7 Card H/L

I've been playing this a lot lately and I was wondering what a good starting hand was. I know Irish Dave has been playing a little more 7 card, but what about the rest of you? Anyone have any suggestions?

I want to watch this thread to Dennis. I don't necessarily care for H/L games. I just can't get used to every player with an A2 or 23 calling everything and hitting some wierd winning hands.(both high and low depending on what else they are holding in omaha). I've tried to adapt a style and strategy a little bit, but I don't play it enough to know if I'm doing better or not.

brianna c said:

I've been playing this a lot lately and I was wondering what a good starting hand was. I know Irish Dave has been playing a little more 7 card, but what about the rest of you? Anyone have any suggestions?

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Well starting hands vary based on what path you want to take. (Hi or Lo)

Based on what the other up cards are can help you make a decision sometimes. For instance, if you have 6 up and 42 below and everyone else's up cards are higher than your 6, you have a very strong starting Lo hand.

I think the true key to Hi/Lo is having a good memory. You are seeing tons of cards, so if you can remember what was folded, it will help you in calculating outs and percentages.

What would you do in a case like A/2/K? Now you can go either route. Isn't this a better hand? When I start I don't necessarily pick a high road or a low one. I kinda just watch for the nut low hand because this is the only realistic nut hand. If you hit it you make people think you've got a low an they bet for the hi. Then if you are lucky enough you will win both.

brianna c said:

What would you do in a case like A/2/K? Now you can go either route. Isn't this a better hand? When I start I don't necessarily pick a high road or a low one. I kinda just watch for the nut low hand because this is the only realistic nut hand. If you hit it you make people think you've got a low an they bet for the hi. Then if you are lucky enough you will win both.

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Well you are definitely right, it's much easier to play for the nut low, and hopefully there are a few people in the hand with you and you can extract more chips from them.

As for A/2/K, I would normally call with that. But if I see alot of Q, J, and 10's up, and a low hand either completing or raising, I may have to toss it.

We should have an article on 7 card stud play in our articles section. IrishDave seems to be the best candidate for that. What do you think?

It's certainly a very situational game. You always want a suited option as well as connectors. Pairs in and of themselves will get you into trouble more often than not. In general terms, the nut low (or the person that thinks they have the nut low) will continually raise every chance they get. Probably my favorite starting is somethine like AK2 suited - lots of possibilities...