How to play with a large ante

[CripAces]

So last night I was playing 2-4 Stud at Lucky Chances for the first time in a casino. They had a 1 dollar ante where 4 was taken before the bring in of 1. So at the very beginning there is 5 in the pot and in most cases just 1 to call. The table I was at was extremely loose(contrary to tall the stud stories I have heard) I was wondering how does this high ante affect your starting hand requirements?

[mscags]

With an ante that big I think you have to loosen up a lot more and play more hands that play well in multi way pots

[Andy B]

Probably not as much as you think. If the game is loose, the bottom line is that you are going to have to show down the best hand. If the game is not loose, it probably isn't playable because too much money is coming off of the table. Since the bring-in is half the small bet, you don't get the implied odds you'd want on really speculative hands like gapped straight draws. I'd probably play a few extra hands--higher gapped straight draws, small three-flushes with two out, live pairs/indifferent kickers--but don't get carried away with it. Assuming that the players are bad, you can probably not adjust at all and still do pretty well.