Light Reading

To help me prepare for the stud event, I have decided to revisit what I consider the sacred texts of seven-card stud play. I know reading up before a major tournament probably seems routine to most amateur and semi-pro poker players out there (they're thinking DUH, or should I say durrrr?), but I'm trying my best to document my entire process of preparing for and playing this event. Afterward, the plan is to review what preparations seemed helpful and what things I would have been okay without. This should help me prepare better for next year's Series, and give my poker friends some tools to use in their eventual quests for bracelet glory. A little bit of analysis, as Phil Laak [1] would say, "for the television audience at home."

The book that first gave me an inclination to try my hand at seven-card stud was the late Chip Reese's section of the original Supersystem. His writing style is ridiculously easy for the beginner to digest, and yet includes enough advanced concepts that after reading through it once or twice, you will absolutely be able to hold your own in most stud cash games.

The other book that really shaped me as a rookie was Sklansky's Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players. Most poker book enthusiasts will tell you that this is required reading for any intermediate stud player looking to improve his or her game. I would agree with them wholeheartedly. This book expands on many of the concepts that Reese's writings introduce, and also contains many ideas all its own.

I am currently re-reading Sklansky, with an eye toward finishing it by the middle of next week, and to read the Reese section by the end of next week. Then I'll have one more week to review all my notes on each before the trip. I am debating picking up the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide. From the review I've read, David Grey's section on Stud tournaments is solid, but not spectacular. Worth it? I am also questioning if I really need to buy and read through Max Stern's Championship Stud in the short amount of time I have before the tournament. Debatable. But I generally prefer more information to less, so we'll see. (I've heard that the Razz section of Championship is one of the definitive texts, though.)

I also plan to skim through the manuals in the hours before the tournament, just as a bit of a warm-up exercise. A little last-minute cram, just like back in college. I think this preparation strategy has an edge over playing stud hands immediately before the event (which was another option I considered). This is because I want to have in my head the correct way to play certain hands -- not just the way that I typically play them. Although I feel I am pretty good at stud, even winning players have certain tendencies and weaknesses that cause them to lose equity over the long run, to not make as much as they could. Including the pros. Like Phil Ivey [2] said, "I don't know anybody who plays every hand perfect ... besides Phil Hellmuth." [3] So I'm thinking it'll be good to get outside of my own mind, to a certain extent.

The question is, will this cause me to over-think, and not trust the instincts that I've built up over all my hands of play? As Phil Gordon [4] said, “It doesn't take a rocket scientist to be good at poker. Anybody with a fourth-grade education can figure out the logic behind the odds and outs.” I guess if I bust out early or play some hands egregiously, there will be plenty of time to second-guess the method. For now, I think doing plenty of reading beforehand will be +EV.