In Stud High you have to pay attention to having a decent starting hand, calculating pot odds thoroughly, reading your opponents and finding the right spot for stealing the bring in and the antes. The following example was played against one of the most known female poker players: Cyndy Violette.
The above mentioned game was $2/$4 Stud High with $0,40 ante and 8 players. The player with 3c brought in for $0,50, Cyndy Violette (from now on Cyndy) called with a 7c, the next 4 players folded. I completed to $2 with a Ad (hidden cards: Th7s). This was not a premium hand but ace up shows strength and there was only one player behind me. Until this point no one had shown strength so it was a perfect chance to steal the antes and the two bring ins. The player who brought in folded but Cyndy made the call.
The two of us played on and Cyndy Violette got the 2c on 4th street and I got the 3s. I decided to play the hand a little differently from before. Normally I would have had a C or an Ace but with a weak hand like 3c I didn’t want to risk it. I checked hoping that someone would bet and if they had I would reraise. But there was no one. I tripled the pot and it was now $8. I had missed my opportunity to steal the antes but I could still draw cheaply.
I checked again on 5th street and this time I got a 2 from theooter (hidden hand: Ad). He bet $8. Again, I called. On 6th street I got a pair (2s). He bet $16. Again, I called. On 7th street I received a pair (3s). He checked, I bet $50. He called. I got a free card on 8th street, which ended up being the 11. I led out on 9th street and he called quickly.
On 10th street I got a pair (4s). He checked and I bet $200. He called quickly. He had Ace and I was sure that he would bet again. One other player called quickly and the first to act was Cyndy. She called my bet quickly as always.
On 11th street she received a J and I led out with a bet of $500. She called quickly. Back on 12th street she received a Td and I bet $1000 thinking that she would check to let me get out of the way. She paid me off with a $200 bet.
I reached 12th street just as fast as I did 12th street and I had built a very comfortable chip stack. Cyndy Violette happened to have exactly the hand that I wanted and she immediately pegged me. IStraight.
At this point some of the experienced players were becoming concerned. Obviously she knew that I had Blackjack and missed, or felt that her hand was beat. So as soon as she saw a King or something she changed her mind about me and Improvement. She began to play like she was holding AA. There was no way to know that she was holding AAs when she won. But, that hand obviously didn’t stick with her very well.
I had to find out a lot about Cyndy’s play. I went back to Cyndy’s rebuy this time and asked her about the hand she played. This is what she said:
“Well you have to know that I was against all odds to win. But I won the hand like you wouldn’t believe. It wasn’t because I had AA, obviously, but I kind of had to think that the Blackjack continued to be there after I had Rebuyed. I kind of got lulled in. And then of course when I got rebate, they were likeCyndy PKhad AK. But I picked up this hand and I was like okay she’s not getting that King and sure enough when I got her rebate hand she was playing really tight. But the thing is I was really beat to be in that hand with those odds against me. So I went in ahead. I wish I could have gotten some of that money back! All that said, in the future Cyndy would definitely be a good rebuy player.