Beat Seven Card Stud

If you are reading this book, you’ve decided to devote your time to playing one of the best forms of gambling there is online poker. Instead of wasting your time plunking quarter after quarter into a slot machine, or spending hour after hour at the blackjack tables, where you will gradually lose money in the long run, you’ve chosen to play a game where you, and not the house, have the edge. Congratulations.

Poker is unique among all types of gaming because Poker Play er is competing not against the house, but against other people. As a poker player, you also have the chance to combine skill with luck to give yourself an edge. Forms of gambling such as sports betting and horse betting also offer good opportunities, but they require you to rely on a team or a horse to win you money. In poker, your winning depends upon your own skill. Luck is always important – you need the right cards to fall – but, they require you to rely on a team or a horse to win you money. In poker, your winning depends upon your own skill. Luck is always important – you need the right cards to fall – but, over time, it’s solid play and experience that will make you a winner. Played well, poker will give you incredible opportunities. It’s capitalizing on these opportunities that is difficult.

I had my first experience with poker when I was about five or six years of age. My grandfather taught me the game, and, in looking back on it, it seems to me that our game was probably fixed. Why do I feel that way? Maybe it’s because I seemed to win every time we would play. Or maybe it’s because I distinctly remember one hand in which I somehow got dealt four aces and joker.

Needless to say, I was already hooked as a kid. Fast-forward ten years, and I’ve become best friends with a guy called Chris, who starts throwing occasional poker parties. When you’re five, having fun is the best part of playing poker. It’s called money. Our poker parties in high school were nothing as wild as the stuff you see in the poker moves. You wouldn’t find us playing no-limit Hold’em for $ 10,000 pots. er.

I remember impressing everyone when I walked away with a “massive” $ 30 pot after getting lucky on a game of “in-between.” Thirty dollars may not be a lot of money to the guys at the $ 30/60 tables, but when you’re in high school, it definitely qualifies you as a high-roller. None of us got rich from our parties, but we did have a good time, and it sure was nice when you could go home with a few more bucks than you came with.

A few years after I graduated, our state legislature finally gave the green light for a card room to be built at the racetrack near my house. The card parties were no longer an option, and I still had a great love for poker. I figured that stud poker sounded like fun, so I’d give it shot. I went down to the track’s card room for one afternoon and found that I could hold my own. It was a great atmosphere, full of friendly players, and I left with more than I started with. Even though I won, what I remember most from that session was a loss: a beautiful jack-high flush I had was beat by an ace-high flush whose owner had pulled the ace on his last card (otherwise known as the river.) From that moment on, I tried to get back to the card club as much as possible.

Having a good first-time experience in a public cardroom was a great beginning, but I knew I need to know more about the game. I started reading books on poker. Material on my game of choice, stud was rather sparse, but I did find one good book. I also picked up some great poker literature on other games such as Texas hold’em. I play whenever I can, be it at the card club or in a home game. When I’m not playing, I read about poker in books, in magazines, or on the Internet.

Reading that testimony, you’re probably thinking one of two things. Either you’re thinking, “Boy, this guy needs a life!” or you’re asking yourself if I’m trying to become a professional poker player. Poker never has been and never will be my full-time job. I spend my summers working, and during the rest of the year I’m studying to become a Catholic priest (yes, that’s true). But I happen to love poker, and as I’ve played it more. I’ve become a solid low-limit player. Some guys enjoy plopping down fifty bucks to play golf in an afternoon. Me, I prefer to spend my free time at the low-limit stud tables.

So, why write a book? In my years of experience with poker, I’ve been able to become a good player and a consistent winner. I have some good things to say about the game. I see many players who love stud poker as I do, are primarily low-limit players, and seem to make the same common mistakes again and again. I figured these folks could use a few pointers.

This book won’t get you to the final table of Binion’s World Series of Poker. It may not even do you much good at the $ 30/60 stud tables. What it will do is help you to become familiar with the wonderful game that is seven-card stud. I wrote it primarily for people who, like me, are perfectly content to play the low-limit tables because they find them affordable and comfortable.

If you haven’t played in a public cardroom before and are considering going, or if you’re a little in the dark about when to bet, call, raise, and fold, I hope that my book will be of some assistance. Maybe you’re a regular home game stud poker player looking for a little help in improving. Hoping to beat your buddies in next Saturday night’s game? This book will help you out.