As many of you will know, the key to poker success and profits is to eliminate common mistakes from your own game, creating a more rounded and correct style of play which will offer you a great opportunity to take advantage of other players who still have flaws within their game play.
There are a number of players out there that make the same mistakes every time that they take to the tables, resulting in a loss of chips or real money.
Seven card stud can be seen a very complex game and it does require more skill than luck in the game due to the fact that some of your cards are exposed to opponents that are seated at your table, revealing possible hand strength through a number of cards that are dealt face up onto the table by the dealer.
The most common mistakes that are seen in Seven Card Stud are regularly seen by players and more often than not the players are internet based, making the chances of creating a good profit while playing easier than if you were taking to the live tables within a casino.
I will outline some of the most common mistakes that I have witnessed when I play stud so that you can aim to eliminate them from your playing style, creating a tighter game play style for yourself.
The vast majority of the mistakes that I will expose are most commonly seen in new players but after playing the game for a number of years I have also seen some experienced Seven Card Stud Poker players still falling into these bad habits.
The first mistake that I have noticed seems to be the most common mistake by players of the game, deciding that they are going to chase a draw in order to get a good hand, only to see that they draw dead and have to fold after their card doesn’t feature within their hand.
Doing this is creating a risk for yourself as the chances of a card been dealt into your hand to offer you that winning hand that you desire are slim, especially if there are a number of other players who are still in the hand at the time of chasing.
Correct play in this situation would be to lay your hand down, also known as folding as this will preserve your chip stack and give you a better opportunity to start your betting with a stronger hand.
Another mistake that players often make is to forget about the ante and play the game in the same style that they would if they were playing Texas Hold’em Poker, a game that carries blinds which rotate around the table as the game progresses.
Playing the game as if the ante doesn’t exist is a costly mistake that a player can make due to the cost that each hand takes from their chip stack, writing off the cost of this ante to your stack will soon leave you seeing yourself as the short stack at the table.
Account for the ante’s and treat them as they should be treated, with caution.
Other mistakes that are often seen being made by Seven Card Stud poker players are less known errors to players who don’t read into the best playing strategy.
These mistakes could be:
Not playing your starting hand aggressive enough, allowing players to get cheap cards in order to create a stronger hand for themselves, leaving you with a smaller chance of winning without going to a showdown.
Losing concentration, allowing the play to get ahead of you, leaving you out of sync with the current hand and what cards could have already been dealt into play by the dealer. This is one of the most common times that a player is set to make one or a number of these mistakes, costing them a number of chips or an amount of their stake.
Playing second best draw cards, meaning that you can see the cards that your opponent has could be offering a better draw but ignoring that and chasing your own. This is the fastest way to talk yourself into playing a bad situation, play like this and expect to lose your wagered chips.