Recently was playing 30-60 stud 8 or better. Looked down seen 87 5 with 2 spades. Looked around the table and seen 7other low cards and 2 spades missing. Also a player with a low six showing raised. I decided to throw my hand away. One of my friends was watching and almost died. I gave him my reasoning could I have been wrong.
Answer 1:
You were right; your friend was wrong. I wouldn’t play that hand even with normal distribution of low cards. An 8 low with no ace is a lousy hand — even lousy if ALL the cards are suited. If all the cards were suited and your straight and flush cards were live, it’s an easy call for the bring-in. Otherwise, I would only play it if I was the only low hand.
Answer 2:
As a long time player of hi lo 8 or better stud, and a reader of the good books on the subject, you were totally correct in your play of this particular hand. I personally don’t like to get involved with an 8 low unless it is reasonably smooth with one ace. I think that even if I had 8 6 2 with 2 suited, a good argument could be made about throwing such a hand away, unless one was absolutely sure there were no lows out there, rarely the case in an active game. Some people will always play 876 off suit or two suited, thinking of the straight, but this can be an enormous trap. In this game, especially with many live players, a great deal of money can be saved by folding your marginal hands and thinking good thoughts about the money you are saving yourself when you do. The aim of the game as always is to scoop the entire pot, and even one hand an evening where you have the patience to wait, can be enormously profitable, many, many times the big bet per hour or two which is supposedly what everybody is aiming for. I can think of occasions at 5 l0 play where a profit of several hundred dollars over a few hours was a function of l or 2 of these hands. As always, I underscore my tightness in this type of game for openers (although not once one has caught good), so you have to take my take on openers under consideration. Others may feel differently and play well out of weakened openers with a better read on players than I usually get, a point I am still working on. But hi lo of this type, without a declaration, is one game where a multiway pot and a good holding do not always require an enormous amount of psychology, except in terms of maximizing your implied odds.
Answer 3:
“As a long time player of hi lo 8 or better stud, and a reader of the good books on the subject, you were totally correct in your play of this particular hand. I personally don’t like to get involved with an 8 low unless it is reasonably smooth with one ace. I think that even if I had 8 6 2 with 2 suited, a good argument could be made about throwing such a hand away, unless one was absolutely sure there were no lows out there, rarely the case in an active game.” I would throw it away in virtually every situation. ”Some people will always play 876 off suit or two suited, thinking of the straight, but this can be an enormous trap.” This hand is better than it appears if you’re only against one or two opponents. If you are against one low hand, you can often scoop when you pair a card and your opponent doesn’t make a low. Against one or two high hands, any low will get half and you have the straight draw to scoop. ”In this game, especially with many live players, a great deal of money can be saved by folding your marginal hands and thinking good thoughts about the money you are saving yourself when you do. The aim of the game as always is to scoop the entire pot, and even one hand an evening where you have the patience to wait, can be enormously profitable, many, many times the big bet per hour or two which is supposedly what everybody is aiming for. I can think of occasions at 5 l0 play where a profit of several hundred dollars over a few hours was a function of l or 2 of these hands.” I agree. This is the one game where you actually play tighter as the game becomes looser. ”As always, I underscore my tightness in this type of game for openers (although not once one has caught good), so you have to take my take on openers under consideration. Others may feel differently and play well out of weakened openers with a better read on players than I usually get, a point I am still working on. But hi lo of this type, without a declaration, is one game where a multiway pot and a good holding does not always require an enormous amount of psychology, except in terms of maximizing your implied odds.” There’s minimal psychology in this game. It’s more a game of playing situations well. Reading players is not as important as in other games. That’s because you almost always need the best hand for your side to win in a multiway pot, while heads-up play is mechanical. The game comes down to playing the right starting hands, avoiding bad calls on 4th and 5th, and getting full value from your strong hands on 5th and 6th.
