Seven Card Stud remains a standard poker game in casinos and in homes around the world. This poker variation requires players to be dealt some cards face up (known as door cards) and some cards face down (known as hole cards). Whereas in Hold’em games there are communal cards, the face up cards in Seven Card Stud can be used only be the players to which they belong.
Seven card stud rules differ slightly from a regular draw poker game. As in most games, it starts with each player anteing up. Everyone then receives two hole cards and one door card. The player who receives the lowest door card starts the betting, and each player then takes their turn, starting from the left, either calling, raising or folding. The following betting rounds are begun by the player with the best door hand.
Once the first betting round is complete, players are dealt three more door cards, and a round of betting follows each card they are dealt. These three door cards are called fourth street, fifth street and sixth street.
Once the round of betting after the last door card ( sixth street) is complete, all players are dealt one more hole card (the river), followed by the last found of betting. After this, any remaining players reveal their hand for the showdown and the best poker hands takes the full pot.
Seven Card Stud High-Low Rules
Seven Card Stud High/Low Split rules are the same as Seven Card Stud rules except that the player with the highest hand opens the betting and the player with the highest poker hand splits the pot with a qualifying low hand.
A qualifying low hand must consist of five cards of 8 or below with no pairs. If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand takes the whole pot. It is actually possible for a player to win with a high and low hand at the same time if they have an eight-high straight or flush and no one else has a higher hand or better low hand.
