Seven Card Stud Poker Rules

Seven card stud isn't a poker game that's favoured by many young gamblers, but there are still a lot of poker players that play this game from time to time. If you want to play seven card stud you're going to need to play with one of the big poker sites or with your friends since action is limited. It's important to know that 7 card stud is often played using limit betting rules, which means you can only raise three times maximum on a single street.

Gameplay

At the start of every 7 card stud poker hand every player in the hand needs to put an ante into the pot. If you're playing a game with $5/$10 stakes the ante would usually be around $.50-$1 depending on how big you want the pots to be. Once players put their antes into the pot the dealer can deal out three cards to each player (1st two cards face down, last card face up). The player that has the lowest ranked face up card starts the action by making a forced bet. You can bet $2.50 or $5 in a $5/$10 game and you don't have the option of not making a bet.

Players continue the round of betting until everyone has finished betting or folding. When the betting is complete the dealer can deal out one face up card to everyone, which is followed by another small betting round. During the small betting round players can only bet or raise $5. Players are dealt out another face up card at this point and now the betting limits move up to $10 minimum. When the betting is done everyone left in the hand will receive another face up card, which is followed by another round of betting at the $10 level.

At this stage of the hand the dealer can deal out one final card to everyone, but this time the card is dealt face down. There is a final round of betting using $10 as a minimum bet before the showdown. Everyone left in the hand can show their cards now and make the best 5-card poker hand they can using 5 of the 7 cards they were dealt.

Seven card stud is very straightforward, but many people enjoy playing it because of all the betting that takes place during a single hand. Players are also able to see most of everyone's cards during the hand, which makes it easier to figure out when to fold and when to bluff.