How to Play Seven-Card Stud

Seven-card stud poker is a very popular poker game played in casinos, poker rooms and online. Seven-card stud was more commonly played than Texas Holdem poker until the recent surge in televised poker games. Each poker player involved in a complete hand will get a total of seven cards but can only use five of them to create a poker hand. Poker players will get four cards face up and three cards face down. There are several betting rounds in this type of poker. There are various betting structures (limits) used in seven-card stud poker. The betting structure could be a “fixed limit”, such as $1/$2. The players can bet either one dollar or two dollars during a betting round. Another type is what is known as a “spread limit”. This is a range of allowable bets, such as $1 to $5 that the player can bet during the rounds. The various structures usually have specific times when certain bets are allowed. For example, the lower limit ($1 in $1/$2) is the beginning bet up to the fourth card, and the higher bet ($2 in $1/$2) becomes the minimum bet once the fifth card is dealt.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Deck of cards
• Two to eight players
• Poker chips
• Poker table
• Betting limits

1. Ante. The game begins with an “ante” bet. Every poker player who wishes to play in the round must place this bet. Each player is dealt two cards down and one card up.
2. Bring-in. The player with the lowest card showing must place a bet. Going clockwise, each player must call or raise the bet if he wants to stay in the hand. If he does not, he can fold his cards without making any bets.
3. Fourth card. Each player is given another card face up. There is a betting round after this. From now on, the betting always starts with the best hand showing and with the minimum allowed bet.
4. Step 3 is repeated until every player has been given three more cards face up for a total of seven cards. The minimum bet usually goes up to a higher amount when all players receive their fifth card.
5. Showdown. After all bets have been made, the remaining seven-card stud players must show their hands. The highest-ranking hand wins the pot. If there are two matching hands, the pot is divided equally among them.

Tips & Warnings

• There are usually three raises permitted each round.
• Aces can be used for high or low straights.