Beginner's Luck at Party?

[MLo]

Needed a break from hold em so I decided to clear the latest Party reload bonus playing stud. First time playing stud online and I finished up over $250 after 1400 raked hands at the .5/1 tables. I read some posts noting that the ante is ridiculously high on Party, but otherwise, are the players consistently THIS BAD? Also, will Ray Zee's book help me in these games (I ordered it the other day)? Thanks in advance!

[TS Clark]

They're pretty bad, but you are definitely just on a hot run right now. I don't think anyone would argue that 18 or so BB per 100 hands isn't really a sustainable win rate on this planet (or any other).

Enjoy the ride, but expect things to settle down.

[bholdr]

The ante is STUPID high on the .50/1 games. here's why that convinces me that your run is mostly luck:

a higher ante means that the players must loosen up before calling the bring in, this is how the crappy players at party .50/1 play anyway, the ultra high ante makes their fishy 3rd st calls closer to optimum play.

a 'normal ante' game is, IMO, about 15% of a small bet. that is, i consider a 10c ante on a 1/2 game to be low, and a 25c ante to be pretty high. at party .50/1, the ante is 50% of a SB, which menas, per 'orbit' (eight hands) yer paying an avarage of $2.50- 31c/hand- compare that to .50/1 holdem, where you pay about 15c/hand- half as much. If every hand is raked, you're getting 14c/hand back in bonus. with an ante that high, you're forced to play all kinds of garbage- you can't wait for pairs. this increses variance like crazy.

do yourself a favor and move up to 1/2, where the ante, at .25, is still high, but not quite so outlandishly steep. The players are almost as bad as at .50/1, and their standard call-everything-to-the-river approach is much more beatable when you can wait for legitimate starting hands.

Of course, there is always skill involved, and i won't call your goor winrate complete luck, but it's definitly not sustainable. that being said, i win much more per 100 hands at stud than i do at holdem, but it's a tradeoff, since stud tables have fewer h/hr, more raked pots (good for bonus) and it's damn hard to play more than two stud tables well, even at micro limits.

I usually play two or three tables of 1/2 6max holdem and one or two 1/2 stud/8 tables when i'm clearing a party bonus. i'm trying to step up to 3/6 soon.

i do have a lot more fun at stud, too. IMO, it's just a superior game.

[MLo]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, it was definitely helpful. I really enjoyed playing stud, that's why I'm trying to figure out if I should keep going. Anyone have experience playing Stud at Stars (I read the rake is more reasonable) or Pokerroom? I've got outstanding bonuses there too. Thanks.

[bholdr]

both the rake and the antes at stars are more reasonable than they are at party, but the players are quite a bit better. It depends on your table selection, i geuss, i've found some very juicy tables there, but some rock gardens too. look for big avarage pots, and a lot of players going to 4th.

you should definitly keep going, IMO, stud is the most intresting and complicated poker game.