How to Play 7 Card Stud Poker
Unlike Texas Holdem and Omaha, 7 Card Stud does not use community cards: players only have the cards in their hands to make their best five-card poker hand.
Before any cards are dealt all the players ante (usually 10% of the minimum bet), and are then dealt 3 cards each. One of the cards is dealt face up (the Upcard) and the others are dealt face down (the Downcards), and there is a round of betting. The player with the lowest Upcard is called the Bring In, which means they have to post half the minimum bet as a forced bet (like the small Blind in Texas Holdem and Omaha), and if two or more players have the same low card the player to the left of the dealer posts the Bring In. This counts as a bet, so the other players can call, raise or fold to it.
The dealer deals all the players another Upcard (called Fourth Street) and the player with the highest hand of Upcards begins the betting round with the option to check, bet or fold.
Another Upcard is dealt to each player (called Fifth Street), and there is another round of betting. Then Sixth street is dealt and there is yet one more round of betting. (Betting rounds are made up of 4 types of bets: bet, raise, re-raise, and cap).
The remaining players are now dealt their last card, face down (called Seventh Street) and there is one more final round of betting. Depending on how many players are in the game, and how many are still in the hand, there may not be enough cards left to deal Seventh Street to each player, so in that case one card is dealt into the middle of the table to be used as a community card that all players can use in their hands. After this comes the showdown, and the player with the highest 5-card poker hand made from their seven cards takes the pot.
