Seven card stud is a stud poker variation that had its share of popularity in US homes and casinos until Texas Hold’em made its way through. In this game, each players are dealt seven cards but chooses only five of them to make the best hand possible for the win. It is played using fixed bets or limit betting structure. It is commonly played by two to eight players. If played by eight players, a special rule may be required if no player decides to fold on the last card dealt. It’s an entertaining game that you can also choose if you want to be entertained it is much more serious than that.
Game Running
Once a game begins, all players place their ante. They will first be given three cards in which two of them will be the hole cards and one will be face-up card. Players can now make another bet of either the exact amount of the bring in or a full bet. On the fourth street, each player gets face-up card. Again, the highest card holder starts acting. He can either check or bet the lower bet, as in $2 in a $2/$4. On the fifth street, players again get another card and just the same, the one with the highest value gets to act first and another round of betting begins. On the sixth street, the same rules apply. On the seventh or final street, players again get a card which will not be exposed. Again, the player with the highest value of card gets to act first and a last round of betting is made. A showdown occurs if two or more players remain. The one with the best hand wins the pot.
Player’s Actions
There are five actions that can be done in seven card stud poker by player. He can:
- bet
- fold
- check
- call
- raise
Actions depend on the previous action of the last player. Each of them though can fold or discard cards and give up the bet. If nobody has placed a bet yet, a player may choose to check or bet. If he chooses to bet, the next players can raise, call or fold. When he calls, it means he matches the cost of what the previous player bet. When he raises, he increases the bet, and these bets are on fixed amounts.
In determining the value of bring-in card, suits are ranked in alphabetical order, so club is the lowest, followed by diamonds, hearts and spades. The lowest ranked suit breaks the tie, but in showdown, this rule does not apply.
Since stud poker is played by 8 people, possibility of running out of cards can happen even before the final card is dealt. Though this happens rarely, a single card from the community card is to be dealt face-up and shared by all the players. Seven card stud also has other variants, including Hi/Lo, which features two possible winners in every hand. One of them holds the high hand and the other the low hand, just as long as the low hand is eight and below.
