Folded to me I raise 78 A with a 3 bring in a 7 and a 9 left to act. I felt the raise was a little loose but I had played at most 2 hands since O started so I thought I might get a little more respect with the A up and all Aces were live. Could definitely be convinced just to fold with a $2 ante but here we go. The 7h and the 3 call.

8d7s Ac3s
** 7h4h
** 3c x

The guy with 7 4 has been playing a decent amount of hands and battling over a lot of pots so I check expecting him not to fold much after hitting such a good 4th, he bets, bring in folds I call. Anyone betting 4th?

8d7s Ac3s5c
** 7h4hAs

Now that I have given up the lead and he hits an ace my chances for high look especially poor and I don't love my chances at the low either. My board looks really strong too but I dont think this guy is going anywhere even if hes a little weaker than his board represents. Don't remember exactly but at most 2 of his hearts were dead in case he does have a high 3 flush

Should I call and reeval? I folded and I heard the bring in say something about monsters under the bed but my board looked much stronger than my hand and Im not perceived to be stealing at all

I fold 3rd here in general. How many handed? Other dead cards? When you check 4th, you either have 33Ax or the razz hand you have or a steal typically. I really don't have a problem folding 4th given your check (giving up on your steal) and 5th is a fairly trivial fold imo. You have essentially no high draw and villain could have a made low lock and straight draw or a pair and good low draw.

We were 7 or 8 handed and I can't remember the other dead cards as I was a little tilted from folding so much recently and I'm not that great at it to begin with.

i prob raise 3rd and bet both 4th and 5th here. i play s8 pretty aggressively. if i got played back at on fifth id fold. if he raises 4th i'd prob call and c/f 5th.

If you complete Third and don't bet Fourth you are accurately representing your hand, and essentially giving up. So give up if you do that. I would play it basically the way djforever suggests, being aggressive on all three streets, because you will sometimes have very strong hands when you do and your opponents should not know when. Also, getting villain to fold anything that compromises your equity, especially a pair is a huge win and is only going to happen when he faces a bet from you.

As played, the TORSE lineups I played with were pretty soft and loose, so I think any pair here will win and would take a card almost always and reevaluate, but not playing such a strong board aggressively will not do you any favors. You cannot be scooped at the moment, but that could change on the next card.

+1 obv. As always, electrical is on point and to the point.

(Elec, I'm the guy who played a few hands of mix w you the other night and stopped by the HORSE game this afternoon.)

If I play it the way you did I probably call fifth and reeval. It's simply way too hard for you to be a very large dog right now given he flatted third.

I tend to autobet fourth and autobet fifth here, though.

e: what electrical said

I would bet 4th and continue betting with such a strong board. It looks especially strong when we continue to bet after villian has caught good. Maybe I overplay my hand in this spot.

As played I would prolly check/raise to buy a free card on 6th.

I know at least one stud8 world champion who'd say you're doing it wrong.

Folding in a tough lineup with a small ante where you aren't likely to get respect just for having an Ace on the porch is not going to cost you much if anything.

Tough lineups usually don't have a small ante though, so it's almost moot.

I don't think folding is awful but I don't think playing this hand is a fish move either. We have only 2 players to get through, I feel like this is a really standard steal.

What are the flat-calls likely to mean? To me the flat calls mean that we don't have that much to worry about from big low or high hands - on 5th I think there is a very good reason to believe we have the best hand at least one way and are drawing at the other side.

Don't forget that when you can describe an opponent as "very unlikely to fold" as a justification for not bluffing, it also means you can value bet what would normally be ridiculously light.

Yeah, nice to meet you. HORSE predictably broke once the 75 O8 game started so I started another 50 stud8, and just when it was getting live I had to split for the airport and real life. See you next year.

well put!

I definitely like playing the hand aggressively if I'm going to be calling bets anyway. Running some numbers I am in pretty good shape ~45% against anything but a made 7. If he does have the 7 I have ~37% and if he has 4 to a wheel I have 29%.

How likely are the two bad situations vs. high heart hands crappy lows and random shyt? I assume I want to be calling and calling down most of the time the times I have ~45% and folding the rest b/c of the future bets. This situation where I'm on the ropes and probably gonna get half but not likely to scoop comes a lot. What equity roughly do I generally want in these 5th street spots(I assume in a tourney it might be better to fold in low-mid 40s type situations)

Vs a loose stud8 player and given your board, I'd bet the 4th and check-raise the 5th a fair amount of time.
Is it a too aggressive move? :-)

Electrical: your comments are pure gems.