My Best Stud Hand

I was playing in my monthly home game with my old roommate and a couple of friends. In this blog I'm just going to talk about a hand.  I'll get to the rest of the game later.

 

The game was Follow the Queen.  It's 7-stud but if a Queen is dealt as an upcard the card following makes that rank a wild card.

 

I'm dealt three Kings. Two down and one up. Very strong hand. One of my opponents has a 4 showing. The next I'm dealt a 6 and two seats down a queen is dealt. My opponent with the 4 is now being dealt the wild card, which is a 7.  I'm still feeling confident.  My set is still good.

 

On 5th street, I'm dealt a Jack, but my opponent with the 4 is now dealt another 7 giving him a set of 4.  Not only that he bets strong. My kings are not looking very good at the moment.

 

On 6th street, my hope is another queen comes out but it doesn't.  It's now down to three players. The set of 4's is betting strong and I'm calling.  The third player is staring at my cards and wondering why I'm calling.  My calling is enough to scare him out of my pot.  My fear at the moment is that I'm now losing to a four-of-a-kind.  I'm cringing as I call the max bet.  I know I'm making a loose call.

 

On 7th street, I'm dealt my down card.  It's a Jack and I just made a full house.  Incredibly strong hand, if I weren't playing a stupid wild card game. The 4's again bets strong and I have to call.  I can't fold a full house.  I'll just pay the guy off.  He flips over a Ace for three-of-a-kind.  I win a huge pot with my boat.  That was scary, because I was losing up until the last card.

 

At the same time, if these wasn't a wild card game, I had King-King-Jack as my down cards and King, Jack, 7, 6, 2 as my upcards.  This is an incredibly deceptive hand for stud.

 

In conclusion, I hate wild card games.  The reality is that you need a wild card to win. I've thrown away natural trips because I didn't have the wild card and I could have easily lost this hand.