Seven Card Stud Poker is one of the old-school pillars of the poker family, and it plays nothing like the community-card games most people cut their teeth on. Every player is dealt seven cards of their own across the hand, yet only the best five-card poker hand counts when the cards go on their backs.
Seven cards each, five that matter, and a couple that quietly take their secrets to the grave.
Unlike Texas Hold'em and Omaha, Stud is normally dealt with a Limit betting structure, meaning bets move in fixed increments rather than being left to the imagination. The earlier rounds use the smaller increment, and the later streets step up to the bigger one.
Bets, Payouts & Rules
The hand unfolds street by street, with cards arriving face up one at a time and a round of betting after each. Here is the running order:
- Ante: every player antes a nominal amount before the hand starts, which is what puts them in the deal.
- Third Street: three cards each, two hidden hole cards and one face up. The player showing the lowest exposed card is the bring-in and must start the action, either with the nominal bring-in or a full bet of the lower increment. Action then moves clockwise.
- Fourth Street: another exposed card each. The player whose exposed cards hold the highest poker value acts first, and may check or bet the lower increment.
- Fifth Street: another exposed card, another round of betting. From here on, bets use the bigger increment.
- Sixth Street: one more exposed card, with the strongest visible holding acting first again.
- Seventh Street (or the River): the seventh and final card is dealt face down, seen only by its owner, followed by the last round of betting.
The Showdown
If more than one player is still involved after the final betting round, the last bettor or raiser shows first. Where there was no bet on that round, the player in the earliest seat shows first, and remaining hands are exposed clockwise. The best five-card poker hand takes the pot, and identical hands divide it equally.
Betting Options
As in other poker formats, the actions available are fold, check, bet, call and raise, and which ones you can use depends on what the players before you have done. With no bet yet made, you can check or bet. Once a bet is out there, the choices are fold, call or raise, with bets and raises in Limit poker set at pre-determined amounts.
Additional Stud Rules
- For the bring-in only, ties in card rank are broken by suit in alphabetical order: clubs lowest, then diamonds, hearts and spades highest, with the lowest suit taking the bring-in. This rule does not decide equal hands at the Showdown.
- If the player showing the lowest card on Third Street is all-in for the ante and cannot make the bring-in, the bring-in passes clockwise to the next player, whatever card they are showing.
- On Fourth Street, if any player is showing a pair, betting can be opened or raised for one big bet. Once that happens, the bigger increment applies for the rest of the Fourth Street betting.
Features & Bonus Rounds
Stud has no flop, no shared board and no bonus wheel bolted on the side. Its character comes from the format itself and a few situations that only ever crop up here.
The Community Card
Stud tables seat up to eight players, and with only 52 cards in the deck it is just about possible to run dry before Seventh Street. In that very rare case, a single community card is dealt face up for all remaining players to share, like the last sandwich at a family gathering.
Stud Variants
- Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, also known as Stud Eight or Better or Stud/8, splits the hand between the best high hand and the best low hand, provided that low hand is an eight-low or better.
- Razz flips the usual thinking entirely, with the whole pot going to the best low hand and no qualifier to meet.
Practice Tables and Tournaments
If Stud is new to you, play money tables are available for getting familiar with the streets and the order of action, and Seven Card Stud tournaments are also on offer.
Taste & Feel
This is poker at a slower, more deliberate walking pace. There is no communal board to stare at, just a growing parade of face-up cards and a table full of people pretending they haven't clocked yours.
Every street adds a little more information for everyone, while those hidden hole cards sit there saying nothing at all. Pull up a chair whenever the mood takes you.