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In Seven Card Stud, I brought in with a 2 and have a pair of 5s; an Ace completes. Call?
Heads-up, PokerToast's limit Stud solver calls with a pair of 5s when an Ace completes 84% of the time, and re-raises 16%.
The spot
- Game: heads-up limit Stud, 3rd street.
- You: (5♠ 5♦) 2♣ (down cards in brackets): a pair of 5s in the hole and a 2 showing; you brought in.
- Your opponent: shows an Ace and completed (up: A♥).
- Pot before this street: 0.3 small bets (the antes).
- Pot size and the numbers: the solver groups pots by size: its numbers here are averages over every pot of up to 1.5 small bets at this point, so in exactly this pot they would be a little different.
The solver's numbers
| Play | How often (strategy) | Worth from here on (EV estimate, small bets) |
|---|---|---|
| Call | 83.8% | +0.38 |
| Re-raise | 16.3% | +0.25 |
| Fold | 0.0% | +0.00 |
Measured on 3,522 play-outs of this situation. The highlighted row is the play that measured best.
Why, in plain words
Call and re-raise are worth about the same here (0.13 small bets apart, within the measuring noise of about 0.15), so neither is a real mistake; the solver's usual choice is to call (84%).
What popular strategy articles say
Usually fold when the Ace completes to a full bet.
What AI search answers said when we asked this question on 2026-10-08. They cited strategy articles written mostly between about 2007 and 2013, and most of that advice is for full-ring games with several players in the pot.
Heads-up, the solver disagrees: it practically never chooses the recommended play (fold); its main play is call (84%).
Measured value from here on: call +0.38 small bets, fold 0 (folding).
Heads-up vs multiway
The numbers above are for heads-up play (two players). Most published advice is written for full-ring games with several players in the pot, so part of any difference can come from that.
We also looked up a 3-handed version (the Ace completes and a third player showing a Ten calls before it is back to you) in PokerToast's 3-handed solver, but its numbers there are not settled (its most frequent play is not the one that measured best), so this page makes no claim about multiway pots.
How these numbers were made
From PokerToast's own heads-up limit Stud solver, trained 9,747,144 iterations, exported 2026-10-06 15:25:55, 30,546 situations (version S-9747144-20261006152555). It learned by self-play (Monte Carlo counterfactual regret minimization) for limit betting, at most four bets a street.
- How often is the solver's average strategy for this situation.
- Worth (EV) is an estimate measured after training by playing the situation out many times against the solver's own strategy: small bets won or lost from this decision on, compared with folding (0). It assumes an opponent who plays like the solver.
- Hand groups: the solver groups similar hands, so the numbers are for the group (here:
0|PL|A+|S|ib), not only these exact cards. For each decision it looks at the street; your made hand (straight or better, trips, two pair, or a pair grouped by rank, and whether a card of your pair's rank shows on your opponent's board); your flush and straight draws that are still live; your opponent's board (a pair showing, high cards, three suited cards) and whether your hand beats it; the pot; and the betting so far on this street. - Stakes: ante 0.15 small bets per player, bring-in 0.25, a completion or bet on 3rd and 4th street is 1 small bet, 2 from 5th street.
- Looked up when this page was built (2026-10-19); a newly trained solver changes the page and its version number.
Practice it
Your equity with these cards Today's Stud Daily Spot Open PokerToast
Part of: Seven Card Stud 3rd street: pairs, three-flushes and three-straights
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