Casino Game 42

I was playing some 3/6 and 5/10 Holdem today at Paradise Poker, and noticed that of the 12 times that I was dealt AK (off-suit or suited), I stole the blinds once, and lost the other 11 times. I usually try to seek out and play at tables where my opponents are loose/maniacal, and they will play (and often raise with) any ace or low pair from any position, in addition to cold calling raises with weak hands like J-9 off-suit, and K-8 suited. Then I play premium hands (88, AQo, ATs or better), and usually open with a raise. I have heard the argument that this is poor strategy, because you are bound to get sucked out on with several maniacs drawing against you. However, it has always seemed to me that opponents should be feeding you EV by incorrectly calling with weak hands, and poor investment odds. After losing 200 small bets today by playing this way for 10 hours at 2 tables simultaneously (and I don’t think I went on tilt at all), I am beginning to believe the people who warn against facing several maniacs at once.

Other hands from my session:

K-K: 0 for 1. Lost to river ace. Opponent had A-6o.10-10: 1 for 6. Usually had to fold this when 2 overcards flopped and multiple players bet into me. A-Qo: 2 for 10. Won far less than its share of pots, even after flopping top pair several times. Never lost to a dominating hand (AA, KK,QQ,AK).Small pairs (not folded pre-flop): 0 for 9. Never flopped a set. Folded about 20 of these preflop. K-Qo: 4 for 8. Usually won small pots, or got out cheap.

I will be playing in a multi-game poker tournament in a couple of months, of which one of the games is Canadian Stud, which I have never played or even heard of before, though I understand it is a variant of 5CS.  Can someone help me with some strategy?

Answer 1:

I only know of John Scarne who ever came up with this game. It’s your regular Stud, except that a fourflush (and maybe even an outside straight) beats a pair, but is beaten by two pair. Everything else is the same.  As a Canadian, I assure you that nobody here plays Stud this way.

I’ve heard of the game, which I believe also travels with the name “new York stud”.  A four flush beats a four straight beats a pair, which is correct in ranking terms I think.   It’s an attempt to introduce sequences/flushes into 5cs and it makes a lot of sense in some ways, though if it was taken to its logical conclusion a three-card straight flush would beat a pair (at least) and a 4-str8 flush would beat a full house, since there are only 1610 of them.  Can’t help you with strategy though: presumably they are only worth going for if the cards are of sufficient size to make a pair worthwhile if you hit it.  If it’s played with limit betting it would be a waste, because 5cs is all about bluff.

Answer 3:

If that is how the game is played, it is also called “soko”, and is regularly played at Casino Ray, Helsinki. The last major tournament there,

www.european-poker.com/tournaments/2000/midnight_sun.htm saw 107 entries with 242 re-buys in the FIM 1,000 ($160) Soko event. This was the largest field for any tournament that week, prize pool FIM 349,000 ($56,000)