Generally speaking each player in seven card stud will eventually have seven cards in front of them from which to combine the winning hand. Normally 7 Card Stud is played with fixed betting limits but pot limit games are also available. Because of the many betting rounds the pot tends to get quite large (relatively speaking).

(If you would like to know the difference between pot limit and fixed limit please see chapter poker rules in our Texas Holdém school.)

In Stud there are no community cards, each player get’s their own set of cards. Since there are 7 cards to be dealt to each player one usually restricts the game to a maximum of eight people. As you might notice this means that a maximum amount of cards used in one game is 56! (7 cards * 8 players). It is however very uncommon to have 8 players left in a hand until the final cards are dealt. If all players are still playing, the final card is placed in the middle of the table as a community card, for all players to use and combine their best hand.

This said let´s get on explaining the rules of the game. We will use fixed limit betting rounds and a blind structure of $1/$2 in our example.

The game starts

The game starts by all players placing a small blind bet of around $0,1 - $0,2 (this may vary) so that a small pot is created. After the blind bets have been placed each player receives three cards, two face down and one face up (for the others to see.)

After the cards have been dealt the first betting round starts. Usually the person with the lowest card showing starts the betting but in some games the person with the highest begins. (If two players have the same low card the one with the lowest suite begins. Suits rank from clubs, diamonds, hearts, to spades.) Normally the first person to bet must pay half the previous blind bet $0,5 (ante) to call (or bring it in) but may also choose to bet the size of the first blind bet $1. The following players can now either call (placing the same bet), raise or fold. The raise amount on this first betting round is set to $1 (the lower amount). A maximum of four raises is allowed on each round making $4 the maximum bet on this round. When all players have spoken the next card is dealt.

The fourth card

A forth card is dealt to all players face up. A new betting round is started. The player showing the best hand starts the betting (in this case the highest pair or highest card). In other words you do not know in what position you will be sitting in a 7 Card Stud game. The betting round starts with the first player either checking or betting. The amount to bet or raise is still $1 (the lower amount) on this round. However if the player shows a pair then the player can now choose to bet $2 (the higher amount). Any of the following players can now also raise $2 (the higher amount). Once the first player has acted each following player must now call any previous bet, check or raise.

The fifth card

A fifth card is dealt to all players face up. At this point in the game all bets increase to $2 (the higher level). The game continues just like on the previous round with the player showing the best hand acting first.

The sixth card

A new card is dealt to all players face up. A new betting round is started. Betting continues on the higher level, $2.

The seventh card, the river

A final card is dealt to all players face down. Your hand now consists of 7 cards, 4 of them showing, 3 of them hidden. From these seven cards you now combine your best poker hand. One last betting round is performed. Betting continues on the higher level, $2.

When all players have spoken and more than two players remain (not everyone has folded) the player who was called last must show his hand (showdown). The remaining players can now choose to show their “winning” hand (they have a better hand) or muck (throw their worse hand away revealing nothing). The player with the best hand wins. Hopefully you…..

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