Seven-Card Stud

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order and hand ranking
3. Betting in short
4. Setup
5. A deal, step by step
6. Running out of cards
7. All-in and side pots
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Seven-Card Stud is a stud poker game: each player gets seven cards of their own over the course of a deal – three face down and four face up for everyone to see. There are five betting rounds, in which players put chips into a shared pot – or give up. The pot goes to the last player left in, or to whoever makes the best five-card poker hand out of their seven cards at the end. Because you see part of every opponent's hand, paying attention to the upcards is the heart of the game.

• Players: 2–8, each for themselves; best with 5–7.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches, buttons) – the same amount for everyone at the start, e.g. 200 each. You play for chips, not money.

Card order and hand ranking

Cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2; the Ace can also be low in the straight 5-4-3-2-A. Suits are all equal when comparing hands.

At the end you make the best hand of exactly five cards out of your seven. From best to worst:

Any hand of a higher kind beats any hand of a lower kind. Between hands of the same kind, the higher cards win: first compare the most important cards (the four, the three, the higher pair …), then the remaining cards one after another from the top. A straight is ranked by its top card, so 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest straight. If all five cards are equal in rank, the hands tie and share the pot – suits never break ties.

Betting in short

All chips bet go into the pot in the middle. Before each deal, every player puts a small ante – a fixed stake – into the pot. When it is your turn in a betting round, you can:

• Check – bet nothing, if nobody has bet yet in this round.
• Bet – put in chips.
• Call – put in just enough to match the highest bet so far.
• Raise – match the highest bet and add more.
• Fold – give up: turn all your cards face down and put them away. You lose what you have already put in and take no further part in this deal.

A betting round ends when everyone still in has put in the same amount (or is all-in) and has had a chance to act.

Seven-Card Stud is usually played with fixed limits: every bet and raise is exactly a small bet in the first two rounds and a big bet (double) in the last three. At most one bet and three raises are allowed per round. A good start: ante 1, bring-in 2 (see below), small bet 5, big bet 10.

Setup

1. Everyone gets the same number of chips. Pick a first dealer (e.g. highest card cut); the deal passes to the left after each hand.
2. Everyone puts their ante into the pot.
3. The dealer shuffles and deals, one at a time clockwise starting on the left, two cards face down and then one card face up to each player. The face-down cards are your hole cards – look at them, but show them to no one. The face-up card is your upcard.

A deal, step by step

Each stage of the deal is called a street, named after the number of cards each player then holds.

1. Third street: the player with the lowest upcard must start with a forced bet, the bring-in (2 chips). If two or more players show the same lowest rank, the suit decides: ♣ is lowest, then ♦, ♥, ♠ (Aces count high here). Instead of the bring-in, that player may make a full small bet (5). Play then goes clockwise: each player may fold, call the bring-in, or complete it to a full small bet; once it is completed, later players may raise.

2. Fourth street: everyone still in gets another card face up. Second betting round. From now on, the player whose upcards make the best poker hand showing starts – only pairs, three and four of a kind count; incomplete straights and flushes don't (A-K beats K-Q, a pair of 2s beats A-K). If two are equal, the one nearer the dealer's left starts. The first player may check. Bets are still small bets, but if anyone shows a pair, any player may bet or raise the big bet instead.

3. Fifth street: another card face up for each. Third betting round – from now on, big bets.

4. Sixth street: another card face up. Fourth betting round.

5. Seventh street (the river): a last card face down. Fifth and last betting round. Everyone still in now has three face-down cards and four upcards.

6. Showdown: if two or more players are still in, they turn all their cards face up – the player who made the last bet or raise shows first; if everyone checked, the player who started the last betting round (the best hand showing) shows first. Each makes the best five-card hand from their seven cards. The best hand wins the pot; equal hands share it.

If at any time all but one player fold, the remaining player wins the pot at once without showing any cards.

Example: Four players ante 1 (pot 4). Upcards: Anna K♠, Ben 3♦, Carla 3♣, Dan 9♥. The lowest card is a 3; clubs rank below diamonds, so Carla brings in 2. Dan completes to 5, Anna calls 5, Ben folds, Carla calls 3 more: pot 19. On fourth street Anna gets K♥ – a pair of Kings showing – so she acts first, and anyone may now bet 10 instead of 5.

Running out of cards

With eight players, the deck may not have enough cards for seventh street if nobody has folded. Then the dealer turns one card face up in the middle as a common card: it counts as everyone's seventh card. The best hand showing, including the common card, starts the last betting round.

All-in and side pots

If you want to call but don't have enough chips, you go all-in: you put in all your remaining chips and stay in until the showdown without betting further. You can only win as much from each opponent as you put in yourself. Whatever the others bet beyond your amount goes into a separate side pot, which only they can win. Anyone who has no chips left is out of the game.

Winning the game

Play until only one player has chips left, or stop at an agreed time – then the player with the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• Your first three cards matter most. A pair, three of a kind, or three cards to a flush or straight are worth playing; most other hands are worth folding.
• Watch the upcards: if the cards you need are already showing in other hands, your chances drop.
• Check whether an opponent's upcards could make a better hand than yours – four hearts showing may well be a flush.
• A "hidden" pair in your hole cards is stronger than it looks, because nobody can see it.
• Don't call just because you have already put chips in. Chips in the pot are no longer yours.

Variants

All optional – agree beforehand.

• Home-game style: no bring-in; instead a larger ante, and the best hand showing starts every betting round, including the first (it may check).
• Ties by suit: if two upcard hands are equal, the one with the higher suit (♠ over ♥ over ♦ over ♣) acts first, instead of the one nearer the dealer.
• Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo (eight or better): the pot is split between the best high hand and the best low hand. A low hand is five cards of different ranks, all 8 or lower; Aces count low, straights and flushes are ignored, and the lowest top card wins (best: 5-4-3-2-A). You may use different cards for high and low, and win both halves. If nobody has a low hand, the high hand takes all. An odd chip goes to the high hand.
• Razz: played for low only (A-2-3-4-5 is best); the highest upcard brings in, and the lowest hand showing starts the later rounds.
• Wild cards: home games sometimes make the 2s wild.