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ONLINE POKER:Seven Card Stud Rules and Procedures
Seven Card Stud was once a very popular game. Nowadays, Hold ‘em is king and Seven Card Stud is played mainly in high limit mixed games and the internet. Poker purists still have a lot of affection for the game, and I for one miss regularly having this option when playing in public card rooms. There are of course exceptions, and occasionally there will be a Seven Card Stud game found in a live setting. Seven Card Stud is a fast paced and fun game where hand reading is key. In this article I will go over the rules and procedures of the game. If you are interested in learning the strategy of the game the best place to start is the book Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players which is published by 2+2 publishing.
Seven Card Stud, as it’s name implies, is a game where you are dealt seven cards in turn, in which to make your best five card poker hand. With the exception of the first round of betting the action begins with the player who has the highest hand showing. There is an ante and a forced bring in bet to stimulate the action. We will start with the ante and the forced bring in bet.
The Ante
While strategy considerations are largely outside the scope of this article I will make a few comments along strategic lines. The structure of the game, meaning the ante, the bring in, and their relation to the limit, is more important in Seven Card Stud than in any other game commonly spread in casinos or online. The lower limit games tend to feature much smaller antes than the higher limit games. This forces you to play much tighter in smaller games. In higher limit games there is a greater incentive to not only try to steal the bring in and ante, but to defend against steals. You must pay attention to the structure to be able to identify the proper strategy. If the ante is around 10% of the small bet it is a small ante and tight play is generally correct. The larger the ante gets (high limit games will often have an ante as high as 25%) the looser you will have to play and the more aggressively you will have to fight for your share of the ante and bring ins. The lowest limit games will often not have any ante and only the bring in will stimulate the action. These are generally spread limit games where at any time you can bet between $1-$5.
Now back to what we are supposed to be talking about, the rules and procedures of Seven Card Stud. Before any cards are dealt, the dealer will collect all of the antes. If you are playing in a brick and mortar casino you will place the chips in front of you to be collected. Place them directly in front of you to avoid confusion. If you are playing online it is best to click the “auto post antes” box and it will be taken care of automatically. After the antes are collected then each player will be dealt two cards face down and another face up. The player with the lowest up card will be forced to start the action by betting either the forced bring in or the full small bet. In a $10-$20 game the bring in is usually $3. The player who has the lowest card showing will have to either bet $3 or $10. After that play will continue to that players left, and players will have the option to fold, call, to complete the bring in, or to raise, if a player’s initial bet was for the entire small bet. In the $10-$20 example if the player with the low card brought it in for $3 then the next player has the option to either call the $3 or to “complete” the bet, which essentially raises the bet to make it a total of $10. Any additional raises would be in $10 increments. After the action is complete for the first round of betting a second up card called 4th street is dealt.
4th Street
On 4th street the player with the highest hand showing has the first option to either check or bet. If anyone receives a pair he has the option to bet either the small bet or the large bet size. Again in the $10-$20 example, if a player was dealt a pair he would have the option to check, bet $10, or bet $20. If the player with the highest hand showing did not have a pair he could have either checked or bet $10. If a player who makes a pair bets the larger bet size than any additional raises will also be of the larger size. If the player chooses to check or to bet the smaller amount then all players will have the option to call, fold, raise the smaller amount, or raise the larger amount. Once a raise is made that is of the larger increment any additional raises must also be of that size. After the betting round is concluded then the dealer will deal a third card face up called 5th street.
5th and 6th Street
5th and 6th street play identically. Play once again starts with whoever has the highest hand showing, who has the option to check or bet, and continues to his left. All betting and raising are done in the larger amounts, in the case of the $10-$20 game, $20 increments. Once the betting round is finished the dealer will deal the final card face down, which is called 7th street or the river.
7th Street
After the last card is dealt face down the player who had the highest hand showing on 6th street again has the first option and play continues to his left. After the betting round is complete the player who took the last aggressive action, be it a bet or raise, is the first to expose their hand. If a player can beat that hand then they expose their hand. Whoever has the best 5 card poker hand will win the pot.
Conclusion
Seven Card Stud is a complex and fast paced game. It requires excellent hand reading ability, as so much of a player’s hand is exposed, unlike a game like Hold ‘em or Draw Poker. It is unfortunate that it has fallen out of favor due to the Hold ‘em craze. Fortunately there are a number of good Seven Card Stud games to be found online. Not only that but most high limit mixed games will contain Seven Card Stud, so if you want to play at poker’s highest levels Stud, and it variations, are games you must be proficient at. Wherever you play it, and for whatever limits, I am sure you will enjoy it and hope that this will help you to understand how the game should be run.
Variations
Seven Card Stud Eight or Better
Seven Card Stud Eight or Better is basically dealt the same as Seven Card Stud when it is played for high only. The big difference is that the best high hand and the best low hand will split the pot (assuming the low hand qualifies). To make a low hand that qualifies for winning half of the pot a player must make what is know as an 8 low. An eight low means that you have 5 cards that are eight or lower. Aces count as either high or low. Out of your seven cards you may use a different 5 to compose your two different holdings. For instance if your hand contained the cards 2c,3c,4c,5c,4s,7h,9c you would have a 7,5,4,3,2 for low and a 9 high flush for high. These are the sort of hands you love to make as you will have a chance to scoop the pot, which means to win both halves. Straights and flushes do not count against you when composing your low hand. The very best low hand is 5,4,3,2,Ace which is also a 5 high straight. As in Seven Card Stud played for high the player with the highest board showing will be first to bet on all rounds except 3rd street. If a player makes an open pair on 4th street they will not be allowed to make a double bet that is equal to the big bet allowed in the game. Seven Card Stud Eight of Better is a great game that is complex and a real thinking mans game.
Razz
Razz is Seven Card Stud Played exclusively for low. The best hand is the 5,4,3,2,Ace. Straights and flushes do not count against you when making a low hand. There is no double bet on 4th street if a player makes an open pair (and if there was he would certainly not want to make it).