7-Card Stud

Unlike Texas Hold'em and Omaha, there are no shared community cards in 7-Card Stud games; each player's cards are their own.

In 7-Card Stud, players are dealt seven cards throughout the hand - three faced down and 4 faced up – and players use those cards to create their best five-card hand.

The Deal and Betting Rounds:
Before a hand of 7-Card Stud begins, all players must post an Ante – a forced bet to ensure all players are incentivized to win the hand. Once the dealer has collected all the antes into the pot, gameplay will proceed as follows:

Third Street: Each player is dealt two (Hole) cards face-down and one face-up, the “Door Card”. The player with the lowest door card starts the betting with either a "bring-in" – a small, forced bet for an amount specified by the tournament structure, or they may “Complete” the bet by betting the Limit – also specified by the tournament structure. If the player with the lowest door card opts to post the bring-in, a player wanting to raise may “Complete” to the limit, which will be considered the first bet.
• For the purpose of determining the bring-in in 7-Card Stud, ties in card rank are broken by suit. The suits are ranked in alphabetical order – clubs (lowest), diamonds, hearts and spades (highest). The lowest suit breaks a tie, so if the 3 of hearts and 3 of clubs are visible at the beginning of the hand, then the 3 of clubs would be the bring-in.

Fourth Street: Once action is complete on Third Street, each remaining player will receive a fourth card dealt face-up. Now, it’s the player with the best hand showing on the table begins this round of betting. If two or more players’ two up cards are of identical rank, the player with the highest high card by suit will be begin the round of betting.

Fifth Street: A fifth card is dealt face-up to each player still in the hand. The player with the highest hand showing on the table starts the betting. However, now the betting limit double.

Sixth Street: A sixth card is dealt face-up. Again, the player with the best hand showing begins the betting.

Seventh Street (The River): The final card is dealt face-down to each player. This is followed by one last round of betting, which is also started by the player with the best hand showing.

Determining the Winner:
The player with the best five-card hand wins the pot.

If two or more hands have the same value, the pot is equally split among them, odd chip awarded to player with the highest high card in their five-card hand.

Additional Stud Rule:
Because Stud games are played with 8 players but there are only 52 cards in the deck, it is possible to run out of cards before Seventh Street can be dealt. In this extremely rare instance, a single ‘community card’ will be dealt face-up on the table, which will be shared by the remaining players.