7 Card Stud Poker Tips: Three of a Kind off the Top

7 Card Stud, Hand Selection
September 20 2008

In 7 Card Stud you will be dealt three of a kind in your first three cards once in every 425 hands. Because it is such a rare occurrence, you must take full advantage whenever it happens. This means you must play it right and play it smart to make sure you win chips, instead of having this lucky hand tear up your chip stack. Here’s how.

When you’re dealt three of a kind, you must decide whether or not to slow play it or bet out right away. If you’re playing at a pretty loose table with players who like to chase draws or see fourth street with mediocre cards, then slow playing is definitely the wrong move. You must bet at a table like this, because by slow playing you’re simply making it cheap for your loose opponents to stay in the hand and possibly out-draw you.

One of the rare times when you may want to think about slow playing this hand would be when a bet would reveal your strength. An example would be if someone has raised with a face card up, and another player – also showing a face card or ace – re-raises them. If you were to re-raise again in this situation with a low card showing, a smart player would likely put you on a big hand like three of a kind and abandon the hand. Slow playing here would conceal your strength, while also keeping at least a few other players in the hand to add to the pot.

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