Ok well since the name of my blog is 1st rule of poker I figured that maybe I should add more basic rules of poker to the list. So here is how to play 7 card stud poker. Some terms you should know for Stud Poker are forced bet (player forced to start the betting action), Ante ( amount all players put in before the hand starts to build the pot), 1st street (first 3 cards), 2nd street ( 4th card), 3rd Street (5th card), 4th street (6th card), 5th street (7th card).
7 Card Stud
This version of stud can be played with up to 8 players. You cant have more or else you will run out of cards to deal out. Some games are played with an ante before the cards are dealt and some just go with the forced bet. Players are first dealt 3 cards, two face down and one face up. The betting in stud always starts with the lowest face up card in the hand. This amount is predetermined and dictates the size of the game. Players are all dealt a 4th, 5th and 6th card face up with betting rounds after each card. The final and 7th card, if there are still two or more players in the hand, is dealt face down. This is the final round of betting which is followed by revealing all hands and the best 5 card hand wins the pot. The a 6th card is never used to determine a winner if there is a tie. In the event of a tie the pot is split in half.
The force bet is made only on the first round of betting, after that the betting action is started (but not mandatory) by the player that shows the best hand. They may check to the next player if they do not want to bet.
In a structured limit 7 card stud game the amount you may bet or raise is in pre determined increments. The player who must play the forced bet (pre determined amount up to the smaller amount in the structure). If you are playing a 5-10 game with a $3 forced bet then the person with the smallest card can either put in the $3 or $5. Every other player must either call that amount or raise in increments of $5. On the 4th card the normal betting size is the lower of the two structured amounts, however, if there is a pair showing any active player may choose to use the larger of the two.
7 card stud can also be played in a spread limit game like 1-5. This means that the forced bet would be $1 and at any time any player can choose to bet or raise in an amount from 1-5. If a player raises $2 the next player can re-raise $2, 3, 4, or $5. They may not raise less then the original bet nor more then the max limit. The total of all bets may exceed the limit.
There are more rules of poker on the home page if you are looking for a different game. If you have any problems or questions with this explanation feel free to ask and I will help to clarify anything. You can also print out these rules if you want to show others.