Seven Card Stud Poker

Seven Card Stud is a traditional, yet highly demanding form of poker. It is normally overlooked by novices, who prefer Texas Hold’em. However, many professional players speak very highly Stud poker.

How Seven card Stud poker is played

The game requires players to 'buy in' chips when they join a table. The 'buy-in' is equivalent to ten times the lowest bet limit. For example, on a £1/£2 table, the 'buy-in' would be £10. Also, unlike other popular online poker games such as Texas Hold'em, that has blinds to begin a game, Seven Card Stud requires an upfront 'ante' to be placed by each player before a game starts.

Each player receives seven cards the winner is the best five-card hand from the seven available cards according to standard poker hand rankings.The game is split into five individual betting rounds. Two down cards (known as hole cards) and one up card (known as a door card) are dealt to each player. The player with the lowest card by suit begins the first round of betting and is required to place half the lowest bet limit - with an option of making a full bet. The suit order is as follows: highest to lowest - spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs.

Players are then dealt a further three face up cards in which a betting round follows each deal. These rounds are known as fourth, fifth and sixth street. The fourth and final face up card is known as the 'river'. Unlike the first round of betting, the player with the highest hand would start the betting on the following rounds. The first two rounds would bet the lower limit, whilst the final three rounds would bet the higher limit amount. The only exception is when a player shows a pair on the fourth street (the second up card) in which they have the option of betting the lower or higher limit. If the player chooses to bet the higher limit at this point, all subsequent bets must be at the higher limit. Most poker rooms offer one bet per round with three raises in which the final raise is capped.

The player with the highest five card hand wins. In the case of a tie, the pot is shared. If the table is full all players still remain by the river card (final up card), there will not be enough cards left in the pack. In this situation, the final card is dealt up and used as a 'community' card.