Updated on: January 6th, 2025
Seven card stud is one of the most popular poker games. It was made popular worldwide by American soldiers during the world wars. The game is played with anything from two to eight players.
In this group, one would have to be the dealer. When playing online, there is no need to have one of the players as the dealer. The computer or online site you play at deals the cards.
Players new to the game will find that 7 card stud follows the same basic principles of any other poker game. There are hole cards and the customary exposed card.
The marked difference between 7 card stud and other poker games is that there are no community cards. Each player has to make an ante bet. We will go into the finer details of how to play the game in this easy to follow guide.
Besides outlining the steps of how to play seven card stud poker, we have listed the top US casino sites with popular poker games including seven card stud.
Play Real Money Seven Card Stud Online
How to Play Seven Card Stud
7 Card stud poker is quite unique variant of poker because there are no community cards. Players have hole cards but there are no shared community cards. There are exposed cards but these belong to individual players and cannot be used by another player to form a hand.
Cards are dealt intermittently and between each round of dealing there is a round of betting. In the end, each player who makes it to the end of the game will have seven cards.
However, they will only use five of those cards to form the winning hand. The game begins with a preliminary ante bet before the cards are even dealt after the ante there are 7 steps to a full game of 7 card stud poker. if you want to learn how to play poker , 7 card stud style follow the easy steps below.
7 Steps to Playing
- After the ante, each player is dealt three cards first. Two hole cards which are face down and one which is exposed known as the door card.
- The second round of betting is initiated by the player with the lowest value exposed card*. The betting moves clockwise from the players left.
*In the event that there are two or more players with the equal low-value card then the one who initiates is determined by the alphabetical order of the card suit. That is, if there four players with the same low value card, the player with the clubs will start the second round of betting
- A fourth exposed card is dealt to each player and the one with the highest value card initiates this round of betting. Betting moves clockwise from this player’s left.
- A fifth exposed card is dealt and again the player with the highest value card initiates the betting round which moves clockwise from the players left.
- The sixth card is dealt and again the highest card initiates the round of betting.
- The seventh and final card is dealt and the highest value card holder initiates the final round of betting.
- Finally, each player who is still in the game, reveals the hidden hole cards. The player with the best five card poker hand wins the game.
Rules for Betting
- Ante – The initial bet made before the cards are dealt.
- Bring in – The opening bet after the cards are dealt. This is the bet made by the player with the lowest value card after the third value card.
- Betting is only initiated by the lowest value card holder in the first round after cards are dealt. Thereafter the player with the highest card always starts the betting round after each card is dealt.
- Players can raise, check, or fold after each round of cards is dealt. Since the majority of the cards are exposed it is easy to see how well or badly you are doing against the other players
