Brian Cloughley's Poker Journal

Playing poor opponents is where a 7 card stud player is going to make his profit. If a stud player is constantly up against a great 7 card stud player, he will probably break even or lose. Therefore, the concept is that a player wants to be in against bad opponents and must adjust his play for these situations to allow the poor 7 card stud opponent the chance to get in the pot. What differentiates a poor player from a good 7 card stud player is that the poor player will make more mistakes.

Looking at the concept that is mentioned above, players at Poker Stars must take certain situations and play them differently to how they might normally. For instance, having a poor 7 card stud opponent on a poker player’s left should mean they should adjust by calling more rather than raising. Even if a player is holding a raising hand, if they feel that they may knock the bad player out of the pot to leave them heads up against a good player, it is more profitable to call. If a 7 card stud player feels that a raise may knock out the bad player from the hand, it is simply better to call a bet instead of re-raising it. A good player wants bad players to get involved in pots with them and then milk them for value from their mistakes. A poker player cannot get value out of a poor player if they do not play hands against them.

This concept can be carried out on all streets, but becomes obvious on the final street of any 7 card stud hand. An example would be if a player is holding close to the nuts and a good opponent to his right has raised. Given that there is a bad opponent to his left, should he raise or call?

Many poker on line players would lean to a raise here because they feel that raising will add the value to the pot and could result in a higher payout in the end. What they do not take into account is the action of the bad opponent. If the 7 card player raises, he will more than likely make the bad opponent call and then action is back on the good player who may well re-raise or fold. Incidentally, the player is not looking to achieve either of these results.

A better option is to call, this makes it much more likely the bad player will make a mistake by calling and it also stops the possibility that the good player can raise if he has a good hand. By simply calling in this situation, you force the bad player to make an unprofitable mistake more often and this is exploitable.If a 7 card stud player only plays good opponents, he will be left with the good pkr opponent making profitable decisions in any given situation he is put in.