How To Play 7 Card Stud

7 Card Stud is a classic poker game, played with up to 8 players using a single 52-card deck. Aside from 5 Card Draw, 7 Card Stud is one of the oldest forms of poker still widely played in land-based and online poker rooms today.

Object of 7 Card Stud
The object of 7 Card Stud is to develop the strongest 5-card poker hand from the 7 cards dealt to you throughout the hand. The player with the highest ranking 5-card poker hand wins the entire pot.

Betting Structure of 7 Card Stud
Though Pot Limit and No Limit games of 7 Card Stud do occur, the game is most often played with a Fixed Limit betting structure, if for no other reason than to make the game last for more than a few hands. There are a total of 5 betting rounds per hand of 7 Card Stud – more than any other poker variant.

Fixed Limit defines the amount of chips a player must toss into the pot in order to Bet or Raise. This amount changes depending on the betting round. For instance, in a game of 7 Card Stud with stakes of $2/$4, all bets and raises in the first 3 betting rounds must be equal to $2 (the low-end stakes). For the final two betting rounds, all bets and raises increase to $4 (the high-end stakes).

7 Card Stud involves traditional Ante Bets and a Bring-In Bet, rather than the Small/Big Blind Bets found in most other poker games, like Texas Holdem. These, and all other betting options, are briefly defined below.

Ante: Every player must place an Ante Bet before any cards are dealt. The Ante varies by poker room, but is generally 10%-25% of the low-end stakes. For instance, in a $2/$4 game of 7 Card Stud, the Ante would be anywhere from $0.20 to $0.50.

Bring In: The player with the lowest Door Card (first card dealt face-up) after the initial deal must place the Bring-In Bet. This bet is generally equal to 50% of the low-end stakes. In the case of a tie, lowest suit determines the Bring-In Bettor. Suits are ranked lowest to highest alphabetically: Club, Diamond, Heart and Spade.

Check: To decline to bet, but stay in the hand; only possible when no other player has placed a bet in the current betting round.

Bet: To toss the first chips into the pot in a single betting round.

Call: To toss an equal amount of chips in the pot as the previous bet.

Raise: To toss more chips into the pot than the previous bet.

Fold: To toss your cards in, surrendering the hand and current pot.

All-In: To bet all remaining chips. All-In bets are placed in a separate pile since the bettor cannot win a higher amount than his own bet from any single player.

General Game Play of 7 Card Stud
Note: For this example of how to play 7 Card Stud, we will be applying a Fixed Limit betting structure with stakes of $2/$4.

The 7 Card Stud hand begins with all players placing an Ante Bet into the pot. Each player is then dealt 3 cards – the first two Hole Cards (face-down) and the last a Door Card (first face-up, or Open, card). The player with the lowest door card (if a tie, lowest suit) places the Bring-In Bet.

This begins the first round of betting. The player left of the Bring-In must bet an amount equal to the low-end stakes of $2, Raise to $4, or Fold. Betting continues around the table in this fashion until the Bring-In bettor is up; he/she must Call (add enough chips to his Bring-In to match the current bet), Raise or Fold. If no player has Raised, the betting round stops here.

4th Street: Each card dealt is called a "Street"; therefore, the 4th Street occurs when each player is dealt a 4th card face-up. A second betting round begins, and all bets/raises must still be equal to the low-end stakes of $2. This time, however, the player with the highest Open hand (face-up cards only) will being the betting round. (Note: highest possible Open hand at this point is a Pair of Aces.)

5th Street: Another card is dealt face-up to each player, followed by another round of betting, same as the last.

6th Street: Each player receives a sixth card face-up. The fourth betting round begins, but this time and for the remainder of the hand, all bets/raises are increased to the high-end stakes of $4.

7th Street: A final card is dealt to each player, this time face down (if possible; see 'Not Enough Cards' below.) A final round of betting occurs, same as the last.

The Showdown: Each player reveals his best 5-card hand, using the 7 cards dealt to him. The player with the highest ranking 5-card poker hand wins the entire pot. If all players Fold before this point, there is no need for a Showdown.

Not Enough Cards
It is an extremely rare occurrence to run out of cards before the 7th Street can be dealt to each player, but with a full table of 8, if no player Folds, there will not be enough cards to deal (8 x 7 = 56; there’s only 52 cards!) In the event of not enough cards, a single card will be dealt face-up in the center of the table to act as a Community Card; meaning all players will treat this as their final card.

Poker Hand Ranks (highest to lowest)
Royal Flush (Ace-high straight suited)
Straight Flush (straight suited)
4 of a Kind (4 cards of the same value)
Full House (3 of a Kind + 1 Pair)
Flush (all cards suited)
Straight (all cards in sequence)
3 of a Kind (3 cards of the same value)
2 Pair (1 Pair + 1 Pair)
1 Pair (2 cards of the same value)
High Card (none of the combinations above)