Evaluating and Playing our Hypothetical Hand on the End

The seventh and last card, dealt face down, brings:

Andy

Bob

Chuck

Greg

Andy still has three Sevens, a strong hand, but not so strong when facing three opponents who have all indicated strength. Bob has a well-hidden full house and is confident of victory. He's not worried about losing, because with two Kings in sight, he knows no one can have a better full house like K-K-K-7-7, and he knows Andy can't have four Sevens, because he sees one in Chuck's hand.

Greg can't have four Jacks because Dave folded one early in the hand, but you know what? Even if Dave's Jack hadn't been visible, even if it was theoretically possible for Greg to hold four Jacks, you can't spend too much time worrying about extremely unlikely hands like three hidden Jacks and still play successful poker. In this situation, you bet Queens full of Nines for every possible bet.

If the other players drop out, and the hand becomes heads-up (Bob against Greg), the 3-raise rule goes away: once two players remain, most casinos employ a rule that allows unlimited raising and re-raising. So if in that situation, Greg kept re-raising Bob, at some point it would be right for Bob to consider that the unlikely had happened, and just to call. Playing four-handed, Bob will want to figure out the best way to extract the maximum from his opponents. Chuck never did make his straight, and hopefully he will realize that his pair of Tens can't win.

Greg thinks he has gotten very lucky, but actually just the opposite has happened. By catching the Ten, Greg has made a straight, a strong hand that will win most of the time in seven stud. But poker is not a game like hand grenades or horseshoes, where close counts; the worst possible hand in poker is a strong hand that finishes second.

Greg's error is a common one; many beginning poker players focus entirely on their own hands, and try to decide how good their chances of improving to a hand like a straight or a flush might be. They never stop to think that they might lose even if they make their hand.

Andy's pair of Sevens is still high on board. He decides to bet, because he has a good hand. He doesn't stop to consider that if someone can call this bet, they can probably beat his hand. Betting is not a terrible play, but with all the strength shown on the previous betting round, Andy would have been smarter to check.