[7stud]

Hi,

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I am new to the study of Poker and I am putting a great deal of effort into understanding 7 card stud. That said, I lost this hand to [orangebirds] with a Ace high flush to 4 of a kind (six's) which he catches on the river.

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I find it hard to believe you are putting a great deal of effort into learning 7 card stud when you started with that hand. Your starting hand was pretty much three random cards with one of your Kings showing elsewhere. I think you need to study what good starting hands are. Also, you only had a pair of Kings going into 7th street--what made your hand so good that you think you were the victim of a bad beat? Your opponent was ahead of you with 3 sixes and he could have paired up for a full house just as easily as you made your flush.

Check out Roy West's "7 Card Stud: How to Win at Medium and Lower Limits" to get an idea of what to play. The decision whether to play on 3rd street is one of the most important decisions you will make in a hand. You can also learn what you are supposed to do when somebody pairs their door card on 4th street(= fold most of the time).

Finally, after learning what good hands are, you will have to learn to adjust for loose games where nobody folds, e.g pairs go down in value and drawing hands(= flushes and straights) go up in value. The reason for that is, lets say your big pair has a .60 probability of winning against a hand that has only a .40 probability of winning. Against two such hands, your probability of winning is .60 x .60 which is .36, so your probability of losing is .64, and .36 to .64 is 1.8 : 1 odds against you winning. Since, your opponents are going to be putting a combined two betting units into the pot for every betting unit you put in, you are getting 2:1 odds, so you still have a slight advantage--your odds of winning are 1.8 to 1 and you are getting paid 2 to 1 on your money. Increase your opponents to three, and the probability you will win the pot drops to .6 x .6 x .6 = .216, so the probability you will lose is .784 giving you odds of 3.6:1 against you winning the pot. Since your three opponents will only be putting in a combined 3 betting units per every unit you bet, you are now not getting the right price--the odds against you winning are 3.6 to 1, but you are only getting paid 3 to 1 on the bets you put into the pot. The idea is that if your hand is fairly good without too much chance of becoming a strong hand, the more players drawing against you, the worse it is for you.