7 Card Stud

Until a few years ago, Seven-Card Stud was by far the most popular poker game in the world, and there are many players who still prefer it, whether it's online or live. As popular as Texas Hold'em may be, stud games do have one big advantage over Hold'em games: It's generally easier to see what kind of hand your opponent has, or is drawing to, in stud games. In the film Rounders, Matt Damon illustrates this for us when he watches his professor play Seven-Card Stud, and after a short while, loudly declares what each and every player is holding. Something that's perfectly doable in Seven-Card Stud.

The rules for Seven-Card Stud are very simple. The game is best played with Fixed-Limit, although it's also playable with Pot-Limit. Each player is dealt two cards face down and one card face up. Then the player with the lowest ranked card (in Fixed-Limit) starts the bet. This is called the bring-in. He can choose to either make a full bet or a smaller, often half-sized, bet.

Then every player, clockwise, gets to act and can either fold, call or raise. When each player has had his chance to act, another card is dealt face up to each remaining player in the pot. Another betting round commences, and so on. Then another card is dealt face up and a new betting round takes place.

A seventh and final card is dealt face down and the last betting round is initiated. So in the end, every player who has remained in the pot should have three cards face down and four cards face up. When all the betting is done, there is a showdown and the player with the best ranked five-card poker hand wins the pot, just as in Texas Hold'em.

Although most poker rooms offer Seven-Card Stud, both as Fixed-Limit and Pot-Limit, you should check to see if there really are any games going on since some rooms almost only have traffic in the Texas Hold'em department. Also, if you are new to the game, you should look for rooms that offer Seven-Card Stud with low wagers, so you can start at a comfortable level.