The Beauty of
Stud H/L Poker

Tournament poker and variance... thanks for nothing! The last two tournaments of SCOOP 2026 were once again perfect snapshots of how miserably this whole series has gone for me.

In the $22 H.O.R.S.E., I won a huge pot early on. With concealed queens in Stud H/L and two opponents I read absolutely correctly (to be honest, I had Wishiper96 on a flush draw, because who calls a 2-bet on 3rd street with (A7)K non-suited?). But I had h3pp's aces clearly on my radar, because no one ever 3-bets preflop after I re-raised with the open 5 and the open K called that 2-bet.

In that hand, I absolutely maximized my profit (not re-raising before 5th), and I'm running so bad that after I bet on 7th, I was already expecting h3pp to now re-raise, because he must have caught another ace on the last card to make aces full.

Anyway, after that I was the big stack and for a long time at least the second biggest stack at my table. During that time, several bounties were awarded — but of course, every single one completely passed me by.

After that, PokerStars simply gave me absolutely nothing for 1.5 hours, as you can see from my chip graph. And once again, the shackles of tightness clicked in, because I was heading toward the bubble with a short stack. It was just disgusting.

So disgusting that I didn't even register for the $22 Stud H/L Weekly — my favorite tournament — because I simply had zero desire to play poker anymore.

Twice, PokerStars teased me a bit and let me climb up in chips slightly, only to then stick out its tongue again: "Ha, you thought so — not happening!"

Here's a "completely standard" Omaha H/L hand where I only lost the minimum — LOL, once again perfectly played (and my opponent questionable) and the chips going to my opponent.

My exit also came in Omaha H/L. I re-raised with KK45 double-suited against a stack that was even shorter than mine. A hand where it is actually not impossible to hit something. Two big stacks called the 3-bet with any four cards because of the bounties.

Sure, you could hit something (I think I made a pair of fours LOL), but it wasn't enough. So once again: min-cash (in the bounty, less than the buy-in) and no bounties.

Then there's the $5.50 NLO8 KO Bounty. And that tournament is absolutely representative of my SCOOP.

Waited patiently for something... then finally got a nice hand: A334 double-suited. Hit nothing... lost 25% of my stack.

Then waited again. Next hand I played, I went all-in preflop. It's a coin flip (this time I even only had 47%), of course lost. Tournament over. F... you Poker!

Admittedly, things are running pretty damn awful for me right now. But what really matters is making the right decisions, especially during a downswing. The real danger isn't losing chips — it's losing confidence and starting to fold too much.

That's why I'm actually proud of my bustout hand today in the $22 8-Game. Let me walk you through my thought process — and why I'm convinced that jamming the turn was absolutely the correct play.

Here is the decision point: We are playing PLO. I raise 3BB with AKJT one-suited and get called by two players. The flop brings me second pair and a (tainted) nut wrap straight draw. This is no time to check, I bet half pot and get called by the player behind me and the small blind. Now another T arrives at the turn, giving me Trip tens and now - all of a sudden - the small blind donks pot.

I do not have a boat. So yes — on paper, this could be a fold. This was also my first urge. Then I thought again and honestly, antonioscy's bet just screams fishy.

This doesn't look like a confident value line at all. It looks much more like: "Hey, the board paired — maybe I can just take it down here." Possibly backed up by something like a double-suited flush draw, trying to apply pressure.

Now here's the important part: I've played with antonioscy before. And I know he's capable of exactly this kind of move.

So initially, I was leaning toward a fold… …but then I paused and thought: "Wait a second… what is this really representing?" And the more I thought about it, the less it made sense as a strong hand. And even if he is boated up, very likely I still have outs hitting an Ace or King on the river. So I pulled the trigger.

Now enters the third player: sweeexchange. And I'll be honest — I didn't even fully account for him in that moment. Which, in hindsight, makes this hand even more absurd.

Because this guy was playing and calling everything. Basically treating the table like an all-you-can-eat buffet. He can basically call the flop with anything and I did not see him as a threat.

So for him, this must have felt like: "Early Christmas… and Easter… and my birthday… all at once." He's sitting there with the nuts… and the two players in front of him just decide to pile money into the pot for him. I mean… thank you for your service, gentlemen.

Of course, I ended up busting. Since antonioscy had the case T, I was even drawing dead. Naturally.

But here's the thing: I made the correct read. I trusted my experience against a specific opponent. I didn't let the downswing scare me into a weak fold.

And that's exactly the kind of decision-making that matters.

So yeah — results: brutal. But the play? On point.

Did I say that PLO8 is the bingo of Poker? Well, that was close, but wrong! The bingo of Poker is obviously Badugi in its fixed-limit betting version. You want variance pure? Here you get it. It's not very helpful though if you're on a downswing anyway.

Well, together with Daniel we grinded over 3h and then we managed to bust both before the bubble. It was a good cruise until then as my chip graph shows. But then I was card dead for my last hour of play. Two times I got involved but had to fold early, bleeding chips.

The end arrived for me when I pushed my last 1.5BB with A46 from the Cutoff. Only the big blind called. To my surprise he stood pat from the first draw. That meant ... I had to draw a Club ... I had three attempts and before the first attempt it was basically a coin-flip.

Well, it is no surprise that I didn't catch the saving Clubs and my opponent's pat Q-Badugi busted me out of the tournament. Poker stays brutal to me.

The real good run still didn't come. I planned to play the $55 2-7 Single-Draw but when I saw that it is a Knockout tourney I played only the $5.50. Went out well but then I again lost three medium pots in very close calls and then I was back to nursing a short-stack and the chains of tightness clicked again. After the min cash was won I lost a coin flip - a slight plus in this tourney as I also won two bounties.

Then there was the "Bingo of Poker" tournament: The $22 PLO H/L.

I grinded my first bullet, but it went only in one direction - the usual one.

I was six times All-In, never as big underdog. I was slightly behind two times, slightly ahead twice and well ahead twice. The outcome was: 3 splits, 2x I was quartered, 1x I lost everything.

I late regged with the second bullet since it was very likely that I could cruise to the mincash because many players were already out. I even survived three All-In situations here, once I even doubled up!!! Amazing feeling.

After the bubble bursted ... guess what ... I lost the next coin-flip.

To not exclusively post hands that I lost, here is a hand that I won in the $5.50 PLO8 with the last card:

That was enough to cruise to a min-cash on my second bullet. However, the heater that you need to go deep in the tournament also never came here. I was zig-zagging between 0.5x and 2.5x starting stack, never more, never less. In the end I tried it with the best PLO8 starting hand (ok, it was not double suited) and this was the outcome:

And if you're not winning them, you go out in flames. I played one crucial hand today:

This hand would have put me in contention but they just do not come along.

The heart of every Stud player beats faster when he sees this:

You think you're dreaming … until reality catches up with you:

And Razz is a funny game after all.

You start with (A-2)5 and get called by an 8. You're ready for a feast. Then you catch a King, he catches a 9, and bets into you.

Of course you cannot fold.

Then you pair your Ace on 5th street. Your opponent improves again and now you actually have to fold.

If that happens in two consecutive hands, and you're already late in the tournament, suddenly half your stack is gone.

Then Stud comes around. You have to gamble a bit.

But the RNG once again says: Go home.

I counted my outs before the last card. Yes, it was more than half of the remaining deck.

And yes — of course — I managed to brick completely.

Poker can be absolutely brutal. You play two hours of flawless poker and the RNG just keeps sticking its tongue out at you.

Stud: Aces up... nope. Doesn't win, because your opponent spikes his gutshot straight on the river with three outs.

You start a hand of Limit Triple Draw with a premium one-card draw? Forget it. I pair three times and lose to an opponent who decides to stand pat with a Queen (!) before the last draw. And he's not even a favorite there, even if I draw again.

And then, as the opening and closing punchline of the tournament: I sit down at the table and who is sitting directly to my right? The player who has been running hotter than the sun for the past week and who has won three big MTTs in six days with his unconventional loose style ($22 Stud H/L, $109 Stud H/L, $215 8-Game).

So the first bad beat happens before the cards are even dealt.

And of course, who ends up knocking you out of the tournament? After losing almost my entire stack in three consecutive Limit Triple Draw hands without making a mistake, I briefly double up in Fixed Limit Hold'em with a set before the final punchline arrives in this Omaha Hi/Lo hand: AKKQ one-suited.

For a short stack, that's a perfectly fine hand. The lack of low potential is compensated by the shallow stack (the implied odds against you aren't that bad). Of course, it would help if the flop didn't come low - preferably not three low cards. Flop: 4-6-7.

With the two loosest players at the table (Wolgur and The TJS), my hand is basically dead already. But there's one more twist to come: for probably the only time all tournament, a flop involving these two players actually gets checked through.

And of course the turn brings one of the only two cards in the deck that can bust me: a third Ace. Now there's no way I'm getting away from the hand anymore. The pot commitment is too big, there's a good chance my high hand is still best, and even if it isn't, I could still fill up to a full house on the river.

But of course The TJS already has a straight with 3-5-5-J. The river bricks completely and I'm out.

Even the player running hotter than the sun seems to notice how I've been running, and he sends me on my way with a slightly sympathetic "GG."

After a short break, I late regged the $11 8-Game and what a surprise: I had a good run at the start! Getting some hands, played good spots. But then the drought set in again: card dead. Then Aces in NLHE, min-raise, everybody folds. The next hand that I played was a LTD, blinds were already so big that it was clear that I will be committed in the hand and I lost it.

While the player to the right of me got twice the Nuts in LTD, fully paid out - all of a sudden he was 4th in the tournament. The variance is brutal: you outlast almost 98% of the field and still you get a bit short of 5x your buy-in back because the real money is only made on the final table. That's what you call top-heavy and that is where I unfortunately did not get today either.

The flips still do not want to come in. $55 are added to the tally loss. :( One entry into the $22 8-Game (JJ < AK) and two entries in the $16.50 PL Courchevel H/L. Of course, the board has to pair here on the river against my Nut flush.

The day started like shit. Lost the first 4 hands in the $1.050 in close calls. Then, I had my only run-good phase, which was short-lived - and my stack grew to 130.000 with 100.000 starting stack. From there on it only spiralled downwards.

Scarmak3r was my nemesis and walked into one good setup against me after the other. I misplayed one hand where my Queens up loses to his Aces up - with the Aces buried in his hole - but I should have found a fold in this hand and could have saved 3 big bets, there at least. But Scarmak3r ran like god, I do not recall a single hand in which he bricked on one street. With my favorite hand being this hand here:

Daniel watched it together with me and before 5th street I announced that Scarmak3r will surely draw another baby Clubs, which, of course, he did! From the chip graph it is evident that I waited patiently after that but simply did not get anything - apart from two small hiccups.

It was all over in this hand where I have lots of equity but again manage to brick everything by the river. :(

In the meantime I already said mentally Goodbye to the $109 tourney as well. At some point I was down to 8.000 from the 50.000 starting stack. But while it was still running like shit when I had a playable stack, for some reason I could not lose any All-Ins here. I nursed a short stack for 4.5h

and after being denied a double up on the bubble twice because my opponents got lucky on the river twice by finishing a low for the split:

I became the first player in the money for the min-cash of $192.16.

In my exit hand, TheTJS got lucky against me, again:

And then, there was still the $11 in which I late registered. After a chip rollercoaster in which I unfortunately never managed to build a really big stack, I here cruised into the second lowest level of a min cash for $21.43. In my exit hand, I had two pairs 8s and 2s and a low draw while my opponent only had a pair of threes and a low draw and sure enough he drew a third three while I failed to make a low.

Well, it is annoying to cash in 2 out 3 tourneys but fail to do so in the big one. At least there is some money left on the bankroll so that the hope of binking a big payday is still alive! :)

More run bad before the "main event": Two entries in the $11 PLO 5-Card and one in the $11 NLO8. Variance wasn't on my side. In the latter tournament I busted with top full house vs. Quads. Nothing you can do ... a simple cooler. Hopefully spared all the run good for tomorrows $1.050 Stud H/L. Probably gonna play the $109 as well.

First tournament of 2026's SCOOP ended with no cash. A crucial Stud hand where I had Kings up and my opponent drew his straight on the river (pot for 2x starting stack) broke my neck and I did not recover from that.