Super Stud High-Low 8 or better is a Stud variant where each player is dealt four cards down and one face-up. They have to discard two down cards on 3rd street and from that point the game is the same as Stud high-low 8 or better. Average starting hands are much stronger in Super Stud 8 or better compared to regular Stud 8 or better. For example, in regular Stud 8 or better, we will be dealt rolled up trips 0.24% of the time. In Super Stud 8 or better it’s 2.1%, almost nine times more often.
There is also an extra decision to make and sometimes that can be a tricky one. We can play our hand two or even three ways depending on what cards we keep. In this article, I will break down this topic and tell you what to look out for when you decide how to play your hand.
The Main Things to Look out for
- How do dead cards help or hurt our hand?
- What range are we up against?
- Is the pot contested heads-up or multiway?
- Keep the live pairs/kickers.
- Two card flush draws provide value (an extra 1%)
- One-card low draws still have some equity because it can make a backdoor low
Before I go more in depth, let me tell you how I like to analyze these spots in simulations. Ranges are much stronger in Super Stud 8 or better, and there isn’t any Super Stud 8 or better calculator yet. We have Troutulator for regular Stud 8 or better and with that we can break down somebody's range. For example, if we start with (K,K)Q and our opponent starts with a 5 and his range is:
-any 3card low (rainbow, three-flush): 3 card 5
-any 3card low (three-flush)
- rolled up
That means Troutulator will treat his range as 97% three-card lows (111 combos), and 2% rolled up (3 combos).
However, in Super Stud 8 or better, because we will get rolled-up and other stronger hands (wired aces, 3card low 3flush) dealt more often, the Troutulator doesn’t weigh the range properly. If we give somebody the same range for Super Stud 8 or better, they will only count with the 2% rolled up frequency. However here it’s much higher.
To counter this problem with Troutulator, in these range estimation spots I usually try to weigh strong hands more heavily when making a calculation and I remove some other hands. For example, for the three-card low range for rainbow, two-flush I fix that they will have 5*A. By doing that now, they will have rolled up 4% (still three combos), and three- card lows 95% (66 combos). This is a more realistic simulation for Super Stud 8 or better.
How do Dead Cards Help or Hurt our Hand?
When you get dealt a hand, even if there is a decent chance that you will play, always take a look and start to remember the dead cards. It also can have an effect on the hand later and should influence your decision about what to discard.
The board is 555A49. It gets folded to the Ace who opens. You have (7732)-4. Generally, you can play this as (2,3)4 or as (7,7)2.
Against a general Ace range (which will have a lot of pair of Aces and a lot of three-card lows, so I gave him a strong range), our equity with (2,3)4 will be 35.1% when the dead cards are 239K555
However when 5s are completely live, our equity would be 40.6% (when the dead cards are 239K)
With (7,7)4, our equity is 44.3% (and 45.7% without the dead 5s).
In my opinion, either way we should fold in this spot, I just wanted to illustrate how important dead cards can be. If we play this hand, we should certainly play that as (7,7)4 because then our two-pair/trips outs are live and that’s not the case when we have 234. The key cards that we need there (5s) are completely dead
What Range are we up Against?
This should also heavily affect your decision. Without knowing any dead cards, we open with an Ace, and a 9 two-bets us. That can mean only two things (if the villain knows what he is doing). He either has rolled-up 9s or wired Aces.
What should we do when we have (2
84
A
)A
- Should we play as AA?
- Should we play as A24 two-suits?
- Should we play A84 three-flush?
Villain will have rolled up three times more often than wired Aces because he only has 1 combination of wired Aces (AA
).
Against that range:
(A2)A has 32.1% equity
(2,4(A has 33.7%
(28)A has 40.6%
We should clearly keep the A82sss and either make the low for chop or hit the flush.
Another classic situation is when you have a pair and a low draw against another low card.
On a board of 52K we open with (3459)5, the 2 flats, and the King folds.
Once he flats (unless he is very tricky), we can discount the high hand combos (such as wired Aces, Kings, rolled up) and can safely assume he has a (strong) three-card low.
(3,4)5 has 51.4% equity against a general 2 (low heavy range)
(4,5)5 will have 53.1% equity.
Usually when we are heads-up against an opponent who has a lower door card than our pairs, we prefer to keep the pair instead of the low draw.
Is the Pot Contested Heads-up or Multiway?
If we use the previous example but assume that the K defends his bring-in, that will mean he will have a lot of split Kings. There will be some chance that he has hands like (A5K or (23K but way more often he will have split Kings.
Now (4,5)5 has 27.6% equity in the three-way pot.
But (3,4)5 has 33.5% equity.
Despite the fact that we are generally being ahead for the high side with our pair of 5s against the deuces, when the third player starts with split Kings, it drastically decreases our equity. Multiway we should generally keep the low draws, especially if they are strong and live.
That shouldn’t be the case if we have a pair of Aces.
If we open with an Ace, and a 2, 4, and 6 calls us and we can decide between
(A2)A,
(2,4(A,
or (28)A,
we should still keep the A2)A,. (But actually that can be close between the pair and three-flush hands).
Keep the Live Pairs/Kickers
If the above situation happens, it will be quite close (and really hard to run a simulation) between
(A2)A and
(28)A
The reason for that is because one deuce is dead and we need that to improve on our hand while 8s are completely live. Here, because of the good two-card low potential we still prefer to keep the (A2)A. But there are some other situations where players might make a mistake
524AK Board
5 opens, everybody folds, we defend with a K
We have
(QKA7)-K
Some players will keep the (A,K)K and then have 53.9% equity.
However, because an Ace was dead, it’s better to keep the (KQ)K and get 55.0% equity.
Two-card Flush Draws and One-card Low Draws
These factors mostly come into consideration when you have a marginal high pair in the bring-in like split Kings against a low card open.
In general, first you should always keep the card that is live. But if that doesn't matter, try to start with two-flush and with a one-card low.
52A4K Board
5 opens, everybody else folds, and we defend with a King
We have:
(QK37)-K
We can either keep (K,Q)K rainbow
or (K,3)K two-flush
Which one will be better? The (K,3)K with a two-flush has 53.3% compared to 53.0% for the (K,Q)K. With that, we not only have the chance to make a flush easier, but by getting four perfect cards we can also make a low that has a minor additional equity.
Yes, the difference is minimal, but constantly keeping bad cards and making these small mistakes can have an effect on your winrate. Keep in mind that these calculations are not completely exact, because besides the first example, Troutulator gives villain the same frequency for rolled up/wired Aces. In other more complicated versions, it’s hard to exactly weigh Villain's range. There can be a few decimal points difference, but that shouldn’t affect what we prefer to discard in the upper examples.
When deciding how to play your hand and what to discard, you have to take into consideration a lot of things. Be aware of all these small nuances, try to run as many simulations as possible to improve your game, and in the long run you should get an extra small edge against your opponents who don't really think about this that much.
