Hellmuth's 7-Card Stud Premium Starting Hands

[Jaded]

As before, if you want far more in-depth guidance on stud, buy the book! I would offer my opinion as I did with Phil's Omaha H/L hands, but given my results at stud, you're better off without it! Premium hands 1. Trips, from (AA)A down to (22)2. 2. High pairs, roughly in order (AA)x then (Ax)A then (KK)x and similarly down to (Jx)J. 3. High suited connectors, (AK)Q suited down to (JQ)K suited or so. The key to the above 2 sets of hands is that you'd ALWAYS rather have the most powerful card or cards in the hole, rather than visible. 4. Medium pairs, from (TT)x to (8x)8. 5. Medium suited connectors, such as (TJ)Q. 6. High suited semiconnectors, from (AK)J to (9J)K or so. The below 2 paragraphs are my views, and as such can safely be completely ignored! Note that (77)A, which for some reason usually looks like a monster to me, doesn't make it on the list at all. Also note that the hands are HIGHLY dependent on other visible cards - for example, (AK)Q suited with 7 players showing 7, 5, 3, 9, 8 and 2 is pretty damn sweet. (AK)Q suited with those players showing J and T of your suit, plus A, A, K, K, Q leaves you barely anything left to draw to.