7 Card Stud Poker Rules
7-Card Stud Hi
Few people may know this (on an international level of course) that before Holdem, Stud was the most popular poker variant, at least in the US, but supposedly in other parts of the world as well.
Unlike Holdem and Omaha, Stud is not a community card game. As such, its structure is fundamentally different from Holdem and Omaha. Stud is still relatively widely played and most online poker rooms continue to offer Stud tables to their players. While these tables are nowhere near as popular as the Holdem ones, there is an online Stud community out there and the game is a living and breathing one.
Stud is featured in some of the most prestigious live poker events as well, like in some WSOP side-events. Mixed games always include Stud as well (in HORSE, the S stands for Stud).
While community cards are played with blinds, Stud is played with antes. Blinds and antes are compulsory bets without which there could be no action in poker.
In Stud, players need to ante up before they’re dealt their cards. The ante is usually about 10-25% of the Small blind, so in a $5/$10 game that would be $0.5.
After the antes are posted, everyone gets three cards, two of which are dealt face down and one face up. The face-down cards are the hole cards. The upcard carries special significance because it is going to determine the person who needs to bring it in.
Since Stud is usually played with a fixed limit betting structure, the player with the lowest upcard has to start the action by posting a bet half the size of a small bet. If two players happen to tie for the lowest card, suit is used as a tie-breaker. Spades are the highest, followed by hearts, diamonds and clubs.
The bring-in sparks the action and the first betting round gets underway. Players can choose to call the bring-in, to raise it or to fold. It is possible to win the pot by making everyone at the table fold. After the first betting round, another upcard is dealt to each of the remaining players.
From this point on, the player with the highest showing partial poker hand will begin the betting rounds. If you have 5,5 over an opponent’s A,K on 4th street, you’ll have to be the first to act in that betting round.
Again, players have the choice to call, raise, or fold.
5th street brings about another face-up card for everyone. This too is followed by abetting round. The special significance of this street is that in the FL betting format, this is where the big bet comes into the picture. The player with the highest showing 3-card hand needs to begin the action.
6th street is more of the same basically: another face-card followed by a betting round. 7th street is a third hole-card for each player, followed by the last betting round. If more than one player makes it out of the final betting round, a showdown decides the winner.
The possessor of the best 5-card poker hand (which players can make using any combination of the 7 cards they were dealt) wins the pot. The pot is then raked and awarded to the winner. Sign up for a rakeback deal like the Ongame rakeback or the 27% rakeback full tilt offers, to take the bite out of the rake.
Because Stud takes up so many cards (7 for each player involved) it may happen that the deck runs out of cards by the later streets. If the dealer finds that there aren’t enough cards left for the 7th street, he’ll place a community card in the middle of the table that all players can use in the make-up of their showdown hands.
7-card Stud is also played with a high-low split.
