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Seven Card Stud begins when each player makes an ante. The players then receive two face down cards and one up-card as their starting hand. A betting round occurs and is followed by three more up-cards, with a round of betting following each card, and a final face down card. The player that can make the best five card poker hand out of their seven cards will be awarded the pot at the showdown.

Depending on where you are playing, the dealer may announce several things. Dealers are supposed to announce the low card, the high hand, player’s up-card pairs, and other made hands. Dealers are not required to announce possible straights or flushes, but some of them do so anyways.

If a player is all-in then their cards are dealt as face down cards. If they receive their final card face up they are still required to keep that hole card and play continues as normal.

Rules of 7 Card Stud

Each player must put in ante in before receiving any cards. Ante size can differ depending on the rules of the card room you are playing at.

Each player receives two face down cards and one up-card. All other players should be able to see the up-card.

The player with the lowest up-card by suit is required to place a forced bet or a “bring-in” to begin the first round of betting. This player may bring in for half of the small bet or the complete the small bet, which is call a “completion” and does not count as a raise. There may be up to three raises allowed in a three raise fixed limit 7 card stud game.

For all betting rounds after the first, the highest poker hand showing initiates the action. If there is a tie on the board, then the action is determined by position. In other words the player who received cards first acts first.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth cards are dealt to each player face up so that other players may see it. The seventh and final card is dealt down.

The winner is determined at the showdown by making the best five card poker hand possible out of their 7 card hand.

Rules for Fixed Limit 7 Card Stud

In all fixed limit stud poker games, the first two betting rounds require the smaller sized bet. The larger sized bet is wagered on the fifth, sixth, and seventh cards. However, if there is a pair showing on the board on the fourth card, players have the option of making a small bet or a large bet. For example, in a $2/$4 game, if there is a pair showing and it is the high hand, they have the option to check, bet either $2 or $4. If that player bets $2 then the other players have the option to call $2, raise $2 or raise $4. If a $4 bet is originally made, then the other players may call $4 or raise $4, but not raise $2. If the person with the high hand opts to check, then the subsequent players are given the same options as the player with the high hand.

Rules for Seven Card Stud Hi Lo Eight-or-Better

Rules for 7 Card Stud apply to 7 Card Stud Hi Lo split unless specified otherwise.

A player must qualify by having an 8-or-better low hand that is lower than all of his opponents’ hands to receive half of the pot at the showdown. If nobody qualifies for the low hand, then the entire pot is awarded to the high hand.

A player may use his highest five cards for the high and may use his lowest five cards for the low. A player is able to win both the high and the low by playing two five card hands from his seven card hand. He may reuse any cards that he has already used as he is making his hi and his lo hands.

An ace may be used for both hi and for lo.

The lowest card by suit begins the action or “brings in” the first round. Aces count as high for the purpose of position only.

Straights and flushes do not count against the value of a low hand. The best lo hand is the wheel , A2345, which tends to also be the best hi hand.

Unlike regular fixed limit 7 Card Stud, an open pair on the fourth card does not change the limit in which the players may bet. Players still use the lower limit until fifth street.

Pot splitting is determined by the cards. The players may not make deals with each other about splitting a pot.

In the event that the pot is to be split and there are an odd number of chips in the pot, the odd chip goes to the high hand. If the players have the exact same hands by value, the odd chip will be awarded to the player whom has the highest value card with the highest value suit. The value of suits are as follows from weakest to strongest: Club, Diamond, Heart, Spade.

If there is an odd chip in the high portion of the pot and several players are splitting that portion of the pot, the odd chip is awarded to the player with the highest value card of the highest value suit. If the odd chip is in the low portion of the pot and two or more hands are to split, the chip will be awarded to the player with the lowest value card with the lowest value suit.

Where to Play Seven Card Stud Online

Almost all online poker rooms spread seven card stud now. Online seven card stud games are going to be best at larger online poker rooms, because there will be more players interested in playing the game. Because online poker rooms are always changing however, we keep a list of the most current ones on another page. Click the link below to see the most current list.

Where to play Seven Card Stud online.

Rules of Seven Card Stud – Irregularities

  1. What do you do if a player’s first of second hole card is accidentally turned up by the dealer?
  2. What happens if the dealer accidentally turns up both of your hole cards?
  3. What will happen to my hand if I don’t make it back to the table in time to play it?
  4. Who brings in if a player is all in after the ante and has the low card?
  5. If a player folds his hand to no bet or “checks out” what happens to his hand?
  6. What happens if a player, who is not the low card, is designated as the low card and bets?
  7. A player who was facing a bet at my table picked their up-cards up as if they were going to fold but raised instead. Is there a 7 Card Stud rule that prohibits this?
  8. A card flew off the table, what do we do?
  9. There aren’t enough cards to continue playing our hand. How do we deal the rest of the hand?
  10. The dealer forgot to burn a card, what now?
  11. What do we do if the dealer started dealing the cards for the next round before the current round finished?
  12. What is the procedure if the dealer deals the final card face up to a player?
  13. A player ended up having more or less than seven total cards at the showdown. Is his hand live?
  14. A player called a bet knowing he was beat by the up cards his opponent was showing. Is he entitled to a refund of those chips?

1. What do you do if a player’s first of second hole card is accidentally turned up by the dealer?

If a player’s first or second hole card is accidentally turned up by the dealer the dealer should deal that player’s third card face down and keep the turned card face up.

2. What happens if the dealer accidentally turns up both of your hole cards?

If the dealer accidentally turns up both of your hole cards then your hand is considered to be a dead hand and you will receive your ante back for that particular hand. If the first card turned up would have been the lowest card, then the player to that player’s left would bring-in, no matter their cards.

3. What will happen to my hand if I don’t make it back to the table in time to play it?

If you are not present to play your hand and you have an ante in the pot then your hand will be dead and you will not receive you ante back.

4. Who brings in if a player is all in after the ante and has the low card?

The player to the left of the low card will bring in the hand. That player has the option of folding, bringing in for the forced bet, or completing the bet.

5. If a player folds his hand to no bet or “checks out” what happens to his hand?

If a player folds his hand when he has the option to check his hand will continue to receive cards until it is killed as a result of a bet.

6. What happens if a player, who is not the low card, is designated as the lowcard and bets?

If a player is mistakenly designated as the low card there are several different situations that may have happened. If the only one to act was the wrongfully designated low card then the play may be corrected by the bet being taken back, the true low card bringing in, and then the play may continue as normal. However, if the player after the incorrect low card has acted after the incorrect low card bring-in, the wager will stand, the action will continue as if he was the true low card, and the true low card player will not be obligated to bring in or make any forced bets.

7. A player who was facing a bet at my table picked their upcards up as if they were going to fold but raised instead. Is there a 7 Card Stud rule that prohibits this?

If a player picks up their up-cards without acting and they are facing a bet, their hand will be folded. However, they may do this at the showdown as much as they like because betting has been completed and they may just be sorting out their hand.

8. A card flew off the table, what do we do?

The card that flew off the table is simply treated as an exposed card.

9. There aren’t enough cards to continue playing our hand. How do we deal the rest of the hand?

When there aren’t enough cards to continue playing the hand and all cards have been dealt except for the last card, which should be part of the burn cards, the dealer must use the burn cards. He will shuffle them, cut them, burn a card, and then deal the remaining cards to the players. If there are not enough cards to cover the remaining players then the dealer will not burn the top card so that all of the players will receive an unused card. If there are not enough unused cards for all of the remaining players, then a community card will be laid out on the table that will apply for use in everybody’s hand. The player who has the highest hand, including the community card, will begin the action for the final betting round.

10. The dealer forgot to burn a card, what now?

If the dealer fails to burn a card then the cards will be corrected by treating that specific card as an exposed card and returning the player’s cards to where they were supposed to be dealt to. If the dealer forgets to burn on the final face down card and the card touches the player’s other hole cards or is otherwise seen by the player, then the players all accept their cards and play continues as normal.

11. What do we do if the dealer started dealing the cards for the next round before the current round finished?

If the dealer accidentally begins dealing the cards for the next round before the current round has finished then those cards will be taken out of play. Additionally, after the betting for that round commences, each remaining active player has an additional card eliminated from play. These cards will later be dealt to the players who would have naturally received the cards if there were to be no error. After the round, the extra cards go into the side pile of cards and are reserved to be the cards that are used in case the dealer runs out of cards to deal. If this seventh card is accidentally prematurely dealt on sixth street, the face down card, and the card cannot be identified amongst the player’s cards or has been seen by the player, then the player must accept the card and betting or raising is no longer allowed on the sixth card because the player knows the outcome of his hand now.

12. What is the procedure if the dealer deals the final card faceup to a player?

If the dealer deals the final card face-up to a player, there is a 7 Card Stud rule stating that the high hand on board will start the action for the final round. There are different rules for different situations that may occur on the final round.

– If there are two players or more on the final round the remaining players will receive their cards face down and an option of being all-in will be given to the player whose card was dealt face up.

– If the hand is a heads up battle and only two players remain and the final card is dealt face up, then the other player’s final card will be dealt face up as well. Just as if there were more than two players in the hand, if the first player receives his card face down and the last player’s card is somehow dealt face up, the player who received the card face up will have the option of being considered all-in.

13. A player ended up having more or less than seven total cards at the showdown. Is his hand live?

Any hand with more than seven cards is a dead hand. Any hand with less than seven cards is a dead hand. However, if a player has less than seven cards at the showdown, he has the option of declaring his hand as live and playing it through.

14. A player called a bet knowing he was beat by the up cards his opponent was showing. Is he entitled to a refund of those chips?

If a player called a bet knowing that he was already beat by the upcards, he is not entitled to a refund of any kind. This decision is further justified by the statement that he may have just been paying for the information of what the other player’s down cards were and why he played the hand the way he did.