Handpicks in Seven-Card Stud
Learning the different card hands, especially the strong starting hands, are essential to make the best decisions and have a good chance of winning.  In the seven-card stud, you need to understand whether you’re hands are live or dead.  This means that cards with strong or high rankings are “live” cards.  But if you posses low ranking cards and your jack or high rank cards are out, then you’re hand is as good as dead.
Strong Hands and Weak Hands
When betting has started, you need to determine if you posess a good starting hand or not.  Here are some of the starting hands you need to learn.  Remember that high cards are 10 thru ace and low card are 2 thru 9.  The first strong hand is the 3 of a kind.  This is also called the “rolled-up trips”.  If you posses these cards, you will probably have a chance to win.  You can bet aggressively if you are with conservative players.  You can start a combination of three aces, two cards down and one card up.  The next strong hand is the big pair (i.e. AA-JJ) which can be very strong and useful when they are hidden.  You can allow more money in the pot by deceiving other players that you have a very strong hand.  The big suited connectors like aces and kings or jacks and tens are strong starting hands.  You can also used medium suited connectors (Jacks to nines) and big suited semi connectors like aces, queens, kings, jacks and tens.  There is also a so-called High over card which is two or three cards that are higher than anything on the table.  High 3 card flush should have at least 2 high ranking cards.  High 3 card straight is 3 consecutive cards like 9, 10, J or Q, K and A.  The lowest combination you can start with is a straight.  Low pairs like 3 nines to 3 twos are also not good starting hands.  If you posses these cards, you can assess if there will be any improvement in the 3rd to 5th round.  If not, you can fold from that round to be saved for the next game.
Studying Your Hands
There is no way to be certain of the starting hands you will be dealt with but in the stud game, the best hands usually win the pot.  The important thing is you know the equivalent of these cards so you can come up with the best decisions to stay in the game a little bit longer.