Learn 7 Card Stud Poker Rules | Tips Included

7 Card Stud Poker

7 card Poker is quite popular among many casinos and is played all over the world. This is a form of poker variation where the rules are pretty simple to learn but takes years to master it.

To get started with the rules you need to first learn the basic poker hand ranking. Once you learn and memorize the poker hand ranking we can get straight into the basic rules to play 7 Card Stud poker.

To play 7 card stud you need to have a good memory and good grasping skills. I’ll explain this in the tips section as to why we need a good memory to play this game.

Rules of 7 Card Stud Poker

Basically, the game is played between 2-8 players and each player gets 7 cards out of which 3 are facing down and rest 4 of the cards are facing up.

There are no additional community cards dealt on the table like Texas Hold’em Poker. Only the 7 cards that are dealt with the players are considered. The players have to form the best 5 cards out of the 7 cards and must be better than the other players to win the hand.

The 7 cards are not dealt in once. There are separate rounds to deal with the cards. There is a total of 5 rounds and the cards are dealt with accordingly.

Before we talk about the rounds, we need to understand a few other things. We need to understand Ante and Bring-In.

Now before the cards are dealt with the players, an ante must be paid by all the players. This is a dead amount. All the money goes to the pot. The ante is usually 1/10th of a minimum bet. The bring-in Amount is the amount that is paid by the player with the lowest face-up card in the starting. This bet is equal to the minimum bet. I’ll explain this a bit clearer in the later round section.

Rounds in 7 Card Stud Poker

There is a total of 5 betting rounds in 7 Card Stud poker.

Round 1

1. Round 1 begins when everyone pays the ante and the dealer deals 3 cards to all the players. Now 2 of these cards are face-down and are also known as the down cards or the hole cards. Then the 3rd card is face-up also known as the door card or the table card.
2. The player with the lowest value face-up card has to start the hand. The player also must pay the Bring-in amount which is equal to the minimum bet. The player might even pay double of Bring-in if he wishes to, but the player cannot fold his hands.
3. Once the player pays the bring-in amount, the player left of the bring-in plays. That player has the option to bet, raise or fold. Same goes with the rest of the players.
4. Once all the players bet the first round ends.

NOTE: The lowest card that the player can get is 2. A is considered the highest value cards. If the two players have the same low-value cards, then the suit is decided on who plays first. The suits are ordered in alphabetic from worst to best: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.

Round 2

1. Round 2 begins with the dealer dealing the 4th card to all the players face-up known as the fourth street.
2. The player with the highest value hand with their 2 face-up cards has to start the bet now. He has the option to either check or bet the minimum amount.
3. The remaining players have the option to check, fold or raise and the players play in the clockwise direction.
4. Once all the players bet the second round ends.

Round 3

1. Round 3 begins with the dealer dealing the 5th card to all the players face-up known as the fifth street.
2. The player with the best value hand has to start with the option to either check or bet.
3. The remaining players play in the clockwise direction and have the option to check, bet or fold.
4. Once all the remaining players bet the third round commences.

Round 4

1. Round 4 begins with the dealer dealing the 6th card to all the players face-up known as the Sixth street.
2. The player with the best value hand by looking at the 4 face-up cards has to start and has the option to either check or bet.
3. The minimum bet doubles from this round. So, any player that wants to bet must pay double the amount of minimum bet.
4. The remaining players play in the clockwise direction and have the option to check, bet or fold.
5. Once all the remaining players bet the Fourth round commences.

Round 5 ( Final Betting Round)

1. This is a bit different from the other rounds because of the dealer dealing the 7th and the last card face-down. This is known as Seventh Street.
2. The player with the highest-ranked show cards in the previous betting round is the first to act in this betting round as well. He has the option to either check or bet.
3. The remaining players play in the clockwise direction and have the option to check, bet or fold.
4. Once all the remaining players bet the Fifth and the last round commences.

Deciding the Winner

The winner is decided by the player with the best 5 card hand and gets all the amount there is on the table. If two players have the same hand then the pot gets split between the players and is shared equally.

Once the pot gets shipped, All the players must pay the ante amount to receive their next set of cards. This goes on until one player wins all the amount and the other players are left empty-handed.

Tips for 7 card Stud Poker

I’ll mention some of the main tips that every player must follow to win a hand in 7 Card Stud Poker.

TIP #1

If you guys have remembered, I have told at the start that you need to have a good memory to play this game. The reason is, you can see 4 of the 7 cards of the opponents and can decide whether you’re going to make a pair or not. Or even make a straight or flush. These decisions you take depends a lot on the opponent’s cards too.

So make sure to remember all the cards that are displayed on the table and play accordingly.

TIP #2

What starting hands are considered good in 7 Card Stud? Well, the answer is to make sure you either have a drawing hand ( Flush draw or a straight) or a big pair ( AA, KK, QQ, JJ).

A drawing hand works pretty well when you’re playing with a lot of players and the probability of getting a straight or a flush is much higher in 7 card stud since you are dealt with the 7 cards here. Also, by having a lot of players, someone will still be around to pay it off when you make a hand.

While if you make a big pair with the starting hand, you have a great chance of winning if you play against only a few players. Since making a pair ensures you have at least a pair in the end, you have a high chance of winning against few players. In conclusion, a big pair has a reasonable chance of winning without improvement.

TIP #3

When you get the fifth street card, the Bring-In amount gets doubled. So, make sure you have a good hand to bet in this round. Always make sure to keep an eye on the opponent’s cards and compare their hands with yours and make a decision whether to bet or not.

Once you have made a bet after the fifth street, you tend to bet in other rounds too, since you already have invested a lot of money until now. So, the decision in the fifth street to play or not is crucial for you to earn a lot of cash in the long run.

These were some of the important tips that all beginners must follow. Also, play a lot of online tournaments to get you going with and for you to have a bit of confidence when you play the cash games.

Online Portals for playing 7 Card Stud

I’ll mention some of the best online portals where you can start playing 7 card stud. These online portals have the options for you to either play for free or by paying cash.

• Poker Stars – Link 
• Spartan Poker – Link
• 888 Poker – Link

Popular FAQ’s

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rohithebbar

I am the owner of the site rohithebbar.com. I love playing poker and other card games.

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