How to Play Seven Card Stud

In contrast to games like Texas Hold'em and Omaha, which incorporate use of “community cards” (or shared cards that all players at the table can use to complete their hand), Seven Card Stud does not use any community cards. Rather all of each player’s cards are his own. This gives 7-Card Stud the reputation of being both a “purer” form of poker and a more difficult one.

# of players: 2-8 per table

Setup

There are three types of bets you must concern yourself with in a game of 7-Card Stud: the ANTE, the SMALL BET, the BIG BET. The big bet is typically twice the small bet and ten times the ante. The ante is a small investment all players at the table must make in order to be dealt cards in any given hand.

Once every player has paid the ante, they are each dealt two cards face-down (their HOLE CARDS or DOWN CARDS) and one card face-up (their DOOR CARD or WINDOW CARD).

The player with the lowest door card (2 being lowest, Ace being highest, face cards increasing in value in the order J, Q, K) is responsible for the BRING.

The Bring

As opposed to in Hold’em and Omaha, in which the betting starts to the immediate left of the dealer and rotates around the table each hand, in Seven-Card Stud the order of play is determined by the bring.

Whoever has the lowest door card must “bring it in”. If two or more players both have the same value door card, then the losing card is determined by suit in alphabetical order from worst to best as follows: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.

The player responsible for the bring has two options: place a bet equal to the ante or complete the bet, which means betting the amount of the small bet.

Sequence of Play in Seven-Card Stud

Third Street (Betting Round 1)

Next, the player to the left of the bring (and every player in turn thereafter) has three options:

1. Fold – pay no chips into the pot and relinquish your hand, waiting until the next hand is dealt to get back in.
2. Call – pay into the pot an amount matching the current bet.
3. Raise – pay more chips into the pot than the current bet. In the case of the player after the bring, a raise to a minimum bring (or the amount of the ante) would complete the bet to the small bet, and raise to a completed small bet would be double the small bet, or the big bet.

Betting moves in a clockwise direction around the table until every player has had a chance to act and has either folded out of the hand or bet the same amount as everyone else still in the hand.

Fourth Street (Betting Round 2)

The dealer next deals one card face-up to every “live” player (or player remaining in the hand). This card is dealt in a clockwise direction around the table starting with the live player closest to the dealer’s left.

All face-up cards in a player’s hand are called UP CARDS or SHOW CARDS. Starting with fourth street (or the second round of betting) and every betting round hereafter, the  betting starts with the player with the highest value up cards.

That means, at fourth street, a player with two Aces, spades and hearts, showing has the highest possible up cards at this point in the hand, and a player with a 2 3 showing, clubs and diamonds, has the lowest possible value up cards at this point.

The first player to bet now has three options:

1. Fold – Bet nothing and throw away your hand, waiting until the next hand is dealt to come back in.
2. Check – Bet nothing, but remain in the hand, with the right to bet passing one player to the left. Each player in turn thereafter has the right to check until and unless the first bet in any given betting round is placed.
3. Bet – Pay the amount of the small bet into the pot, thereby requiring all other players at the table to either match your bet or be forced out of the hand.

After the first bet in any given round of betting is made, each player in turn, moving clockwise around the table, must either call that bet, raise it (by an amount also equal to the small bet), or fold their cards and remove themselves from the hand. Players continue taking turns around the table this way until every player has either folded out of the hand or bet the same amount as every other player remaining in the hand.

Once this occurs, another show card is dealt (that’s face-up), again starting with the first remaining live player closest to the dealer’s left.

Fifth Street (Betting Round 3)

At this point each player has three up cards, and the highest possible hand showing is three-of-a-kind Aces (spades, hearts, diamonds).

Betting on fifth street (or the third round of betting) follows the same rules as for fourth street with one exception: now bets and raises are based on the amount of the big bet rather than the small bet.

Once betting on fifth street is completed, another show card is dealt in the same manner as before.

Sixth Street (Betting Round 4)

At this point each player has four up cards, and the highest possible hand showing is four-of-a-kind.

This fourth round of betting, or sixth street, follows the same rules as fifth street.

Now one last card is dealt, however this time face-down.

Seventh Street (Betting Round 5)

Seventh street is the fifth and final round of betting. At this point, all the cards that will be dealt in the hand have been dealt—7 cards in all, lending to the name of the game: 7-Card Stud.

As the players proceed, it is the strength of this hand (that is, the best five-card poker hand each player can make with his three hole cards and four show cards) that will determine who wins the pot, should it come to a SHOWDOWN.

In this round, since the last card is dealt face-down, the player to bet first is the same player who was first to bet on sixth street (that is, once again, the player with the best show cards). Once again, the big bet is used as the betting/raising limit for this round.

After this round of betting is finished, assuming at least two live players remain, it is time for the showdown, when the winner of the hand will be determined.

The Showdown

If at least two players remain after seventh street, the showdown takes place, when the time finally comes for the remaining live players to reveal their door cards and show their hand. The player with the best five-card poker hand made from his seven down and up cards total is declared the winner of hand and receives all the chips in the pot.

If you're playing a high-low version of Stud, you have to split the pot into two halves with one half going to the highest hand and one half going to the lowest hand. Learn more about high-low poker games.