8 are completely different games. The stud/8 players contribute more than their share to the stud jackpot, but the jackpot almost never gets paid out on a stud/8 table. Between the rake and the jackpot drop, if a hand goes heads-up right away and the pot ends up being chopped, both players lose money. I quit playing the game for a while because I lost money with quad 7s. At least in the $30/60 game, if you end up chopping, you win $18. I don't like risking $240 to win $18, but it's better than losing money.


When I play $30/60 stud/8, I buy a rack of $5 ante chips as well as a rack of $10 chips. I used to buy racks of $.50 chips when I played small stud, and people thought it was ridiculous. Too much time is wasted making change. A lot of dealers will occasionally get confused when making change, and even more time is wasted figuring out who got screwed out of 50 cents. This is particularly true when making change for $2 chips. If everyone kept a stack or two of pumpkins in front of him, there wouldn't be any problem.


I think it would be a much better game if they made it $6/12 instead of $4/8. $6/12 is a better structure for a stud game to begin with. The bring-in should be 1/3 of the small bet, not 1/2. With the $1 ante, there would be less time wasted making change. The rake at $6/12 is $4 instead of $4.50, and the smaller rake is particularly appealing in a split pot game. The pots would be physically larger, stimulating action. Better yet, play $30/60. [img]/images/smile.gif[/img]


I'm 34 and I've spent a lot of time playing in low-limit stud games where I was the youngest player by twenty years or more. I don't even notice it anymore. Actually, I recently played in a short-handed $30/60 hold'em game where I was the oldest player. It's the only time I can think of where I was the oldest player in a game, and that dates back to high school.


As for actual strategy recommendations, uh, buy Ray Zee's book. Read it twenty times or so. It's worked for me. Realize that marginally profitable hands are going to be made unprofitable by the rake. Also, since the bring-in is half a bet, you shouldn't limp in with weak hands hoping to catch perfect on fourth, unless the players are so bad that you can expect to get paid off big when you hit. That game is not always as soft as what you experienced. And you can afford to play pretty tight since the ante isn't that big (the smallest relative ante in the house). There's nothing wrong with tipping $.50 on a chopped pot, and there's nothing wrong with not tipping when you chop a small pot. When I play that game, I might tip $2 on a big sweeper, but then again, I tip $2 on a big sweeper in $30/60. I tend to tip $1 at $30/60 whether I chop a small pot or a large pot, or even if I sweep a good-sized pot. It's me sticking my neck out there, not the dealer, and they do pretty well overall. So they don't make any money dealing $4/8 stud/8. It's one lousy down out of their shift, and they get to deal plenty of hold'em.


I have gone entire 12-hour sessions without check-raising playing stud/8. There are good spots for it, to be sure, like the situation you described above, but I tend to either bet out or check and fold anyway. Straightforward play gets the money in these easy games. In low-limit stud games in particular, you'll find that there usually isn't anyone who's going to bet your hand for you.


I have actually found $3/6 through $6/12 high-only stud more profitable than $4/8 stud/8. That's just my personal experience, and I'm still trying to figure out some things in stud/8. Like how to play a pair of Kings. [img]/images/smile.gif[/img]


It was nice meeting you. Good luck out there.