Where and How to Play 7 Card Stud Online
7 Card Stud is a variant of poker that was quite popular prior to the internet poker boom, during which flop games (particularly Texas Hold'em) became the games of choice. 7 Card Stud is still popular however in east coast casinos in the United States such as Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Southeastern Connecticut and in the over a dozen Atlantic City, New Jersey card rooms. While several online poker sites offer 7 Card Stud games the traffic is dismal at most except for PokerStars which has a wide selection of 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo and Razz (the lowball version) available. In this article we'll cover how 7 Card Stud is played.
How to play 7 Card Stud
7 Card Stud is an ante game, meaning rather than using blinds such as the big and small bind used in Texas Hold'em, it uses small forced bets called an ante which are posted by everyone at the table prior to the hand beginning. Once the antes are posted three cards are dealt to each player, the first two of these are dealt face down and are private, only the player they've been dealt to can view them, the third card is dealt face up for all players to see. The player with the lowest face up card is forced to make a bet. He can make the minimum called a bring in, which is usually one-third to one-half the size of the games small bet, or he has the rarely used option to make a full sized small bet.
To back up a little bit, 7 Card Stud is played most often with fixed limit betting structure. For example if a games betting stakes are $3-$6, the ante will generally be 50 cents and the bring in $1.00. The $3 is the small bet and is used on third and forth street. The large bet is $6 and used on fifth, sixth and seventh streets.
To get back on track, after the three cards are dealt the player with the lowest up card makes a bet, usually the bring in, and then a round of betting takes places with action moving clockwise around the table. Once this betting round is complete a second upcard is dealt to each player. Again these upcards are unique to each players hand but are visible for all players to see. This second upcard is called fourth street and another betting round takes place once it is dealt. This betting round on fourth street (and all streets on) has the action starting with the player with the highest exposed card. On fourth street the small betting unit is used (example $3 in a $3/$6 game) except in the case the player starting the action has a pair in which case he has the option of making a small bet or a big bet. Through the rest of that round the betting increments will stay the size of the small or large bet depending on the opening players action.
After fourth street a third and forth up card is dealt to each player, one at a time with a betting round following each. These cards are called fifth and sixth street, and the big bet is always used on these streets. Once complete a final card face down is dealt to each player called seventh street, or the river, with another and final betting round then taken place. When all this is played out if there are two or more players still left in the hand a showdown takes place and the player with the best 5 card poker hand wins the pot.
To summarize it quickly:
- Ante: all players post an ante.
- Starting Hands: 2 down cards, 1 upcard with betting round using the games small bet.
- Fourth Street: A fourth card (the second face up) is dealt to each player. A betting round then takes place, generally using the small bet, but can use the large bet if the first player to act has a pair and decides to make a large bet.
- Fifth Street: A fifth card (the third face up) is dealt to each player. A betting round takes place using the games big bet.
- Sixth Street: A sixth card (the fourth face up) is dealt to each player and again a betting round with the games big bet takes place.
- Seventh Street: this street sometimes called the river starts with each player receiving a seventh card (the third face down card) and then a betting round using the games big bet.
- Showdown: After the games final betting round players turn over their cards and the player with the highest ranking five card poker hand wins the pot.
7 Card Stud Hi/Lo (Eight or Better)
This game is played exactly like 7 Card Stud with the difference being the pot is split should a player make a qualifying low hand. A qualifying low hand consist of five cards eight and under, straight and flushes are disregarded so the best hand is A2345 and second best is A2346. In the event more than one player has a qualified low hand, these hands are ranked looking first at the highest of the five card. For example if a player has A2348 and another 34567 the player with 34567 would win because a seven low is better than an eight low. When players have the same highest card in their low hand we then look at kickers. Sometimes second, third, or fourth kickers are used to determine which hand is lowest. Also worth noting is that while there is always a high hand in 7 Card Stud there is not always a low hand. If no player makes a qualifying low (five cards under eight) the entire pot will be shipped to the high hand.
If you're looking for tips on how to play 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo we strongly recommend the following books:
- High-Low-Split Poker by Ray Zee
- Seven Card Stud for Advanced Players by David Sklansky
- Super Systems 2 – Doyle Brunson (Stud 8 section by Todd Brunson)
To play 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo online get started at pokerstars
Razz Poker
Razz is a version of 7 Card Stud where the lowest hand wins the pot. In Razz straight and flushes are ignored, but other than that traditional hand rankings are used. In the end the player with the lowest hand wins, generally a high card hand as pairs rarely ever win in Razz. Also worth noting is that on third street it is the player with the highest upcard, as opposed to lowest in the other Stud games, who has the forced bring in bet.
To play Razz online visit pokerstars, or another decent site for Razz at fulltiltpoker.
