7-Card Stud

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

In 7-Card Stud, players are dealt seven cards throughout the hand totaling three face-down and 4-face up where 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 card face-up, known as the “Door Card”. The player with the lowest ranking 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” by betting the "Limit" - which is also specified by the tournament structure. If the player with the lowest door card opts to only 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 and 3 are the door cards at the beginning of the hand, then the 3 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, instead of the lowest card acting first, it’s the player with the best two-card hand showing on the table who begins the 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 three-card hand showing on the table starts the round of betting. However, now the betting limit double according to the tournament structure.

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:

If there is more than one remaining player when the final betting round is complete, the player with the last aggressive action on 7th Street shows their cards first. If there was no bet on the final round, the player who is showing the highest ranking 4-card hand shows their cards first. Further hands involved in the Showdown are exposed or mucked clockwise around the table. 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.

• If the dealer determines there are enough cards between the "stub" and the burns, the dealer will scramble those cards, burn a card, and deal the remaining cards to the players.
• If, even after adding the burn cards, there are still not enough cards to give every active player, the dealer will burn a card and turn a single ‘community card’ face-up on the table which will be shared by the remaining players.