Play 7 Card Stud Game

7 Card Stud Poker Rules

7 Card Stud poker is a classic poker game, played in live poker rooms, as well as online poker rooms. 7 Card Stud has always been featured in events of the World Series of Poker.

Object of the Game

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

Limits & Betting Structure

7 Card Stud can be played in Fixed Limit, No Limit or Pot Limit, though Fixed Limit games are certainly the most common. We'll be teaching you how to play Fixed Limit 7 Card Stud, but for more information on the other limit structures, please see our other pages on No-Limit Rules and Pot-Limit Rules.

Fixed Limit: The stakes of a Fixed Limit (FL) betting structure define exactly how much a player may bet or raise at any given time. If the stakes are $1/$2, all bets/raises must match the low bet ($1) for the first two betting round, doubling to match the high bet ($2) in the final three betting rounds.

Ante Bets: 7 Card Stud uses the classic Ante Bets, rather than the more common Blind Bets found in Holdem poker games. The Ante Bet is a forced wager placed by every player before any cards can be dealt. The Ante varies from one poker room to another, but is generally 10-25% of the low bet.

Bring-In Bet: Equal to half the low bet, the Bring-In is another forced bet, placed by the player with the lowest Door Card (the first face up card dealt to each player). In case of a tie, suit determines the lowest card. Suits rank alphabetically, lowest to highest – Club, Diamond, Heart, Spade. If the tie is 3 of Club vs. 3 of Spade, 3 of Club pays the Bring-In.

How To Play 7 Card Stud – Playing a Hand

All players will place their Ante bets, followed by the dealing of the cards. Each players gets three cards. The first two are dealt face down (Hole Cards), with the last dealt face up (Door Card). The player with the lowest Door Card places the Bring-In bet to kick off the first betting round.

The player left of the Bring-In must bet, raise or fold. The bring-in is only half of the required bet amount, so he cannot call. All players follow suit in clockwise fashion until all have acted. Note that the Bring-In bettor need only add chips to his Bring-In to call or raise.

4th Street: Players receive a fourth card, face up. From here on out, the player with the highest open hand (face up cards only) will start each betting round.

5th Street: Players then receive a fifth card, also face up. For all remaining rounds of betting, bets/raises must match the high bet.

6th Street: Players are dealt a sixth card, again face up. Another round of betting...

7th Street: A final, seventh card is dealt to each player, this time face down if possible (see No More Cards?!). The fifth and final round of betting occurs.

The Showdown: All players who remain active in the hand must use 5 of their 7 cards to develop the strongest possible poker hand. The highest ranking poker hand takes the pot.

No More Cards?!

It is possible to run out of cards before all players can be dealt the 7th Street. This will only occur at a full table of 8 players, if no player elects to fold. 8 players x 7 cards each = 56 cards. There are only 52 cards in a deck. Should this happen (it's very rare!), a single card is dealt face up as a Community Card. All players will assume this to be their 7th Street card.

7 Card Stud Poker Hand Ranks

Highest to lowest...
Royal Flush Ace-high straight, all suited
Straight Flush - any straight, all suited
4 of a Kind - 4 same-value cards
Full House - 3 of a Kind + one Pair
Flush - all same suit
Straight - all sequenced/connected
3 of a Kind - 3 same-value cards
2 Pair - one Pair + one Pair
Pair - 2 same-value cards
High Card - none of the above

Please read our other rules pages to learn more about the different poker games: Omaha,Omaha Hi/Lo,Caribbean Stud,Let it Ride,Texas Holdem,Razz Poker,Double Flop.

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