Stud Variation Strategy Question and 100TH Post

Hello,

My 100TH post. Not bad considering I have sworn off my blog no less than ten times in the last year or so. Anyway, the number of posts isn't really as big a deal as the amount of help it has brought to my game. Sometimes, even if there are no comments, or even no readers for that matter, it often helps get me through the bad beats and strengthens my game when I make mistakes. So hopefully I'll have hundreds of more posts that illuminate the ups and downs of poker and help plug the leaks in my game when I need it. Just knowing that I am going to post my progress—be it good or bad—to my blog helps keep my game in check.

Now that I got that out of the way, I want to solicit the opinions of my fellow poker players and bloggers concerning a strategy issue in a variation of stud I often play. The game is spread limit—players may wager any amount between the lower and uppers limits, so in a $1-$20 spread limit game, for example, players may wager any amount between $1 and $20 per round—and is played in a similar manner to stud in that players are dealt seven cards each, some up and some down. But that's where the similarities end. (For the record, the game is called Abortion. If the name offends you then I am sorry. I didn't invent the game nor did I name it. Don't kill the messenger.) To start, players are dealt three cards down and one up. So on the first betting round, each player sees four cards rather than three cards as in traditional stud. A betting round ensues and two community cards are dealt, however only one of the cards may be used but not both (a player may elect to use none if he so chooses). There is another round of betting. Then two more cards are dealt face down one at a time with a betting round after each. Then the seventh and final card is dealt face down followed by final betting round for a total of five betting rounds.

But here's where there is a certain strategy to the game that requires further assessment. After the seventh card is dealt to each player and before the final round of betting, players must turn up one of their down cards so that they have four up and three down as in the standard version of stud. The question is which card to turn up. Unlike in regular stud, the combination of having so many cards at the outset, the majority of the cards being down and two possible community cards, hands can often be well hidden. It's a double edge sword as sometimes it is easy to see big hand possibilities, which can either be good or bad. You can be on a big draw, miss and bluff at the pot. It is, in my opinion, a combination of stud and Omaha in the sense that each player is dealt cards in the way they are in stud but the wide range of hands a player can have goes up when the community cards are factored in to the equation. The pots can be relatively large, even in a $1-$20 game where there are often three or more players in the pot (we play both $1-$20 and $1-$40 depending on the game, the time of night, the action and how many players are stuck and want to raise the limits).

So here's the strategy question. What card do you turn up on seventh? Do you want to always appear strong, always weak or vary your play depending on the situation? If you vary your play, do you end up giving away too much information? If it looked like you were going for a flush but missed, do you turn up the four flush to show strength? If you do that and get busted you have to do it again when you hit. If you turn up a card that makes it look like you have nothing but have a hidden boat and lead out or raise, is that too strong a move? Can you dare try that the next time when you really have nothing? So what do you think would be the best strategy for turning up the final card? I know one guy in our game, a good, loose-aggressive player, who always takes way too much time deciding which card to turn up. Which card you turn up can be the difference between getting paid and not getting paid. Sometimes, you can turn up a card which could cause you to act first (if it gives you the highest board) or act last. Depending on your strategy for the particular hand, you may be able to turn up a card that allows you to act first so that you can check-raise by inducing a bluff. The possibilities are endless and are, of course, situation and opponent dependent as are all things in poker. So I'd love to know what all the expert poker players out there in bloggerland think and what strategies you might employ in various situations.

If you are into the Book of Revelations (I have read it only for academic reasons as I practice a different religion), 666 players will get paid in this year's Main Event. Is this a sign that poker is the work of the Devil? Food for thought (although this is about as much thought I am giving to this topic).

See you on the felt,