Monday, May 18, 2009

An Adventure in 7-Card Stud

Monday, May 18, 2009  

I have always considered myself a Hold'em player. However, in a chance encounter at the 2009 Los Angeles Poker Classic, I was invited to play a "home" game in the Commerce Ballroom with three notable poker professionals and a few poker writers/bloggers that were just hanging about (not going to drop names - sorry). I am not representing that the Pros invited me, no - no - no, I was invited by a fellow blogger ("Matt") who recommended that I cure my Hold'em blues by playing a different game (I was totally tilted, but no reason to go into detail here). Matt invited me to play Badugi with him and his friends. I had never even heard of Badugi before that minute, but Matt said he would show me how to play so, I thought I would give it a shot. The table agreed on a mixed game of Badugi, Omaha H/L and 2-7. It was a lot of fun. I feel that I caught on quickly and, although I did not stay long in the game (I left with my boyfriend, Johan, before the 2-7 round), I found that I really enjoyed the variety. thanks to Matt, I realized that while I should continue to work hard to improve upon my Hold'em game, dabbling in other games would provided exposure to different ideals of play and provide a breath of fresh air.

Unfortunately, I simply cannot not find anybody who is willing to casually play anything but Hold'em (it must be miserable to be so closed minded), so I have had to turn to on-line poker to find the games I want to try my hand at. PokerStars runs free-rolls for just about any type of game you could imagine to play, so I began playing any free-roll that was starting at the time I was logged on, regardless of the game or whether I knew how to play it or not. I would refer to the website's on-line help guide to explain the betting procedures, and search the Internet for tidbits of advice. However, I must confess that on-line free-rolls are not the best way to learn how to play any game with an intent of staking hard earned money on; but I certainly had fun and picked up some basic concepts.

The 2009 California State Poker Championship tournament offered a 7-Card Stud tournament for the rather affordable buy-in of $335.00. I simply could not corral my curiosity and, after talking myself in and out of playing, I found myself buying-in to Event No. 18 during the 3rd Level as the 12th Alternate. I had never played 7-Card Stud with live cards or for any money or value until I played my first hand that day. Early on I made some mistakes and got caught in a sick cooler when my Kings full of 6s lost to Aces full of 7s. Over all I think I played well, but I have to admit that I sucked out on a few hands - - that's poker folks. I will not deny that I played ultra tight and did not get into hands without at least a starting pair or Ace/paint (I never played a weak Ace), but my biggest hands were won in multi-way pots.

I was moved around to at least 4 tables, until I finally landed at a table with a loose-aggressive player ("Joshua"). I sat down at the same time as Mr. Grumpy in Seat 8. It was soon very clear to me that Joshua must have been running all over the players of that fateful table, because he had proclaimed that only he and gentleman to his left were the only original players that remained. Joshua, Mr. Grumpy and I were about even in chips (and among the members of the above-average chip leaders), but Joshua's heater must have kicked in just as my luck ran out. So long as I was sitting at Joshua's table, few other players could win against him - and just my luck, every seat shuffle paired us together until I was out of the tournament.

With the exception of two men (Mr. Grumply included) who were hell bent on outplaying Joshua, after he crippled a player's chip stack, that player would tighten up to the point where multi-way pots were all but non-existent and Joshua controlled the action in his favor. At least 4 players that I spoke to simply chose to stay out of his way and wait for other players to get knocked out in order to climb up the ranks. It literally became a last man standing competition amongst the short stacks. I believe I could have made it deeper in the money had I sat at a Joshua-free table because I simply could not win a showdown against him and I could not out play him - especially when he was running so hot with a huge chip stack to call. The only thing I could do was single out those players that Joshua had run over, and as soon as Joshua passed on a hand, take what opportunities I could to bust them out for their chips.

I cleaned up at least 4 of Joshua's casualties while sitting with him, but it simply was not enough to catch up. Every time I brought my chips up to a somewhat healthy count, I would catch a big pair off position from Joshua whose hand always manged to just one-up mine (he often caught two small pairs early on 4th street to crack my larger hole pair, actually 4th street favored Joshua against just about every player). I manged to stay in the game and bagged up my short stack at the end of Day 1.

However, in the end it was Joshua that took me out on Day 2. He told me all along he was gunning for my chips, and he got them one chip at a time. Clearly, he was a much better Stud player than I...but of course, this event was the first time I had ever played 7-Card Stud other than the 2 or 3 PokerStars free-rolls that I tried.

All that said and done, I am proud of myself. I played against some of the best stud players in Southern California and held my own. I waded through a field of 162 players, made it to the final two tables and cashed in 13th place. I believe my achievement was way more than just beginner's luck. My play was predictable I am sure, but served its purpose to set up my table presence in a game I was doing my best to figure out. I am certain that those Stud Pros had no idea that they were teaching me how to play their game while I watched carefully and learned from every move they made. Perhaps they just wrote me of as a Hold'em player that was in way over her head, but I do not care. I liked playing the game and believe I will only get better. I plan on playing 7-Card Stud again, as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Since I do not know too many stud players, I invite any comments containing advice.

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