Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players [Paperback]

David Sklansky (Author), Ray Zee (Author), Mason Malmuth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

Seven-card stud is an extremely complex game. Deciding on exactly the right strategy in any particular situation can be very difficult. Perhaps this is why very few authors have attempted to analyze this game even though it is widely played. In 1989, the first edition of this text appeared. Many ideas, which were only known to a small, select group of players, were now made available to anyone who was striving to become an expert, and a major gap in the poker literature was closed. It is now a new century, and the authors have again moved the state of the art forward by adding over 100 pages of new material, including an extensive section on "loose games." Anyone who studies this text, is well disciplined, and gets the proper experience should become a significant winner. Some of the other ideas discussed in this 21st century edition include the cards that are out, the number of players in the pot, ante stealing, playing big pairs, playing little and medium pairs, playing three-flushes, playing three-straights, randomizing your play, fourth street, pairing your door card on fourth street, proper play on fifth, sixth, and seventh streets, defending against a possible ante steal, playing against a paired door card, scare card strategy, and buying a free card.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

About David Sklansky

David Sklansky is generally considered the number one authority on gambling in the world today. Besides his ten books on the subject, David also has produced two videos and numerous writings for various gaming publications. His occasional poker seminars always receive an enthusiastic reception, including those given at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

More recently, David has been doing consulting work for casinos, Internet gaming sites, and gaming device companies. He has recently invented several games, soon to appear in casinos.

David attributes his standing in the gambling community to three things:

1. The fact that he presents his ideas as simply as possible (sometimes with Mason Malmuth) even though these ideas frequently involve concepts that are deep, subtle, and not to be found elsewhere.

2. The fact that the things he says and writes can be counted on to be accurate.

3. The fact that to this day a large portion of his income is still derived from gambling (usually poker, but occasionally blackjack, sports betting, horses, video games, casino promotions, or casino tournaments).

Thus, those who depend on David’s advice know that he still depends on it himself.

About Mason Malmuth

Mason Malmuth was born and raised in Coral Gables, Florida. In 1973 he received his BS in Mathematics from Virginia Tech, and completed their Masters’ program in 1975. While working for the United States Census Bureau in 1978, Mason stopped overnight in Las Vegas while driving to his new assignment in California. He was immediately fascinated by the games, and gambling became his major interest.

After arriving in California he discovered that poker was legal and began playing in some of the public cardrooms as well as taking periodic trips to Las Vegas where he would play both poker and blackjack. In 1981 he went to work for the Northrop Corporation as a mathematician and moved to Los Angeles where he could conviently pursue his interest in poker in the large public cardrooms in Gardena, Bell Gardens, and Commerce.

In 1983 his first article "Card Domination — The Ultimate Blackjack Weapon" was published in Gambling Times magazine. In 1987 he left his job with the Northrop Corporation to begin a career as both a full-time gambler and a gambling writer. He has had over 500 articles published in various magazines and is the author or co-author of 12 books. These include Gambling Theory and Other Topics, where he tries to demonstrate why only a small number of people are highly successful at gambling. In this book he introduces the reader to the concept of "non-self weighting strategies" and explains why successful gambling is actually a balance of luck and skill. Other books he has co-authored are Hold ’em Poker For Advanced Players, written with David Sklansky, and Seven-Card Stud For Advanced Players written with David Sklansky and Ray Zee. All the "advanced" books are considered the definitive works on these games.

His company Two Plus Two Publishing has sold over 400,000 books and currently has 22 titles to its credit. These books are recognized as the best in their field and are thoroughly studied by those individuals who take gambling seriously.

About Ray Zee

Ray Zee was born and raised in New Jersey, and spent his college years in the East as well. Unlike other students, Ray did more than just study. He began to gamble on the side in school, and when he graduated he was ready to start his career, which just happened to be in the dessert of Nevada.

Ray quickly realized that there were many opportunities in various forms of gambling and began to search for ways to exploit the inequities in many of the games. This included blackjack, horse racing, sports betting, slot jackpots, and of course his favorite game, poker.

It wasn’t long before he became known as one of the top poker players and most knowledgeable gamblers in the world. A

Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: Two Plus Two Pub.; 4 edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188068523X
• ISBN-13: 978-1880685235
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #323,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic 7-Card Thesis For Advanced & Intermediate Players, August 21, 2001

By 

K. Adler (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players (Paperback)

A perfect study for anyone who's SERIOUS about completing their 7-card education. This should NOT be the first or even second book you read on your journey to 7-card mastery. The theories presented are certainly advanced, but nothing beyond what even an "intermediate" player would (and should) understand. In fact, this is the kind of text that, when put into practice, can foster the growth of an intermediate player to a higher level. What made this book stand out among my poker library is its direct approach to SPECIFIC situations. Most poker books fail to provide numerous, exact plays in those all-too-often marginal hands. Yet, it is in these plays where the expert extracts his profits over the long run. The examples are often involved, yet clearly presented. What are you representing? What should you represent? How do your opponents perceive you? Will a raise here put you into a heads-up situation? If so, is that desirable at this point in time? One word of caution: As a player who has experienced up to the 15-30 level, I suggest these techniques are worthless below 10-20, with the exception of a TIGHT game below 10-20 (is that an oxymoron?) In fact, the authors often use a 30-60 game for their examples. Most players below the 10-20 simply aren't sophisticated enough to make "correct" decisions in reaction to your plays. After all, if your opponents don't know what they're doing, how are you supposed to know what they're doing? There is a section on loose games that addresses these issues thoroughly, but I wouldn't suggest a low-limit player buy the book simply because of that text. A better book for those low limit players would be Roy West's "7-Card Stud: The Complete Course in Winning at Medium and Lower Limits." There's one more thing that this advanced course has that I have yet to see in another poker book: A quiz - just to make sure you're getting the key points! I never understood why all of my other poker books, which are in fact tutorials, didn't provide a quiz to make the reader (student) is getting a passing grade. Students in school don't get through a semester without being tested, and the reader of a tutorial style book shouldn't pass through without facing the challenge of a test either. Cheers to Sklansky, Malmuth, and Zee for caring enough about their students to include this critical section so many others seem to lack.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, July 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players (Paperback)

The best advice backed up with easy to understand examples. Contains the least amount of dubious advice of any poker text. This book will make a huge difference to your bankroll. No matter how good a player you are you are a clueless newbie until you read this text. Once caveat: Keep in mind that in general their advice is directed towards your playing in a game with tight aggressive skilled players. These authors no longer play in low limit games and to some extent have lost touch with the type of player the low limit playing reader faces.You should add another title to your shopping basket here to read that addresses games with loose bad players in it so as to obtain a proper strategic approach to all situations. A good poker book teaches you how to think about situations more so than what to do in specific situationAny text by the team of skylansky malmouth is worth it's weight in gold. Look for a revision of some of their classic texts, subtitled- "year 2000 or 20c. update"

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A complete reference for any limits, June 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players (Paperback)

Sklansky et. al. have written the definitive book on 7-card stud. It is fairly easy to read and quite complete. It is probably best for middle and higher limit games but the tactics can be adapted to suit lower limit and spread limit games. It is a must for poker players who do not want to loose atll their money when they visit the casinos and poker clubs. You can be sure that if you sit at tables in Atlantic City, Vegas, California, Foxwood etc. the player(s) across the table from you has probably read this book, and you will be at a significant disadvantage if you have not. It is worth a buy, but you must read it carefully and practice.