How To Play 7 Card Stud

Seven card stud has been a popular card game for a very long time. As a youngster I played in many family card games and we played Stud and several other card games that use the same format. Nearly every online poker room I have played at in the last 5-6 years has offered 7 card stud. This article will teach you the 7 card stud rules that online poker rooms have adopted without exception unless otherwise noted. The principle rules of Stud are the same everywhere online but the way the antes and bring-ins are calculated will vary from room to room.

Antes in 7 Card Stud

Seven card stud uses the ante system instead of the blind system. Antes are forced bets that every player in the hand must make. The amount of the ante will vary at different stakes and different poker rooms. For example, at the $.50/$1.00 7 card stud tables at Full Tilt Poker the ante is $.10 but at Absolute Poker the ante for the same stake is $.05. There is no universal way to calculate how much the ante will be but it typically ranges from 10% to 30% of the table's small bet.

Dealing The Cards In 7 Card Stud

After everyone has placed the antes in the pot, which will happen automatically when you play online if you turn on the "auto-post ante" feature, the dealer will deal each player two hole cards and one upcard. After the bets are made the dealer will deal another upcard. This will continue til each player still in the hand has 4 upcards. The final card will be dealt face down and will be your 3rd hole card.

Betting In 7 Card Stud

After you receive your two hole cards and one upcard the player with the lowest upcard will be forced to bet the "Bring-in". The bring-in is calculated differently depending on where you play but typically if you combine the ante and bring-in it will total around 50% of the table's small bet. After this initial bet the player with the highest upcard hand will have to bet first. At this point each player will have the option to call the bring-in or complete the bet to the table's small bet amount.

If the bet is completed other players will also have the option to raise as well. After you receive your 2nd upcard there will be another bet which will also start at the small bet level. When you recieve your next card the bet will jump up to the table's high bet amount which is always double the small bet (ie. $1/2, $5/10, $20/40...ect). The high bet will stay in place for the remainder of the hand.

Objective In 7 Card Stud

The objective in 7 card stud is to have the highest five card hand. You can use any combination of the 7 cards you will receive. Stud uses the standard poker hand ranking system.

7 Card Stud - Step by Step

1. Each player puts in the ante.

2. The dealer deals two hole cards and 1 upcard.

3. The player with the lowest upcard is forced to bet the Bring-in and each player has the option to fold, call the Bring-in or raise it.

4. The dealer deals a 2nd upcard and the player with the highest upcard hand has to bet first. This action will go to the player with the highest upcard hand for the rest of the game.

5. The dealer deals a 3rd upcard and there is another bet. The bet amount is double from here on out.

6. The dealer deals a 4th upcard and there is another bet.

7. The dealer deals a 3rd hole card and there is one last bet.

8. The players with the highest 5 card hand wins the pot.