Seven-card Stud - rules

The rules in Seven-card stud is more complicated than Texas hold'em or Omaha. The game is fundamentally simple, but it could be little hard in the beginning.

Dealing of the cards

In Seven-card stud (more easily shortened 7 card stud) every player begins with two cards faced down and one card faced up, the so-called “door card”. After that, the remaining cards are dealt once at a time and always preceded by a betting round. Before the hand is over, all players (still active in the hand) should have been dealt seven cards. Card number four, five and six are visible whereas the card seventh card is faced down. No community cards are used.

Ante

Before a new pot, all players will post an ante. Ante is an amount of chips and the size of it is decided before the game starts. The sizes can vary, but are normally a few times smaller than a full bet.

Betting

After the first three cards has been dealt to all participants, the first betting round starts. The player with the lowest door card must start by making the “bring-in-bet”. If several players have the same lowest value, the color decides and the rank is from highest to the lowest: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs.

After the bring-in-bet is made, the rest of the players can choose between fold, call or raise. When all players in the order from left to right have acted, another card will be dealt and thereafter the next betting round begins.

In the second betting round, it's the player with the best hand that starts to act, and this proceeding continue for the rest of the hand.

Limits

If the game is played with the limit 1/2 units, 1 unit will be the amount that could be bet or raised within the two first rounds as 2 units will be the size of the bet in the last three.

A special case occurs when a player has a visible pair on the board after the fourth card has been dealt. On this occasion, the player also allowed to choose a bet with two units. Checking is like always an allowed alternative.

7 card stud is often played as limit, but sometimes it’s played in a structure that is called spread-limit. In this case, where is some extra amount that could be bet.

Who wins?

After the last card have been dealt and the last eventual bets being made, its showdown among the players left in the hand. The player that now has the best five card hand is winning the pot.