Card Counting in Seven Card Stud Poker
In general you should only play hands, that can be improved, except if they're already so good that they're hard to beat. If a hand can be improved or not, depends on how many cards actually can help the player, of course.
The best information is already lying on the table: The cards facing-up, the so-called 'Door Cards'.
Card Counting means to remember (or to note down) all cards that have been dealt. This applies to the value of cards as well as to the colours.
A lot of players will fold right in the beginning or in a round afterwards, which means their cards will be removed from the table. Hence, you always have to keep in mind the Door Cards of the players that have folded.
If you're holding an uncompleted hand it's especially important to know how many of the desired cards (or colours) you could get at all. This is also meaningful when estimating your opponents. It might occur a player shows a pair of jacks and another player, who has folded already, had a jack as a Door Card and maybe yourself are holding the fourth jack as a card facing-down. That means, this player cannot have a triplet in this situation, which is of big significance for the onward game.
Thus, Card Counting is valuable not just for your own hand, but also to estimate what possibilities your opponents still have. A player who remembers in a later round, what cards are already out of the game, of course has a big advantage to a player who doesn't recall. It might also help to better understand your opponent's strategy, in low limit games probably even better than the opponents themselves.
Sometimes it might occur you get distracted when the cards are dealt and you don't have a sure memory of what cards other players had that instantly folded. In that case you should alsothrow your hand away immediately, because it's crucial to know what cards are still in the game, since that information will always affect your decision if to fold, check or raise. You need to have a clear notion of how strong your own hand and the hand of your opponent really is:
- How strong is my own hand with the cards facing-up and the hand of my opponent, respectively?
- What hands could my opponent have that could beat me?
- Which cards must he hold to beat me and accordingly which cards must I get to improve my hand?
- How many of these cards have been dealt already?
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