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Long before Texas Hold'em swept the hearts and minds of twenty year old college students and dreamy big stakes poker players, people were playing seven card stud. It may not be as popular these days as Texas Hold'em, but it is still a staple in almost every casino and you can find it at pretty much every online poker room in the world. Plus, its been around forever.
Seven card stud is a completely different game. It lacks the community cards that have made games like Hold'em and Omaha popular over the past few years. Because of this, the strategies and techniques you will use to gain an edge are different. Seven card stud is an excellent game, and you must know it to be a well rounded player.
Seven card stud is played using a standard 52 card deck, and usually 2 to 8 players. Most of the time seven card stud is played with antes. This means that before the cards are dealt, each player must throw a small amount of money in the pot. After all, you can't see your cards for free. An example might be if you are playing 5/10 stud, then the ante is fifty cents. So each hand, you have to wager fifty cents to be dealt into the hand. Once everyone has placed the ante, the deal begins.
In seven card stud deal begins with the first person to the left of the dealer. The dealer gives each player one card at a time until each player has two face down cards. Then, the dealer gives each player one more additional card face up. Once the last player has received their face up card, the first dealing round is concluded and play begins. Here is what your game should look like after the deal:
Once the cards are dealt, play immediately begins with a forced bet. The player with the lowest up card must begin play by betting the bring in amount. In our example game, that is $2 dollars. In our example game there are two players showing a 2 as their up card. Whenever this happens, the order is as follows:
- Clubs (weakest)
- Diamonds
- Hearts
- Spades (strongest)
So the 2 of clubs is the weakest and they must place the forced bet of $2 dollars. Play then continues around the table to the left. Players may either call the $2 dollar bet or complete it up to $5 dollars. Which in this case would technically be a $3 dollar raise over the bring in bet of $2 dollars. Once all players have called or folded, we proceed to the next round which is called third street.
Third street begins with the dealer giving each player one face up card. So now each player should have two face down cards, and two cards face up. Play then begins with the player who has the strongest two cards showing. At this point, a pair would be the best, followed by lesser pairs, then high cards. If there is a tie for high card, then it is again decided by the order of suits we discussed earlier (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. Clubs of course being the weakest, and spades being the strongest. Once you have determined the strongest hand, that player gets to act first. They may bet or check. Play then continues until every player has either checked, called, or folded.
Fourth street is exactly like third street. The dealer gives every player another card face up, and play starts with the strongest three cards showing.
Again, just like the past two rounds. The dealer gives one final face up card to each player, and the action begins with the strongest hand. At this point every player still in the hand should have two face down cards and four face up cards.
This is the final round of the game. The dealer gives each remaining player one face down card. Play begins with the player who has the strongest four up cards (the same player who started the action on Fifth street). Once all players have either checked, called, or folded, the showdown begins.
The remaining players flip over all there face down cards and reveal their best five card hand. You only get to use the best five of your seven cards. Sorry, you cant use them all! Note, the last player who bet or raised must show their cards first! Then, moving to the left, players who are still in the hand may show their hand if it is stronger, or, if it is not, they may simply discard (muck) their hand. Keep in mind though, a player at any time may ask to see a mucked hand.
If you get to the river and there are still five to seven to eight players in the hand, the dealer may not have enough cards left to deal everyone their own face down card. If this happens, then the dealer simply deals one card face up in the middle of the table. This is a community card that everyone gets to use during the showdown.
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Poker Strategy 
