A very old form of poker still popular today because of its standard, familiar structure is 7-card stud. It attracts a major following in both casinos and Friday night home poker parties. Depending on the region of play, the rules of stud may be altered slightly, but all will have the rule of a maximum of seven players per table due to the fact that a deck contains only 52 cards, also the dealer is allowed to burn 4 in the course of a game. There are less rounds for betting so it is not unusual to find house rules include an ante or pre-flop requisite bet to elicit more hand participation as well as add more complexity to the game.

If you play holdem exclusively, you will have to learn a new strategy to play 7-card stud. Any one new to the stud games should carefully observe games as they are played and learn well the rules and strategies of betting before even thinking of sitting at the table to play a round or two. Learning strategies of stud as well as other forms of poker will always add to the enjoyment (and profitability) of any form of the game.

7-Card Stud Betting Structure

The deal commences by dealing two cards face down and one face up to each player. Round one begins in a clockwise direction beginning with the holder of the highest hand (at this point, the top hand would be two aces). The following three rounds are dealt with the cards face up while the final card is dealt face down, which takes us to the highest scoring 5-card showdown hand. Betting rounds do occur between each deal, though the Mississippi form may feature just four rounds of betting and two cards are dealt at the same time for the final deal.

The Strategy Behind 7-Card Stud

There is usually a mandatory ante that marks the start of most stud games and it is not unusual for some games to demand that the player with the lowest scoring visible hand “bring in” (place a forced bet). The game continues with each player being dealt three cards, two up and the bring in hand holder must bet first. In case of a tie, the suit is the tiebreaker. At this point in the game, a player has the right to bet, fold or raise to the level of the house limits.

Now comes another card and another round of betting, starting with the player again with the highest scoring hand, which at this point in the game can be no higher than three aces. In all subsequent rounds, the player with the highest visible cards can choose to either bet or check to kick off the round. After all cards are dealt, the players will arrange their hands in the order of two down cards, four up cards and one card down.

Similar to Holdem and Omaha poker traditional play, the player with the highest ranking 5-card hand is the winner. Stud is a little unusual in that it does not have a community card pile and the cards in each hand are not all hidden. As is the rule in traditional games, a Royal Flush is at the top of the card combination ranking with the usual assortments ranked in the order of highest to lowest: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, pair with high cards bringing up the rear. An appropriate betting strategy uses as its foundation hand strength, close attention to opponents betting patterns and face up cards and a fine sense of the size of the pot.

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