I can play Stud too

I'll be the first to admit that seven card stud is not my best game. However, I am always trying to improve my play in all poker games. I took a shot at my local casino's monthly stud tournament in February 2006. What I was looking forward to was the fact that we would be playing fixed limit stud--not spread limit like in the cash games. I was dealt split kings early in the tournament and played it very strong and got a player to lay down a weak two pair. My basic strategy was to keep betting as long as my board kept looking stronger and my opponent didn't catch any cards that were too scary for me. The stakes were getting high and I was getting mildly short stacked. I played my split jacks for 4 bets on 3rd street and managed to double up my stack. I was quickly moved to another table where I played my pair of 4s real strong and got lucky to make trips on 7th.

I quickly got a big stack and went into big stack playing mode. I was being a bit of a bully, but it also helps when you keep catching cards also. Before I knew it, I was at the final table with an average sized stack. We discussed a 7 way chop as the antes and bring-ins were very high relative to our stacks. One player with a lot of chips didn't not want to chop so we played on until we lost two more. At that time, the original player who didn't want to chop was very short stacked. After he gets eliminated, the rest of us chopped with the chip leader getting a premium cut. I was pleased with my overall play. I played a relatively straight forward game and was getting lucky at the right times. I wish the structure of the tournament would have allowed for more play at the end. I ended up in 3rd place for the tournament.