Seven Card Stud Poker

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• Texas Holdem
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Before the start of the Texas Hold'em boom a couple of years ago, Stud had always been the most popular poker variation in the United States. The game is played with two to eight players.

Probably the biggest difference between 7 Card Stud and Texas Hold'em is that 7 Card Stud is a non-flop game. Each player gets dealt a total of seven cards, of which three are dealt face down and four are dealt face up. From these seven cards the player has to choose his best five-card combination. The hand rankings are identical to those in Hold'em; a Royal Flush is the best possible hand and the worst hand is the high card hand (no pair).

As you can see in the picture above, every player starts off with getting dealt three cards; two cards face-down and one card face-up. The two face-down cards are called the 'hole cards' and the face-up card is called the 'door card'. Based on these three cards you decide whether or not you want to continue with the hand. Like in any poker variation, hand selection is extremely important in 7 Card Stud.

Antes, bring-in and betting

Every player pays an ante before getting dealt any cards. In our example we are playing a $1/$2 Stud game with a $0.10 ante and a $0.50 bring-in.

The three cards are dealt and the player with the lowest door card is forced to pay the bring-in of $0.50. This player can also choose to bet $1, which is called 'to complete'. The betting continues clockwise around the table, with players having the option to call, raise or fold. Once the betting is complete, every player left in the hand is dealt a fourth cards (4th street). Now, and in all rounds still to come, the player with the highest up-cards is the one who starts the betting.

The minimum bets for the remainder of the hand are:

4th street: $1

5th, 6th & 7th street (the river) : $2

Hand Selection

Just like in any other poker variation, it is important to carefully choose your starting hands. Below are some of the potential 'monsters' you can get dealt in 7 Card Stud:

In 7 Card Stud it is very important to pay close attention to your opponent's cards. If you, for example, have a straight draw with , but you already see three Aces on the table, then you are essentially drawing to the remaining 9's in the deck, which isn't enough to justify a call. Or you are holding this straight draw but see two players with a strong flush draw. In that case it doesn't make much sense to try and complete your straight if you're already losing to a flush. The information is literally on the table.