While playing Stud Hi many players tend to overvalue their hands without regarding the cards on the board. Good Stud players take advantage of this by remember the folded board cards and carefully calculating the odds on the cards to come, and getting insight as to what their opponent(s) are holding.

Two pair is tricky holdings in any poker game except for Razz or lowball where its hand that can't be shoved into the muck quickly enough. Ashley Adams from Pokernews.com brings his expert Stud advice in a recent article on how to play two pair in Stud Hi versus a likely dealt pair of Jacks.

Instead of firing with a M-16, Adams suggests being a little more subtle with your betting while maximizing your profits and limiting your losses should your donator decide to flip over rolled up Jacks or better.

Here's his article from Pokernews.com titled "Beware of Two Pair" (hey it rhymes!):

Some poker players overvalue two pair - playing them very strongly when they should not be doing so. We have a name for those types of players: Losers.

Two pair is a tricky hand. It is often second best or worse, yet there are situations when you will continue to play your hand because you have or hope to have two pair. Let me give you some guidelines for playing and winning with two pair. In this column I'll address situations when you want to play more passively and timidly than you might be accustomed to playing them.

First of all, I try to avoid situations when I'm going to end up with what I consider to be a weak two pair. I consider weak two pair to be those headed by

something less than jacks up. You need to be very cautious in how you play these weak hands.

For example, let's say you're playing $5/10 stud at a full table and are dealt (9h 2h) 9d. Your nines and twos are live. A Jd completes the bet to $5. You are next to go. Three players remain after you, one with a king, another with a queen.

Some players routinely call the completed bet with their pair of nines figuring that since they have a pair they should stay. This is, generally, a big mistake. They are likely to be up against a larger pair. So if both they and their opponent make two pair, it will be the weaker two pair.

But even if you hit and your opponent doesn't, you're not nearly as far ahead as you may think. Your opponent will have an overcard higher than your top pair - making you only a small (57:43) favorite to win the pot. And here's the troubling truth about his hand. You won't know whether or not he's hit his two pair. And if he does and you do, you're almost a 3:1 underdog to him... (continued at the link above)