Once you feel like you have mastered a specific poker variant it can become quite tedious to play. Once complacency sets in boredom quickly follows and you can turn from a winning player into a losing one in no time at all.

A great way to keep your mind fresh and improve your overall poker skills is to learn a completely new variant. If you usually play online poker games like Hold’em or Omaha then a great game to look at would be Seven Card Stud.

Seven Card Stud is completely different from games like Hold’em and Omaha as there are no community cards on display. Instead you have to make your decisions based on the visible cards in your opponents’ hands. The first thing this will do is vastly improve your short-term memory because you will need to remember the cards folded in the previous betting rounds.

Your hand reading skills should also improve as you try to decipher the possible made hands and draws each of your opponents may have based on what you can see, their betting actions and the cards you know have already been folded. This in turn will aid your overall concentration and observation, two vital attributes for any winning poker player.

Once you have played enough hands you will almost certainly find your new skills come in handy when playing your usual game. Having the ability to play another form of poker is a great tool should you find yourself losing at your usual game. Instead of trying to chase your losses simply load up another game you know and give that a try instead.

Let’s start this out by telling you that you should never be in a hand to solely go after the low side of the pot. You will see far too many people going head to head on 4th street with no chance of hitting the high hand and then end up splitting the pot if they get lucky. Even them, they still lose money because of the rake, it just does not make any sense.

The low in 7 card poker should be something that you happen to get, not the main focus of your hand. Realize that even if there are multiple players in the hand and you start out chasing the low, you still only may end up with a quarter of the pot or less. Plenty of people will play any hand that start with A2 and if you are looking at the same cards, you are going to split the split.

However, you can stay in a hand if you were going for a high and it falls apart on 6th street and you now only need one card to win the low. At this point, you only have one card left and the odds more than dictate you hanging around to capture some of the pot.

When you start your hand out, the only way you have a chance to scoop the pot is by going high and low. This is the ideal situation and one that you look for in starting quality hands. For instance, you start the hand with Ah2h4h. You are in huge position to scoop here. You have the A high flush draw and are also looking at a possible straight for the high. In addition, you are starting down at 3 to a low. This is not only a starting hand, but a raising hand.

The key to a good starting hand in hi/low is to have the ability to scoop the pot, which of course means that you get both the high and the low. While you may end up only getting the low as the hand plays out, you have to make sure that you start out with the intention of getting them both. If all you do is try and chase down low hands, you are going to find your bankroll continuing to shrink and you will eventually go broke.

This is what separates the good hi/low players from the bad ones. It may be a little tough to fold that 247 hand, but when you realize that you are conceding one half of the pot every time you play a hand like this, reality will start to settle in and you will realize how foolish it is to play a hand like this. Remember, if you don’t have a chance to scoop with the first three, the hand is not worth playing.

There are many players that debate how one should play hands with a door card ace. Some are of the school of thought that you should almost always raise with a door card ace, while others take the approach to raise if they are in late position. Let’s take a look at how you should play door card aces, especially if you are establishing table image.

The obvious time to raise with an ace is when you have a pair of aces. This put players at the table on notice that you are likely to have a pair of aces. If you are not raising with every ace, then you are more likely to get credit for the raise with an ace.

Other times to raise with an ace include when you are playing a three card flush or three big cards to a straight. When playing three cards to the straight or to the flush, improving by 4th street is ideal. When playing three big straight cards, catching a pair will many times put you solidly in the lead in the hand. If you do not improve to a four flush or a four straight by fifth street, you need to abandon the hand.

One time you may want to stay away from raising with an ace showing is when you are rolled up with aces. At this point, slow playing is an option you should consider. One argument against slow playing a set is letting players into the pot that can outdraw you. Trip aces on third is outdrawn so infrequently that in many cases, slow playing will get you the most money with the hand. Of course, if you are in a loose game where a raise is frequently called, then go with the raise.

Be careful when playing a split pair of aces against an open pair on fourth street. In stud, an open pair on fourth will turn out to be trips many times. Knowing this, there are also times, such as raising with three straight cards, you will catch a pair of aces on fourth and can take the pot down right there.

Be careful with raising with an ace and nothing for backup. After you establish your table image, you can sometimes raise with an ace and take the pot on third. If you are in a tournament you can get away with a raise on third with only an ace later in a tournament somewhat frequently, but in a cash game, doing this often can lead to a bleed on your chips.

By selectively raising with a door card ace, you will establish a tight image, and your raise will get more respect. Also, it will enable you to control the variance experienced by players that raise with any ace. Good luck to you at the tables.

When you look down to see a rolled up set in Stud poker, many times you want to jump out of your seat. You have picked up the best possible starting hand in Stud. Now, how do you play it? It all depends on the situation. Let’s take a look at how to play rolled up sets in Stud and Stud 8 or Better.

First, in regular Stud, when you get a rolled up set, this is a really good time for a slow play, especially if you are at a tight table. If you are at a tight table, you want to keep players in to try and maximize your value. You will want to consider smooth calling your set on Third Street to try and keep some players in. If your game is somewhat loose, you can consider raising back, but only if you think that it won’t raise warning flags and cause everyone to fold.

One thing to note in Stud high is that if your set is small, then you gain some deception value. If you were to raise or call with a small card showing, then likely your opponents are going to put you on a hand such as a big pair or a small pair hoping to catch lucky.

Once you proceed to Fourth Street, how you play will depend on what everyone catches. If your opponent pairs his door card, then there is a chance they now have a set. If their potential set is higher than yours, it is time to go into defensive mode. Slow down a bit and see what unfolds.

Next, what if you catch the case card? Now you have quads. What do you do? If you check, then chances are everyone else will check as they will think you are trying to slow play a set. I would bet here in most any case except for when another player pairs their door card. If someone pairs their door card, I am going to check to pretend like I am scared of their pair or set. Many times this will induce a bet. When that happens, I will continue the slow play until Fifth Street. Other than when someone has a pair on board, if you bet out with a pair, you are only going to get called by someone that has either made two pair, a set of their own, or if they have a big draw. That is assuming your players are good players.

Once your reach Fifth Street, being able to place your opponents on hands is key to what type of action you will make. If you still only have a set, what are your opponents holding and / or drawing to? If it looks like they might be still drawing, try and bet to force them out. If they look to have a made hand like two pair, bet into them to punish them. If it is possible that they have a made hand and you have not improved your hand, you may want to check and call down bets from them if they bet. If you have improved to a full house or quads, at this point, bet out unless their board is such where a check will induce a bet.

The same things apply to Sixth Street as Fifth Street, but if you have not improved your set, you need to pay careful attention to what is out there. Continue to jam the pot when necessary and just check and call when appropriate. When we reach Seventh Street, if I think I am leading going into seventh, I will usually be dark. Sometimes I will check my card to see if I have improved if the other person looks to have a big draw or a similar big hand. If I bet out and am raised, I will reraise if I have improved and only call when I have not. I will not fold in any case here as the pot is too big to fold. If I only have a set and they have outdrawn me, then very well, I have gotten unlucky. However, if they have caught two pair, a lower set, or if they have caught a made hand and I have a full house or quad, then I will take a big pot.

In Stud 8 or Better, things are a little different. Because there are possibilities for split pots and in many cases, you will be going high only, you want to push your set from the start. If your door card is higher than an eight, a really astute player may put you on a set, but many weaker players will figure you have a big pair. Of course, this will encourage the low draws to come into the pot.

In Stud 8, you need to be more careful of low straights and flushes. You really want your hand to improve to a full house or better when you play Stud 8 and start with a set. Don’t get cute if you get a low set and try and slow play it because you will look like you are going low. Play it fast just like you have a big low. That will be enough for deception. If you happen to catch a card or two that makes it look like your low has improved, then you can force them out the pot. Otherwise, if you slow play, you might slow play yourself into a losing hand.

When you start with a set in Stud, you are a huge favorite. A majority of the time you will win with the hand. You won’t start with a rolled up set that often, so when you do, take advantage of the situation and put yourself in the best chance to win. Good luck to you at the tables.

Many beginning stud players do not pay enough attention to the cards in other player’s hands. While a lot of learning the game involved being able to determine what hands to play and how to play them, you need to be able to keep track which cards are out and how this affects not only your hand, but everyone else’s hand as well. In order to do this, you need to find a way to be able to track the cards of the other players. Many players find difficulty in doing this because the task can seem daunting. Let’s go over a couple of things you need to do to improve you card memorization.

First, you need to know what cards are needed to improve your own hand. Let’s say you start with a J-10-9 unsuited. Suited cards right now are of little consequence. You know you need Q or an 8 to work towards your straight. You also need to consider the kings and sevens that are out. Then you need to consider the J’s, 10’s, and 9’s out. If you noticed, I mentioned what you will need to consider in the order of importance. Next look around. Next, I like to incorporate a point counting system to determine to stay in the hand to chase the straight. The card on either side of my 3 card straight is worth 1 point, and the secondary cards are ½ point. In our example the queens and eights are 1 point each and the kings and 7’s are half points. If you look around and come up with more than 2 points worth of cards, then you need to get out. If you don’t, then you need to commit to memory how many of your cards are out.

At this point card memorization becomes easy. Let’s say that players 2,4,7, and 8 fold and the other three stay in the hand. How many cards do you need to memorize at this point? The answer is four. Why do you need to memorize the other player’s cards? They are right there in front of you. I know this sounds simplistic, but many people don’t see the forest for the trees. As the hand progresses, at this point you need to pay attention to what the plays start to fold and try and commit those cards to memory.

Now there may be times to where committing a folding player’s cards to memory is next to irrelevant. For example, if you are against two opponents and one is holding K-10-J, what purpose does memorizing a folding player’s 4-6-2 serve? None. If the cards that are being folded are not relevant to the rest of the hand, then don’t worry about them. Granted, if the same example was related to Stud 8, then you would need to commit those cards to memory as the low cards take away outs from lows.

The point of card memorization is to start out memorizing all cards that are folded and then memorize those that are important to the hand. This will help you in the early going while you are mastering this skill.