Best Starting Hands in 7 Card Stud

Starting hand selection in 7-card stud poker depends on several inter-related factors. These include the showing cards of opponents, their tendencies and whether your own hand is disguised. Selecting the wrong starting hands in 7-card stud can be an expensive error – as you will often be ‘priced-in’ to calling later due to attractive pot-odds. This article looks at the best starting hands in 7-card stud to help you profit at the tables today.

We start by looking at the very strongest starting hands – trips – and how these should be played on early streets. Next high pairs are covered and the effect of these hands being hidden is discussed. How and when to play lower pairs comes next, followed by a look at 3-flushes and 3-straights as stud poker starting hands.

Trips

Being dealt trips in 7-card stud is always great news – not only do you have the strongest possible starting hand, but it is well disguised from your opponents too. Trips on 3rd street in Stud poker is known as a ‘rolled up hand’, for example ‘rolled up kings’. Unlike many hands, trips do not mind multi-way action. With this in mind your position affects the way that this hand should be played.

If you are in early position compared to the ‘bring in’ then calling to get more players into the pot is usually optimal. If you act after several limpers then the ideal is to raise – getting more money into the pot by making your opponents call a second small bet. With trips your chances of improving to a full house are big, make sure that you charge opponents for each street without scaring everyone away by making it two bets to go.

Pairs

High pairs, especially aces and kings are also strong starting hands in 7-card stud. These benefit greatly from being hidden, or ‘in the hole’. For example if one of your aces is showing on 3rd street then hitting another ace during the hand may well stop you getting any action. However if you instead have a 9 showing then another ace would look relatively harmless to your opponents when in fact you have a monster hand.
Lower pairs are a potentially dangerous starting hand in 7 card stud poker and should be treated with caution. The most important factor (other than being hidden) is whether your pair is higher than the highest showing card in your opponent’s hands. If yes these starting hands can be played for a raise. If not then the rank of your unpaired card comes into play – if this is higher than the up-card of an opponent who has bet you can be more inclined to play the hand. The smallest pairs are only playable when you close the betting action on 3rd street, you are looking to improve cheaply on 4th or exit the hand.

There are 2 other important factors when playing all paired hands in 7-card stud. The number of duplicate cards to your pair, and the tendencies of your opponents. For example a pair of 9’s is unplayable with 2 other 9’s showing and should rarely be played with 1 other 9 accounted for. A pair under that of a betting opponent’s door-card should be played cautiously. However if this opponent regularly raises with the highest showing door-card whether paired or not you can play more aggressively – in many cases an early re-raise will give you the information you need as to whether to continue.

Flush Draws

Three cards to a flush are a strong starting hand, as long as your flush is ‘live’. If you have seen 3 of your suit in the hands of opponents then your 3-flush can be folded. With 2 of your suit already out, the rank of your cards factors into the decision. With high card value as backup then a speculative call at a passive table may be worthwhile.

Straight Draws

Finally, 3 cards to a straight are sometimes playable starting hands. Again high-card value factors in as do the number of cards that you need that are already seen. In the case of straights you will need to look for cards 2 ranks away as well as one. If you improve to open-ended straight draw status on a later street you will need one of the 2-rank away cards to complete your hand.

Conclusion

To summarize, the best 7-card stud starting hands are trips. Other hands need to account for other factors such as the number of seen cards, whether your strength is hidden and the tendencies of opponents who have raised ahead of you.