No Ante Seven Stud

[Al Mirpuri]

I am thinking of sitting in on a no ante seven stud game. Advice required. I have one idea: fold a lot of hands and as there is no ante I can even fold some of the marginal/speculative hands. However, it seems to me that I would still need to play loose enough to get action when I was in a pot.

[dandy_don]

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I am thinking of sitting in on a no ante seven stud game. Advice required

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Yes, be very selective with the starting hands and bet/raise aggressively with the best hand. In low limit stud, you usually don't have to entice action or slow play; just play premium pairs (10's-A's), limp in with medium-to-high 3-flushes and high 3-straights. I've seen it quite often that one player can show trips in the door and others will try to chase down a better hand.

What site are you going to play stud?

[Iceman]

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I am thinking of sitting in on a no ante seven stud game. Advice required. I have one idea: fold a lot of hands and as there is no ante I can even fold some of the marginal/speculative hands. However, it seems to me that I would still need to play loose enough to get action when I was in a pot.

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In the no-ante stud structure with a 1-5 limit on all streets with a $1 bring-in (or 2-10 limit with a $2 bring-in), the only way you're going to make any money is if the players are very loose. If the game isn't loose, don't play. When a couple people have called the $1, you should limp in yourself with a lot of live drawing hands, considering the implied odds you're getting and the money already in the pot. In early position, limp in for $1 yourself with live drawing hands if a raise is unlikely. 3-flushes, high 3-straights, hidden pairs, or split pairs with 2-flushes are all worth playing if they're live. While you should play tight in raised pots on third street, or in early position on third street if a raise is likely, once there's a pot of any size you should treat the game like a normal stud game and play to knock players out.

[nef]

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While you should play tight in raised pots on third street, or in early position on third street if a raise is likely, once there's a pot of any size you should treat the game like a normal stud game and play to knock players out.

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I don't think this is accurate. Especially not in situations where you're talking about raising with the second best hand to get the third best hand out, or vice versa.

[bdk3clash]

Someone once described optimal no-ante stud play against poor opponents to me thusly: "Play so tight it hurts."

[Al Mirpuri]

www.gamingclubpoker.com.

[timmer]

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In the no-ante stud structure with a 1-5 limit on all streets with a $1 bring-in (or 2-10 limit with a $2 bring-in), the only way you're going to make any money is if the players are very loose. If the game isn't loose, don't play.

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Please elucidate, why do you think this is so ?

Just wandering

timmer

[SevenStuda]

Correct.

-Dimitri

[Iceman]

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In the no-ante stud structure with a 1-5 limit on all streets with a $1 bring-in (or 2-10 limit with a $2 bring-in), the only way you're going to make any money is if the players are very loose. If the game isn't loose, don't play.

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Please elucidate, why do you think this is so ?

Just wandering

timmer

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When there's at least a moderate ante, you can make a lot of money in tight games by stealing pots, either on third street if they let you, or on fourth or fifth if players are loose on third but weak-tight later.

In a 1-5 no-ante game, what are you going to steal, the $1 bring-in? When lots of players call the $1, then there is a significant pot to play for. When people won't play without the high pair on board or a legitimate draw (and the draw won't call a raise and won't pay off if it doesn't improve), then you can't profit from their tight play like you could in a game with a moderate or higher ante.

[Iceman]

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While you should play tight in raised pots on third street, or in early position on third street if a raise is likely, once there's a pot of any size you should treat the game like a normal stud game and play to knock players out.

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I don't think this is accurate. Especially not in situations where you're talking about raising with the second best hand to get the third best hand out, or vice versa.

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The reason why you normally play to knock players out in stud is that increasing your chance of winning the pot is normally more important than getting a few extra bets in that pot. That isn't usually the case on early streets of a no-ante game, but it's generally true once the pot gets large in any stud game, regardless of what the ante structure was like back on third street.