Casinos & Pokers

I will be playing in a multi-game poker tournament in a couple of months, of which one of the games is Canadian Stud, which I have never played or even heard of before, though I understand it is a variant of 5CS. Can someone help me with some strategy?

Answer 1:

I only know of John Scarne who ever came up with this game. It’s your regular Stud, except that a fourflush (and maybe even an outside straight) beats a pair, but is beaten by two pair. Everything else is the same. As a Canadian, I assure you that nobody here plays Stud this way.

Answer 2:

I’ve heard of the game, which I believe also travels with the name “new York stud”. A four flush beats a four straight beats a pair, which is correct in ranking terms I think. It’s an attempt to introduce sequences/flushes into 5cs and it makes a lot of sense in some ways, though if it was taken to its logical conclusion a three-card straight flush would beat a pair (at least) and a 4-str8 flush would beat a full house, since there are only 1610 of them. Can’t help you with strategy though: presumably they are only worth going for if the cards are of sufficient size to make a pair worthwhile if you hit it. If it’s played with limit betting it would be a waste, because 5cs is all about bluff.

Answer 3:

If that is how the game is played, it is also called “soko”, and is regularly played at Casino Ray, Helsinki. The last major tournament there, www.european-poker.com/tournaments/2000/midnight_sun.htm saw 107 entries with 242 re-buys in the FIM 1,000 ($160) Soko event. This was the largest field for any tournament that week, prize pool FIM 349,000 ($56,000)

Holdem and Omaha and even seven-card stud are unfamiliar to most pit players. But everyone knows draw poker. Would low buy-in draw tournaments bring many new players into poker?

Answer 1:

Recreational players frequently play draw. Offering this in casinos could tempt them into public poker play and they could then be taught the more popular games.

Answer 2:

Yes, I think it would. I have met no men and very few women who don’t know the rules to 5-card draw. Non-serious players, on the other hand, generally had never heard of Hold’em before Rounders. Playing a familiar game cuts the intimidation factor in half, and brings all of the wannabe Kenny Rogers’ in from Blackjack.

Answer 3:

 The casino is filled with players who haven’t played real poker; but many of them play “video poker”, which is loosely modeled on draw poker. If you wanted non-poker players in the poker game, draw poker has advantages. “Carribean Stud” is essentially a very structured game of heads-up straight poker. I read somewhere that David Sklansky invented a somewhat more complex version in the early 80s. But when casinos learned that a perfect strategy would nullify the house edge, they weren’t interested, although the average hold was similar to the present game, which was “invented” and patented after Sklansky had given up on his game. The slowness of draw could be overcome somewhat by the same techniques used in table games, including Carribean Stud: alternating two decks in a shuffling machine.

Where are some good places to play middle to upper limit holdem?  How is the action?  Any other comments about Seattle poker are welcome.

Answer 1:

For 10-20 check out the Hideaway, the action is usually very good but seems to have slowed down since the weather got nice. It’s in North Seattle. For higher limits there’s Muckleshoot casino in Auburn, they spread one 20-40, I hear it’s not that good. There’s also New Sonny’s in Federal Way, they usually spread a 8-16 and a 12-24 daily and sometimes get a 15-25 game going.  For more info do a search, I feel like there’s a question about Seattle poker at least once a week.  So there should be more info in the archives.

Answer 2:

Try the Tuyalip (sp?) casino near Marysville. Always packed till closing which is I believe 3am. Three or Four 4-8 games. One or two 8- 16 games. Almost always at least two 20-40 games. 5-8 tables still going at closing.

Answer 3:

Try the Hideaway at 145th and Aurora. It has several jamming $10-$20 hold’em games but you’d better buckle up! They are FAST!