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Professional Stud Hi-Lo Tournament Strategy – By James Guill
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Professional Stud Hi-Lo Tournament Strategy – By James Guill
March 15th, 2010 by Mike
While Texas Holdem is the king of the tournament world. 7 Card Stud & Stud Hi-Lo tournaments do still exist and are part of many tournament series including the World Series of Poker. Unlike Holdem tournaments, you will find that the competition is much stiffer in Stud Hi-Lo and there are usually very few fish. With that in mind, lets take a look at some Stud Hi-Lo tournament strategy.
The early levels in a Stud H/L tourney should be more of a time that you should feel out your opponents playing styles. The limits and antes are so low that you will be hard pressed to amass a lot of chips unless you go on a big run of cards and scoop a high percentage of pots. Early on, look out for the players at the table that you might be able to steal from in later rounds. This includes players that only play scoop starters. I will explain why in a bit.
In the early limits, you want to play fairly straight forward. I hear all too often about players that try and steal a lot of antes and pots, and many times this just puts them at a chip disadvantage. Play fairly straightforward early on and keep a look out for others play. Also look out for players that you might be able to punish for extra bets. This includes those that play a lot of Stud high starter hands.
The middle levels are when you want to start taking advantage of stealing antes if table conditions permit. You will be able to figure out the players that can be stolen from. Players that fold a lot of late position aces or that never complete unless they have aces or better are prime candidates for steals. If you have someone call your steal attempt, watch their hand carefully, if they start catching bad, you may be able to steal on later streets.
Beyond stealing pots, solid hand selection is key at the middle levels. You do not want to put up a lot of chips with a hand that may be 2nd or third best. Also, avoid playing a lot of heads-up pots with one way low hands. A one way low is one that has little to no chance of scooping.
Once you get to the late stages, and especially the final table, the game starts playing more like regular stud. You will notice that many more stud high starting hands will start to be played and won with. In the later stages, heads-up confrontations become the norm and many low start hands that play well in multi-way pots become chip burners.
If you manage to get heads-up in a Stud Hi-Lo tourney, you want to play more of a 80-20 mix of stud high and stud hi-low starter hands. This means you will play many more hands. Also, when you do play low starters, you want scoop possibility only. Remember, heads-up a pair of aces can take down a lot of pots so a three card starter with an ace increases some in value, but it must improve. Don’t count on the ace alone to save you.
Stud Hi-Lo tournament play awards patience and strong play. Unlike Holdem where you can get lucky in a couple of hands and challenge for a tournament, Stud Hi-Lo requires that you play well throughout in order to have a shot to cash and ultimately win. Develop a solid strategy and you will find yourself placing in a higher percentage of your Stud H/L events.
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