How to play Seven Card Stud poker

What is Seven Card Stud poker?

You may have heard of the more popular Texas Hold ‘em poker variant, but for many years Seven Card Stud poker was far more popular in the card rooms of America. In the last few decades, Seven Card Stud has experienced a spike in popularity, especially for online poker players thanks to the intriguing strategies and tactics that are part of this often more complex version of the game.

At the start of the game, and prior to betting rounds, players are dealt two cards face down and one card face up. Unlike other poker variants, where players can’t see each other’s hands, Seven Card Stud hands reveal partial information. Arguably, this makes Seven Card Stud more challenging than either Texas or Omaha Hold ‘em. But unlike Texas or Omaha Hold ‘em, there is no use of community cards except for one unique circumstance.

Throughout the course of the game, there are three more cards dealt to players with a betting round in between each card. Seven Card Stud poker is most often played as a fixed-limit game – which means that there is a maximum amount players can raise and bet.

Seven Card Stud rules and betting rounds

To begin a game of Seven Card Stud, each player must put forth a small bet known as the ‘ante’. Each player is dealt two hole cards face down and one door card, which faces up. The person with the highest door card has the opportunity to open the betting.

The first betting round then starts. Players need to either fold (give away their cards, forfeit any bets and exit that particular game), raise (increase their bet if they think their hand is strong) or call (match any increased bets made by other players).

Three further betting rounds take place, known as fourth street, fifth street and sixth street. In each of these rounds, players are dealt another face-up card that the rest of the table can see. Again, players need to call, fold or raise.

The final round of the game sees the seventh (and final) face-up card placed on the table, known as the river card. It’s then onto the ‘showdown’.

Where more than one player remains in the game after the final betting round, the last player to bet or raise shows their cards first. However, if there were no bets in the final round, the person immediately left of the first player to bet will be the first to show. The winner is the player with the best hand. Where players present identical hands, the pot is split equally between those with the best hands.

From their seven cards, players must select five to create their best hand with.

Seven Card Stud strategy

As you can already see, Seven Card Stud is very different to poker variants where you can’t see the other player’s whole hand. This means you’ll need to understand both the rules of poker, and the best ways to play.

One key part of the game is knowing what a winning hand looks like. By learning the best hands you can have in Seven Card Stud, you’ll be able to decide when to bet, and when it’s best to surrender and try again.

The other big part of Seven Card Stud is remembering which cards were dealt to a player who has already folded. As they won’t be visible anymore once they are out of the game, it pays to remember what visible hand they had, so you can try to predict what other players’ best hand could be. If you can remember which cards have already been dealt and removed, you’ll have a better chance of knowing whether you can make a winning hand or not.

Knowing how to control the pot is another good Seven Card Stud strategy. The aim of the game is to put as little money into the pot as possible if you don’t think you’re the favourite with the hand you’ve got, and to put in as much as you can if you think you’ve got a winning hand. As Seven Card Stud is about predicting other players’ hands, you’re more likely to see big bets going in when everyone else assumes that the person making those big bets has the best poker hand.

Seven Card Stud poker hand rankings

The Seven Card Stud poker hands are ranked in the same way as traditional poker hands, with the aim of achieving the best five hand possible. The rankings are shown below:

Difference between Poker and Seven Card Stud

There are three major differences between Seven Card Stud and other poker games:

Fixed limit

There is, in most cases, a fixed limit in this variant of poker, which is not the case for traditional poker, Texas or Omaha Hold ‘em. This means betting rounds and the pot will have a fixed maximum amount.

No community cards

Texas and Omaha Hold ‘em utilise community cards, but this is not the case with Seven Card Stud. Instead, players must select their best five-card hand from the cards dealt to them.

Pre-game betting

Rather than using blinds, Seven Card Stud uses an ante (a small buy-in bet) prior to receiving cards. In other poker variants, forced bets travel around the table and change with each game.

Play Seven Card Stud poker online with William Hill

It’s great learning the rules of the game and memorising the best hands, but sometimes the best way to become a good player is to get stuck in and enjoy a few games!

With William Hill Vegas, we’ve got a huge range of online poker games, including Seven Card Stud, as well as favourites like Texas Hold ‘em. The beauty of playing online poker is that you can play on a small limit table to get your eye in, or even play in a no money game to understand the rules and see how the game flows.