From the $530 WCOOP event:
7 Card Stud High-Low ($20/$40), Ante $4
50outs (Seat 1): $2,782
sunrise100 (Seat 2): $2,611
foucault82 (Seat 3): $3,260
BabyGrand (Seat 4): $3,078
lock (Seat 5): $2,624
Siren (Seat 6): $2,884
bjbwc (Seat 7): $4,041
Islandrob1 (Seat 8): $2,630
3rd Street – (1.60 SB)
50outs: xx xx 6c___folds
sunrise100: xx xx 3h___folds
foucault82: Ad 6h Ah___raises
BabyGrand: xx xx 2d___brings in___folds
lock: xx xx Ac___raises___calls
Siren: xx xx 8c___folds
bjbwc: xx xx Kc___calls___calls
Islandrob1: xx xx 9d___folds
4th Street – (7.90 SB)
foucault82: Ad 6h Ah 7d___bets
lock: xx xx Ac 5d___calls
bjbwc: xx xx Kc 7s___calls
5th Street – (5.45 BB)
foucault82: Ad 6h Ah 7d 6d___bets___calls
lock: xx xx Ac 5d 7c___raises
bjbwc: xx xx Kc 7s As___checks___calls
6th Street – (11.45 BB)
foucault82: Ad 6h Ah 7d 6d Jc___checks___calls
lock: xx xx Ac 5d 7c 2c___bets___calls
bjbwc: xx xx Kc 7s As 6s___checks___raises
River – (17.45 BB)
foucault82: Ad 6h Ah 7d 6d Jc Qh___bets
lock: xx xx Ac 5d 7c 2c xx___folds
bjbwc: xx xx Kc 7s As 6s xx___checks___calls
Total pot: (19.45 BB)
Results:
Total pot 778 | Rake 0
foucault82: [Ad 6h Ah 7d 6d Jc Qh] (HI: two pair, Aces and Sixes)
bjbwc: [Qd Kd Kc 7s As 6s 9h]
Even though you should generally be playing only hands that have a chance to win both high and low, split pots are very common in Stud/8, so when you do have the opportunity to scoop a big pot, it’s a great feeling. I may have played this a little too passively with Aces up, but I expected most of my equity to come from the guy showing a K, who probably had a pair of Kings, and I didn’t want to scare him out of the pot. By 6th street, both of my opponents were also showing three babies and three suited cards, so I didn’t feel it would be to my advantage to jam the pot. That may have been an error, though.
The guy holding KK brings up an important point about the difficulty of playing big pairs in this game. As I mentioned, you usually want to have at least a chance of winning both high and low, which KKx probably can’t do. However, KKx is a favorite against 3 babies on 3rd and even against 4 babies on 4th provided the player going low doesn’t have a 4-card straight or flush, so you do generally want to play it.
It gets tricky, however, when there are two Aces showing. It’s a common misconception that if more Aces are showing, then you are less likely to be up against a pair of Aces. Although it’s true that the second Ace makes it less likely that the first raiser has AA, it actually makes it more likely that someone, either the raiser or the player left to act, has AA. In other words, you’d rather be against one player showing an Ace with three Aces left in the deck than against two players showing an Ace with two Aces left in the deck.
Generally, people will play their low hands more aggressively if they have an A in the door, so it can be tempting to call down with KK on the assumption that your opponent probably just has a low. But really, you’re better off just throwing away KK if an A raises in front of you or re-raises you. In general, I look for reasons not to play big pairs (except AA, which is special both because it’s the best big pair and because it also contributes to your low). You’re going to be either a small favorite against something like A65 (remember that in addition to making a low, your opponent has outs to pair his Ace and maybe make a straight or flush) or way behind something like AA8, and it’s better to just get out. It certainly cost this guy.