I wanted to make this post about how bad people are at Stud/8, because they are. Split pot games will rip clueless players to shreds. O/8 is a pretty easy game to get, so you don’t see quite as many huge mistakes. Plus there are fewer betting streets and it’s easier to make the nuts. But in Stud/8, people chase absurd lows and call down with any pair even when they are clearly crushed or getting freerolled.
But I also made a pretty big error in a Stud/8 game, so I guess I’ll be talking about how I suck at Stud/8 (though this is really just a Stud high error). On the river, my opponent was showing 6655, and I had Aces up with both Aces and two high cards showing. My opponent bet, and I raised for value. Like I was saying, no matter how clear I make it that I have Aces up, people will call down with any two pair.
I forgot, however, to think about what my opponent would be value betting. Since his two pair was open, there was no way he could be betting on the strength of that alone. He had to have either a boat or a low, and in either case there was no value in a raise. Sure enough, he had 6’s full.
Despite playing for four and a half hours, I only made it to the top 25% of the field. The hand that really hurt me came in LHE. A guy in MP raised, and I 3-bet with AKo. He called. The flop came Ad 5c 3c. He checked, I bet, he check-raised, and I called. the turn was an off-suit 8, he bet, and I raised. The river was a T, and he check-called with Ac Tc. Unlucky river for me, but there were quite a few of those that could have come.