Hi,
I'm a live player new to stud 8...recently I've just been playing all the games spread at Commerce to add variety to the poker experience.
I'd like and appreciate honest feedback on if my thinking process is right for this game.

3rd St? I think its third street or the 1st round of betting we're on a half/kill. I have a 28 down and a 4 up and toss a chip out. A fun player with a 9d up raises to 24. I call and a player with a 7 up calls.

4th St. I catch a 5, 7 catches a King, 9d up catches a 7h. I'm the only one that apparently caught well. K7 checks, 9d7h bets and I raise. My thinking is the most likely hand the K7 has is a strong 3 card 7 and I'd prefer he folds then catch a good card on 5th. K7 folds which felt like mission accomplished at the time.

5th st. I catch a J and the 97 catches a 5. I check he bets I call.

6th st. I pair my 4 and he catches a 4 as well. 9754 bets and I call again.

Check check river I brick off and he scoops with 2 pair.

My big questions are was the 4th st raise correct or standard? And is calling all the way down to the river ok? Thinking back on the hand when he keeps scoring low cards I can probably find a fold on 6th.

Thanks for any feedback!

seems standard. having J overcard is pretty nice for you here because you can make jacks up and beat his 9's up.

Generally it's best to avoid playing 3 card lows on 3rd that need 3 runners to make a straight because your final hand is typically nothing more than a low only. It's better to try to avoid investments that yield you much less than the total you are investing - unless the pot is big, try not to play for half the pot. It's like betting 1000 on a football game to win 1100.

There are exceptions as always in this highly situational game, such as when your cards are very live and when you are against only high door cards, or when there is a large ante.

And any spot where you are drawing for an 8 low it's best to be cautious and be more likely to fold if the action gets crazy when there is somebody in there with low cards showing.

Since you didn't fold on 3rd, I think it was a bad idea to raise on 4th because of the lack of high potential. If you have A-8-4 then a raise is OK because you can then catch an ace to potentially win the high, but with 2-8-4 you need running 2 pair minimum to beat the apparent high hand. Secondly if the 7K player folds it's actually bad for you because you need him in there for you to make money from your low, even though sometimes he will catch a bunch of cards to beat your low.

But really by playing the 2-8-4 in the first place you allow a hand like a measly pair of nines to have a more profitable situation than it ought to have. The player with the nines should be the "sucker", not you!

Thanks for the feedback - it really helps me to think about the hand in a different way!

Appreciated Lucius-I'll look at some equities as well on PPT.

100% agree on folding the hand on 3rd. The only time you would want to play that hand is if everyone else had high cards AND NO ACES WERE IN. If that were the case, wait until 4th to make a decision, but really it's a folding hand.