Seven-card stud rules

Stud has no community cards. Every player builds their own seven, and the best five of them make the hand.

The ante

Every player puts in a small ante before the deal, so there is a pot to play for from the start. Two to eight can play.

The deal

Each player receives two cards face down and one face up. The lowest face-up card must open with a forced bet called the bring-in. Three more cards are then dealt face up one at a time, with a betting round after each, and a seventh card face down at the end — so four of your cards are visible to the table and three are not.

The bring-in

The bring-in is smaller than a full bet. If two players show the same low card, suit decides: clubs are lowest, then diamonds, hearts and spades. The others may fold, call the bring-in or raise, and if someone raises, the player who posted it answers when the action comes back round.

The streets

Each round of cards has a name. The first three cards are third street, and the cards that follow are fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh street — the last one also called the river. That makes five betting rounds in all.

Who acts first

After the bring-in, the best face-up hand acts first in every round. That changes as the cards come out, so the order of play moves around the table. A visible pair beats a visible ace, two pair beat one pair, and otherwise the highest cards showing speak first.

The showdown

When the last betting round is over, the players still in turn over their hidden cards and each makes the best five-card hand from their seven. The best hand takes the pot, and equal hands split it.

Betting limits

Casinos usually play stud fixed limit, with the bets doubling from fifth street. Home games often play it no limit, where any bet up to your whole stack is allowed.

Reading the board

Stud rewards memory more than any other poker variant. Cards that were folded are gone, and a player chasing a flush in a suit where you have seen five cards already is drawing at far less than they think.

Starting hands

Three of a kind in your first three cards — rolled up — is the best start there is. A high pair is next, and three cards to a flush or a straight are worth playing only when the cards you need are still live.

With eight players the deck can run out. When it does, a single community card is turned face up and shared by everyone still in the hand.