7 Card Stud Poker Tips: Dead Cards Matter

7 Card Stud, Mental Factors and Tilt
September 4 2008

If you have a good memory or even better, a photographic memory, then 7-Card Stud may be the game for you. The biggest difference between 7-Card Stud and Texas Holdem is obviously the ability to see some of your opponents’ cards, and their ability to see some of yours.

The difference between winning and losing at poker can sometimes simply be using the information that is available to you. In 7-Card Stud you’ve got plenty of free information, but if you don’t use it you’re essentially handicapping yourself.

Where memory comes into play in 7-Card Stud is with dead cards. You may have an open view at a good portion of your opponents’ cards, but once they fold the cards are no longer there for you to see. Just because these cards are dead in the hand doesn’t mean you can just forget about them.

If you suddenly have a straight draw on Fifth Street and need a five to complete it, it would definitely help to know that another player folded a five right after the hand was dealt. This will keep you from chasing after impossible draws and losing a lot of chips.

If you don’t have a good memory and forget what your opponents’ up cards were seconds after they folded them, you either need to find another game or find a method to log those dead cards. Whether it’s a cheat sheet or a computer program that allows you to eliminate used cards, it will likely save you from making at least a few bad plays in the long run.

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