How to Play Seven-Card Stud

Objective

Win the pot, either by holding the best five-card hand at the showdown or by betting so that everyone else folds. Your hand is built only from your own seven cards. Since four of them are face up, the rest of the table can see part of what you hold, and you can see part of theirs.

Setup

Agree on the stakes. Seven-Card Stud is usually played fixed-limit, with a small bet for the early rounds and a big bet, twice the size, for the later ones. Every player puts an ante into the pot.

The dealer deals two cards face down and one card face up to each player, one at a time. This is called third street, since everyone now holds three cards. The face-down cards are your hole cards; look at them, but keep them hidden.

How to play

In casino games, the player with the lowest face-up card must start the betting with a small forced bet called the bring-in. If two players show the same low rank, suit breaks the tie: clubs are lowest, then diamonds, hearts and spades. In many home games there is no bring-in, and the player with the highest face-up card simply bets first.

Each player then gets a fourth card face up (fourth street), a fifth (fifth street) and a sixth (sixth street), with a betting round after each. From fourth street on, the player whose face-up cards make the best poker hand acts first. The seventh and last card (seventh street, or the river) is dealt face down, followed by a final round of betting.

That makes five betting rounds in all. Bets are the small size on third and fourth street and the big size from fifth street on. Anyone still in after the last round shows their cards, and the best five-card hand from each player’s seven takes the pot.

1. 1Ante, then take two cards down and one up
2. 2Low card brings in, and the first round of betting follows
3. 3Deal fourth, fifth and sixth street face up, betting after each
4. 4Deal the last card face down and bet once more
5. 5Show down: best five of your seven cards wins

Scoring

The best hand at the showdown wins the pot. Hands rank in the standard poker order, and you always play exactly five of your seven cards.

Suits never decide who wins the pot; they only settle the bring-in. If two hands are exactly equal, the pot is split.

Variations

Razz: Seven-Card Stud played for the lowest hand. Aces are low, straights and flushes do not count against you, and the best possible hand is A-2-3-4-5. The high card showing brings in.

Seven-Card Stud High-Low: the pot is split between the best high hand and the best low hand. Many games require a low hand of eight or lower to qualify (“eight or better”); if nobody qualifies, the high hand takes it all.

Baseball: a home-game favorite in which threes and nines are wild, and a player dealt a four face up gets an extra card.

Tips from the table

Watch the face-up cards. If you need a jack and two jacks are already showing in other players’ hands, your draw is much weaker than it looks. Stud players call these dead cards.

Start with strength. Three of a kind on third street is the best start; a high pair, or three cards in one suit or sequence whose cards are still live, is worth playing. Low pairs with no help are usually a fold.

Read what the other players show. A player with three hearts face up on fifth street who keeps raising probably has more hearts in the hole.

Fold early rather than late. Seven-Card Stud has five betting rounds, and the bets double halfway through, so a weak hand gets expensive fast.

Frequently asked