The Good Old Days
True Story of "7 Card Stud" ~
Riding on the L and N ..??
What's that got to do with poker, and what does it mean, your already thinking !!
Nothing really, but for me to explain what this game means , i have to go back to the mid-eighties when i first started playing in tournaments ..
I already new the basics of the game and was pretty good in local cash games playing 'half-pot' , '7 card stud' ..
I had a long way back been good friends with a guy from Slough, his name was 'Rod Bolland' .
We used to go horse racing together at Windsor and Goodwood and together we got involved in some pretty juicy cash games back then .
It was after a late Saturday night/early morning poker session, and having breakfast at midday Sunday, that we decide to give the old Luton Grosvenor Casino a spin, that Sunday afternoon . (Degenerates even back then) .. ( '',)
We had intended to just go to play 'blackjack' and have a day out, but like so many things, it was the start of a new adventure, when we found the 'Pot Limit' '7 card stud' tournament game ..
This was the beginning of a ten year era that was to go on until his untimely death in 2004 ~
The track, "Riding on the L an N" was made by John Mayall's blues breakers but we liked the version by 'Nine Below Zero', and that was the song we'd always sing as we travelled up the motorway 'M1' to Luton & North (L an N) to play poker ~
You had to be there but, we would sing along for miles, singing this every trip on the way to play in the tournaments ~
Occasionally another friend "Dave 'Sugar' Barlow" (from Brighton) would come along , us three, all singing
http://youtu.be/48qoJ7qsS5k ~
(nutters , yes , but we had great times )
So how do you play "7 card Stud" your thinking ??
Well, obviously the 'online game' is different, in so much as most online games are played as 'Limit' and not 'Pot' games, but in a lot of ways the game is the same ~
To start with, what starting hands, and were talking 'cash' rather than tournament, it's easier to explain 'cash games' better to people who want to learn more about the game ...
Starting hands~ OK, lets also begin and say that cards are dealt to each player individually and each deal of the cards is followed by a betting round and then another card to each player.
Each deal is called a 'street', this being that the first two cards are dealt 'dark' and the third card 'up' .. That card to all players is called, (remember this it's important as to how your analyzing later what your opponent has) That card is called, the 'hole card' !!
And this is also, to all players known as 'third street'. The start of the betting rounds where, these days it's the lowest card exposed from all players that brings the betting in !!
(It's not always been the way, in some live games, it's the high card that brings in the betting but that's another story ~ Not online and not today )
So, whats a good starting hand ?
Well pretty much the same as in holdem, 'high pairs', 'low pairs' with a big 'kicker' or three high cards suited, also don't forget were starting with three cards, two 'dark' to us, (that only we know) and 'one up' for all players to see, and were looking to get dealt 'seven cards' if were going to play all 'seven streets' of betting , or pass somewhere along the way as the betting goes on !!
So it's important to start with a good foundation of a hand if your to continue along all the betting 'streets' ..
Sorry i digress from the story
Anyways it was also at Luton where i met good friend Steve
(talksportforums) and another mate 'chuffty' Richard Ashby ...
Steve and i have often gone back to Luton, but since they closed the old G Casino and reopened a new one nearer the airport, the atmosphere is not the same as back in the day..
Those day back in the 90's as me Rod and another old pal Dave'Sugar'Barlow drove home the song would be "The Gambler" Muppet's !!
http://youtu.be/kNnrTNFWcsg
On most evenings we would win something, sometimes small, sometimes big when one of us would take down a tournament ~
It was a living back then, before the internet , but we did have fun all the way !!
~~ ( '',) Bazza