How to Play 7 Card Stud Online

Beginner’s Guide: 7 Card Stud Poker Rules

By today’s standards, 7 Card Stud is one of the simpler forms of poker. It isn’t nearly as popular as it once was, but there is still a niche group of players who enjoy the high volatility, and potentially high profitability, due to its multiple betting rounds.

Next up s our beginner’s guide to playing 7 Card Stud online. We’ll cover all the rules, betting structure, and how to assess your hand values.

How to Play 7 Card Stud

7 Card Stud is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. It can be played by 2-7 players.

The game utilizes a Fixed Limit betting structure, which means all bets/raises in the first two rounds of betting must equal the low-end stakes, increasing to match the high-end stakes during the final three betting rounds. In a $10/$20 game, the low-end stakes are $10, and the high-end $20.

7 Card Stud also forces Ante bets from every player (as opposed to Small/Big Blind bets in Hold’em). This gets the pot going. The Ante in a $10/$20 game would normally be $1 per player.

The FL structure can range from micro-limits up into the hundreds. For the remainder of this 7 Card Stud tutorial, we’ll use a $10/$20 FL betting structure as our example.

Dealing the Cards

Once all players have posted an ante bet, the dealer will deal three cards (one at a time) to each player. The first two card dealt face down, known as the Hole Cards. The third is dealt face up. This card is called the 3^rd Street, or Door Card.

The player with the lowest door card must post the Bring-In bet. The Bring-in is equal to half of the low-end stakes—in this case, $5.

If two players have the same lowest door card, the lowest suit determines the bring-in bettor. Suits are ranked alphabetically lowest to highest: club, diamond, heart, spade. Thus a 2 of clubs would be lower than any other 2.

Betting Round #1

The bring-in bet kicks off the first round of betting. The player left of the bring-in will need to raise to $10 in order to stay in the hand, or fold. Betting goes around the table in this fashion. Remember, all bets/raises in this round must equal the $10 low-end stakes. When action comes back to the bring-in bettor, this player may call the current bet, raise, or fold.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Any player who folds is no longer active in the hand. If at any time during the hand, all others players fold, leaving a single player active in the hand, that final player immediately wins the pot. The hand is over. All cards are collected and shuffled, and a new hand is dealt. The player left of the previous dealer will deal the next hand.

4^th Street

A fourth card is dealt face up to each player who remains active in the hand.

Betting Round #2

For this and all future betting rounds, the player with the highest value hand will start the betting. Since there are no prior bets placed, this player may Check (choose not to bet, but remain active in the hand) or bet $10 (the low-end stakes). Betting continues clockwise around the table until complete.

5^th Street

Each player receives a fifth card, again face up.

Betting Round #3

Another round of betting takes place. This time, and for all remaining rounds, all bets and raises increase to match the high-end stakes (i.e. $20).

6^th Street

A sixth card is dealt face up to each player.

Betting Round #4

Another round of betting, same as the last.

7^th Street / River

A seventh and final card is dealt to each player, known as the River card. This last card is dealt face down. At this point players can evaluate their hands, using any of the 7 cards to create the highest ranking 5-card poker hand possible.

Betting Round #5

This is the fifth and final round of betting.

Showdown

If two or more players remain active in the hand at this point, the showdown will occur. Players will reveal their best 5-card poker hand. The highest ranking hand wins the pot.

Winning 7 Card Stud: Hand Ranks

7 Card Stud Rules employ standard poker hand ranks. Since there are no community cards, as in Hold’em games, ties aren’t very common. If it does happen, the net highest card in the 5-card poker hand (Kicker) will determine the winner. If it’s an exact tie, the tying players will split the pot evenly.

The following is a list of all possible poker hands, ranked highest to lowest. See Poker Hand Ranks Explained for more detailed information.

• Royal Flush

• Straight Flush

• Four of a Kind

• Full House

• Flush

• Straight

• Three of a Kind

• Two Pair

• Pair

• High Card