Seven card stud remains a popular poker game, both in brick and mortar casinos and online cardrooms. It is the most popular non-communal card poker game (in other words, a poker game where everyone has their own cards). Seven stud is almost always played in the fixed limit betting form.

Rules

In seven card stud, the player with the best five card hand out of his seven total cards, wins. There are five rounds of betting. At first, everyone gets three cards, two down and one up. This is called third street. The player with the lowest exposed card is forced to bring it in to create action, in a fixed amount, depending on the size of the game. After the bring in, the action continues clockwise from the low card, and players can choose to raise , call, or fold to this bring in bet. The next card is dealt face up to each of the players remaining (fourth street). On fourth, and all of the following streets, the player with the highest hand showing starts the betting each round, with the action going around clockwise from him.

Fifth and sixth streets are similar to fourth street, where the card is dealt face up and the player with the highest hand showing starts the betting. The final card, seventh street, is dealt face down to all remaining players. However, in the unlikely event that it is a full game of 8 people, the final card is dealt face up and is a communal card (if there are 8 people that stayed through sixth street, there would only be 4 cards remaining in the deck).

Since seven card stud is generally played in limit form, like 15-30 for example, the lower bet ($15) is used for third and fourth street play, and the big bet ($30) is used for fifth street and beyond. However, if there is a pair exposed on the board on fourth street, people have the option of betting the smaller or the larger amount.


Cards to play

They main concept that new 7 stud players need to learn is proper selection of starting hands. Most new players tend to play far too many hands, instead of simply playing the premium hands.

Here are examples of hands to start with. The best hand that you can start with is Trips (three of a kind). AAA is naturally the best, then KKK and down, through the deck, to 222. If you start with trips you can either raise on third street to try and eliminate a few players, or wait and jam the pot with the big bet on fifth street, in hopes of winning a big pot.

Big Pairs for you to play are, AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT. With these big pairs, you should usually come in with a raise. However, you should often be cautious with these hands. For example, if you have TT and both of your other tens are out on the table, your hand has lost a lot of its value. Also, if there is a lot of action out there, you should consider mucking TT or even JJ, chances are someone has QQ or better.

Middle Pairs, hands like 77, 88, and 99 are also playable but only under some conditions. You should only play these hands if all of your cards are live (i.e. no others are on the board) and you have a good kicker. This is because it is doubtful you will win with just a middle pair, and you’ll probably need your hand to improve.

Flush Draws: Three suited cards are playable, but only under certain conditions. First, ideally the flush cards should be high and close together. This way you could make a big flush or a straight. You also might make high pairs or trips. Play only when your flush cards are live. You don’t want to look around the table and see several of the cards you need to make your flush. Fold your three flush drawing hand to multiple raises.

Examples of flush draws you want to play are.

(A Q J) (K Q J) (A K Q) (Q J 10) (A J 9)
(A 9 5) (Q 10 9) (Kh Q 4)

Straight Draws: You can play straight draws for a call if they are open-ended (i.e. no gaps) and most importantly, your improvement cards are all live. It is also preferable that your straight is a high one, so you also have the ability to form high pairs or trips.
Examples of straight draws you can play are.

(K Q J) (Q J 10) (J 10 9) (9 8 7)

On fourth street, if you are high, say with an ace and it is paired, go ahead and bet at the pot. If someone else is high and bets into you, try and figure out if your hand is worth continuing with.

Pay Attention: Paying attention is key at seven stud. Often, new players just call along, hoping to hit a good hand. They don’t realize that most of their flush cards are out on the board and will keep drawing to a flush, or a straight, when someone has trips showing (hence, very likely to have a full house). After every card is dealt, try to figure out if it helped or not. Always beware when someone pairs a door card. Also, look to see if any cards you need came out in another player’s hand.

After every street ask yourself questions to try and figure out where you stand in the hand. Such as: “What do they have?”
“What cards will help me?”
“Did that card help them?”
“What does it look like I have?”
“Can I beat what I am looking at?”
“Do I have any outs on them?”

The more you practice asking yourself these types of questions, the better you will get at reading your opponents hands and making proper decisions.

Which of these two hands would you rather have to start with?

a. J J / 8
b. 8 J / J

They look the same. But are they? The two jacks are hidden in hand a, and if you catch another jack, no one will know it helped you. Therefore, hand a is much better.

Suppose you have J J/ 9, a player with the 2 brings it in, then a player with the A raises, another player showing the Q reraises. It’s now up to you. What is your play?

a. Raise
b. Call
c. Fold

When the queen raises it looks like they have two queens. The player with the ace up could also have a pair of aces. Your hand is good but you don’t want to get caught in the middle of two raisers, particularly when you have nothing invested, so choose option C, and fold.

Suppose on third street you have J J / J and a player raised with an A. Two players called in front of you, one with the 9 and the other with a 10. What is your play?

a. Call
b. Fold
c. Raise

You have a big hand, rolled up trips, a hand you are probably going to see to the river, unless someone catches board cards that beat you. At the moment, you probably have the best hand.

You have two options, either call or raise. If you call, everyone will see the next card. If you raise, the high card ace may reraise and cause someone to fold, which will increase your chances of winning. If they all call, it just makes a bigger pot where you’re probably the favorite to win. Let’s choose C and raise, either eliminating players, or building a big pot.