7 Card Stud Poker

Before Texas Holdem became the poker game of choice, in the United States, the poker game Seven-Card Stud was by far the most played card game. Although Holdem poker has recently surpassed it in popularity, Seven Card Stud is still a favorite among poker enthusiasts as is played in casinos, poker rooms, online and in tournaments the world over.

This game can be played in many variations and the rules can slightly vary by simply adding the “wild card” into the mix. This is a common characteristic to this game. Here we will summarize how this exciting game is played.

Your goal in Seven Card Stud poker is to make the best possible 5 card poker hand out of a combination of 7 cards (3 that only you can see and 4 that your opponents will have a chance to see).

The game begins by every player placing an ante into the pot. The size of the ante will vary depending on the size of the stakes you are playing.

Next, the dealer deals three cards to every player, one face up (for every player to see) and two face down (where you are the only person who will see these cards). Now the first round of betting begins

The player whose up card (the card every player sees) is the of the lowest rank must now post a “bring-in” bet (the first bet in the round). If two players have the same ranking lowest card then it is the suit of the cards that will determine which player will be forced to make the bet. The suits rank as follows; spades being the highest rank, followed by hearts, diamonds and clubs. So if you have a 2 of clubs and another player has the 2 of hearts showing, you must post the bring in since your card is ranked lower than the other players. The size of the bring in bet will also depend on the size of the stakes you are playing, but it is normally a low amount. Once the bring–in bet is made all the players will have a chance to act (call, fold or raise their hands). When all bets are called the dealer will deal every player his/her “fourth street”.

The fourth street is a card that is dealt to every player that is still in the game, face up. And the betting continues. This time, the player whose board (the up cards) is of the highest rank kicks of the betting. This player can either check (not raise the pot) or they can raise and throw an amount of money into the pot. The remaining players now can either also check (if there are no raises ahead of them), call (if a player ahead of them has bet), fold (and leave the hand) or they can raise the pot.

Once all bets are called and the betting is over the dealer will deal every player the “fifth street”. Another card face up for all players to see. Similar to the fourth street the betting round starts with the player with the highest ranking hand. And the betting continues as normal. Next is the “ Sixth Street”, the same procedure as the fourth and fifth streets.

As soon as the sixth street betting is completed the dealer deals the final card to the players remaining in the hand, this is known as the “ Seventh Street” or the “River”. However this time, the river is dealt face down, making this card only visible to whom it was dealt. And the final round of betting is done in the same manner as the four previous rounds. Every player now has a total of 7 cards. Three of those cards are only visible to the player who owns them (also known as hole cards) while the remaining 4 are seen by the other players. If two or more players remain in the hand after this final round of betting, they will now turn over their cards and the winner will be recognized. The winner takes the pot for this hand and adds the chips to his/her stack.

The players now ante up and the next hand commences.