How To Play 7 Card Stud Poker

The visiblity of lots of cards and numerous betting rounds makes in 7–Card Stud an exciting game. The game is oldest and most popular of all poker variants. The game is a fixed–limit game with a very different betting format to no limit Hold‘em, but don‘t let that deter you – 7CS is one of the most exciting and interesting poker varieties you will encounter.

7 Card Stud Betting explained

The first major difference between 7CS and other poker variants is that you get a total of seven cards to make up your hand– three are dealt face down (so your opponents cannot see them) and four are dealt face up (and visible to your opponents) To start a hand, everyone pays an ante into the pot (usually 1/4 of the lower blind).

For the first round, players receive 2 cards face down and one face up (the door card). Betting starts with the player showing the lowest door card who has to make a forced bet the bring–in) of either half the small blind, or equivalent to the small blind). The other players still to act may fold, call or raise.

The raise is up to the small-blind in the first two betting rounds, with any subsequent raise being a further small-blind increment. There are a maximum of three raises in any betting round, after which every player must either call or fold.

After the first betting round is done, players are dealt another card face up. In this round the action begins with the player with the highest cards visible. This player has a choice of folding, checking or betting the lower limit (small-blind). Betting follows the rules as before, unless the player has a pair visible. At this point the player may opt to bet either the lower limit OR the higher limit. If they choose to bet the lower limit, you can call raise by the higher or higher limit. Once someone has raised by the higher limit (big-blind amount) all subsequent raises must then equivalent to this size.

After the second round of betting is complete, the fifth Street is dealt face up and all bets must now be placed or raised at only the higher limit. Betting continues in the same way for the Sixth Street and the final (river) street, which is dealt face down, and not visible to your oppontents.

Once all betting rounds are are done, the winner is declared as whomever has highest five–card hand combination from the seven cards which they were dealt.