How to Play Seven Card Stud Poker

Added on April 18, 2018, in Gambling Articles by Gambling Gurus

seven_card_studWhen people think of poker, the majority of minds will immediately wander to Texas Hold ’Em, which is the most popular poker game in the world, hogging the majority of the spotlight, due to its constant TV coverage and use in films such as Casino Royale. There are, however, many different forms of poker, that each have equally exciting merits to them, like Chinese Poker, Real Estate Poker, Five-O Poker, Billabong, and many more. The one I’d like to go over today, as it’s a personal favourite of mine, is Seven-Card Stud poker. There are some similarities with Texas Hold ‘Em, but enough differences that it feels, at times, like a completely different game. And just FYI, you can find poker games, similar to this, as well as an array of other casino games at Norway’s leading online casino, which is also a favourite of mine.

Dealing the First Cards

The game starts with a dealer dealing two face-down cards to each player, much like in Texas Hold ‘Em, however each player is also dealt a face-up card. Whoever has the lowest value face up card (which is called the ‘door card’) will be responsible for the ‘bring-in’. Which I won’t go into here for those who don’t know, so check out this link, if you want to know more about this term.

Third to Fifth Street

Each subsequent round in the game is named after a numbered street, because what’s life without a dash of whimsey? Third Street starts with the person to the left of the bring acting, by either, folding, calling, or raising, as in other poker games. Play then continues in a clockwise fashion until everyone has acted. At the start of Fourth Street (and Fifth), the dealer gives another face-up card to each player and the person with the highest value will act first, and then everyone to the left goes in turn. Fifth street mimics this round, but with increasingly high betting limits.

Sixth and Seventh Street

Sixth and Seventh are very similar to Fifth, however the player that acts first on both Sixth and Seventh is the player who has the highest value of the four face-up cards they hold. These last two rounds have much bigger betting limits which can lead to very exciting climaxes to the games.

Two Major Differences

There are many smaller differences to Texas Hold ‘Em, as should be apparent to you by reading this brief description of the game, however there are two major differences I would like to bring to your attention. The first being the fact that there is no flop or river as in Hold ‘Em, and everyone has their own set of cards. Because of this (the second difference), you can see a lot of the other players cards which mean that you can more easily come to the decision of whether to fold or not, because you can see if someone else has the cards you need.

Seven-Card Stud is a great variation of poker that when you get to grips with its differences and similarities, becomes a very rewarding experience.