How To Play 7 Card Stud Poker - Rules, Hand Rankings & Betting Options

7 Card Stud is one of the oldest poker variants in the world. Compared to some new versions, you’ll likely find it is very easy to learn how to play 7 Card Stud. The game has a very loyal following, and is found in most land-based and online poker rooms, as well as the most prestigious live tournaments, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

As you learn to play 7 Card Stud, you’ll find it to be very different from today’s most popular Hold’em style games. Each player receives 7 cards throughout a game of 7 Card Stud, but each of those cards are your own – there are no Community Cards used by all players.

7 Card Stud is a game for 2 to 8 players, using a single, standard 52-card deck.

Object of 7 Card Stud
The object of 7 Card Stud is to use the 7 cards available to you to develop the strongest possible 5-card poker hand. The player with the highest ranking poker hand wins the entire pot. (See “Poker Hand Ranks” at the bottom of this page.)

How To Play 7 Card Stud - Limits
7 Card Stud can be played in all limits – Fixed Limit, No Limit and Pot Limit – but is most often played in a Fixed Limit betting structure. The walk-through of how to play 7 Card Stud below will feature a Fixed Limit betting structure, but for educational purposes, all limits are defined below.

Fixed Limit: Fixed Limit (FL) defines the exact amount a player may wager at any given time, respective to the stakes of the game. There are 5 betting rounds in 7 Card Stud. During the first 3 betting rounds, the amount a player can bet/raise is equal to the low-end stakes. During the final two betting rounds, this amount increases to the high-end stakes. For example, with $2/$4 stakes, players must bet/raise $2 in the first three rounds, increased to $4 in the final two rounds.

No Limit: There is a minimum amount players can bet/raise throughout the hand, equal to the high-end stakes at all times, but the maximum bet/raise is only limited by your number of chips. (i.e., there is “no limit” on max wagers).

Pot Limit: Pot Limit (PL) is played according to the exact same rules as NNo Limit (NL), except that the maximum bet/raise allowed is always equal to the pot size. If the pot has $10 in it, the max bet/raise is $10.

How To Play 7 Card Stud – Forced Bets
Again, learning how to play 7 Card Stud is very different from Hold’em style poker games. Instead of Blind Bets, 7 Card Stud forces an Ante Bet from all players before any cards are dealt, followed by a Bring-In bet after the initial deal.

Ante: The Ante is a small wager that all players must place before the hand begins. The actual amount of the Ante differs by where you play the game, but is generally 10-25% of the low-end stakes.

Bring-In: This is another forced bet found in 7 Card Stud, equal to 50% of the low-end stakes. After the initial deal, each player will have 3 cards, 2 face-down and 1 face-up. The player with the lowest face-up card, called the Door Card, must place the Bring-In bet. Note that in case of a tie, the tying player with the lowest suit places the Bring-In. Suits ranks are easily remembered, as they rank lowest to highest alphabetically – Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades.

How To Play 7 Card Stud – Betting Options

Check: To choose not to bet, but not Fold. Check is only an option if no Bet has been placed in the current round of betting.

Bet: The first wager placed in a round of betting.

Call: To match the current Bet.

Raise: To wager more than the current Bet.

Fold: To forfeit the current hand.

All-In: To bet everything you have, pushing all chips into a separate pile. Since other players may continue to bet more than your All-In bet, you may only win an amount equal to your All-In from each player.

How To Play 7 Card Stud – Walk-Through of a Hand
For this walk-through of how to play 7 Card Stud, we’ll use $2/$4 stakes in a Fixed Limit betting structure.

Every player puts their Ante bet into the pot, followed by the initial deal. Each player receives 2 face-down Hole Cards that only they may see, then a third card face-up – the Door Card. The lowest Door Card holder places the Bring-In Bet to start off the first betting round.

First Betting Round: Following the Bring in bettor, the player to the left must Bet, Raise or Fold. Betting continues clockwise around the table until the Bring-In bettor’s turn. This player may Call/Raise by adding enough chips to his Bring-In, or Fold, forfeiting the Bring-In bet. The round continues until all players have either Called or Folded. Remember that for the first three betting rounds, all bets/raises must be equal to the low-end stakes of $2.

4th Street: A fourth card is dealt to each player face-up.

Second Betting Round: In this, and all remaining betting rounds, the player with the highest hand showing (Open) will start the betting. At this pot in the game, the highest possible Open hand would be a Pair of Aces.

5th Street: A fifth cards is dealt to each player, again face-up.

Third Betting Round: Same as the last.

6th Street: A sixth card is dealt face-up to each player.

Fourth Betting Round: All bets/raises now increase to match the high-end stakes of $4.

7th Street: A seventh and final card is dealt to each player, this time face-down (if possible - See “Not Enough Cards” below.)

Fifth Betting Round: The final round of betting.

The Showdown: It is common for all players to have Folded by this point, giving the last active player the automatic win. However, if two or more players remain active, they will go to a Showdown. Each active player combined 5 of their 7 cards to develop the strongest possible poker hand. The highest ranking poker hand wins the entire pot.

Hot To Play 7 Card Stud – Not Enough Cards
Let’s do a little math here – you can have a max of 8 players at the table, with each player receiving 7 cards; 8 x 7 = 56. There are only 52 cards in the deck. It is extremely rare that a full table of 8 players would not see at least a few of the Fold before the 7th Street, but should this occur, the seventh card will be dealt face-up to the center of the table as a Community Card. This card is used by all players as their own 7th Street card.

Poker Hand Ranks (highest to lowest)
Royal Flush (Ace-high straight suited)
Straight Flush (straight suited)
4 of a Kind (4 cards of the same value)
Full House (3 of a Kind + 1 Pair)
Flush (all cards suited)
Straight (all cards in sequence)
3 of a Kind (3 cards of the same value)
2 Pair (1 Pair + 1 Pair)
1 Pair (2 cards of the same value)
High Card (none of the above combinations)