The best two pairs to have at such a time are "near cards," such as 10-8 down and 10-8 up. Opponents may then figure that the raise was made on some such combination as J-10-9-8. If, later, you fill, and also get a card that looks as though it may have made you a straight, you may get a tremendous play from a flush and win a big pot. The raise on such a two-pair hand is especially effective because any double-end straight or any four-flush made in the first four cards is worth a maximum bet or raise, and two or more reraises if the opportunity arises.

(Only one reraise against an open pair that raises back.) It is about even money that you will fill the straight or flush in the next three cards, and the odds are 21 or better to 1 that you will win if you do.Stubbornness and overoptimism are the main hazards to the player of seven-card stud. Very rare are the hands that can win without improvement. You might almost say that nothing less than a high three-of-a-kind in the first three cards is likely to win without improvement.

The winning player must stay at the start when he has a good draw but must drop fast if he has not improved by at least the fifth card. To stick around with aces against three or four other players is futile. Hands run so high in this game that one of the other players almost surely has a better hand. One cannot repeat too often that in every form of poker, the best hand going in figures to be the best coming out.

The tactics of betting and raising in seven-card stud are almost exactly the same as in five-card stud. The only difference is that one can seldom be nearly so sure of having the winning hand, because with three cards down at the end, the hidden combinations are almost innumerable. Early raises are about the same in one game as in the other. Bets and raises on the last card are somewhat more dangerous in seven-card stud. Bluffing is less effective on the last card because it is so hard to know when a player may have a legitimate call, regardless of what he has represented in the past.