Introduction to Seven Card Stud

I know you 20-somethings might not believe this, but even though Texas Hold’em has been around for a long time, it has only recently become the insanely popular poker game that it is today. For ages, Seven Card Stud was the game of choice. Perhaps because of its simplicity, perhaps because it is the game that determines the champion at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), Hold’em has left Stud in the dust. Seven Card Stud is a great game, though, and deserves a second look by those who have ignored it, believing it is a game for old men. In this article, I would like to provide you with a quick, basic introduction to Seven Card Stud.

In Seven Card Stud, each player (a maximum of eight at a table) must put up an ante before they are dealt two down cards and one up card, also called the “door card.” Play begins with the player with the lowest door card, who is required to pay the “bring-in”, which is another ante of sorts. Play proceeds to the left, which each player deciding whether they want to call (also called “completing” the bet), raise, or fold.

There is then another card dealt to each player, face up, followed by another betting round. The player who starts the action is now the one who has the highest ranking up cards. Three more rounds of cards and bets follow, with the seventh and final card being the only other one aside from the initial two hole cards to be dealt face down. If there is more than one person remaining in the hand after the final betting round, the player with the best five-card hand, pieced together from the seven total cards, wins.

Each betting round is typically referred to as a “street”, numbered by how many cards each player has. For example, the first betting round, the one where all the players have two down cards and one up card, is third street.

In some ways, the game is similar to Texas Hold’em. Each player gets hole cards, there are cards dealt face up, there are multiple betting rounds, and each player must use five out of the seven cards to make a hand. However, that is essentially where the similarities end. Let’s look at some of the key differences.

Extra Betting Round

In Hold’em, there are four betting rounds: pre-flop, flop, turn, and river. In Stud, there are five: third through seventh streets. That extra betting round gets tricky because not only is it another opportunity to put yet more money in the pot, but also seventh street is the third face down card, resulting in more hidden cards in Stud than in Hold’em.

No Community Cards

Yes, there are face up cards in Seven Card Stud, but they are not shared by the players (except in the rare instances when the deck runs short on cards) and are therefore not community cards. Each player’s hand is unique.  It is extremely rare for two players to split a pot in Stud. In Seven Card Stud High-Low, pots are frequently split by definition, but in Stud High, it almost never happens.

More Information

In Hold’em, you only know your own cards and three to five community cards to determine outs and probabilities. In Seven Card Stud, you not only know your cards, but also everybody else’s up cards. Think about it: If four opponents are still in the hand when fifth street is dealt, that’s 12 cards in addition to your five that you know are in play. In that sense, it’s easier to make a more accurate calculation of your outs in Stud than in Hold’em.

However, once seventh street rolls around, you have less information about your opponent’s specific holdings than you do in Hold’em since three of their cards are face down instead of just two. Obviously, if you were observant, you will remember the other players’ folded up cards and will thus have an idea of what your opponent doesn’t have in the hole.

Random Position

Because the face up cards determine who acts first, there is no way to know what positional advantage you will have before each hand. During the hand, things will become a little more predictable, but the first player to act can still change on every street. The player to your left will always be on your left and the player to your right will always be on your right, but you won’t know who acts when until each round is dealt.

No Avoiding It

In Seven Card Stud, you cannot avoid putting money into the pot because you must contribute an ante every hand. Everyone has something at stake every time. This makes the game a fantastic one for earning bonuses at online poker rooms, which require you to contribute money to the pot in order to get credit for a raked hand.

These were just a few tidbits to teach you a little something about Seven Card Stud. If you are new to the game, try it out at some low-stakes tables. I suspect you may like it.