Seven Card Wonder – A Guide to Seven Card Stud
Seven Card Stud is a popular game amongst home games of poker. The recent surge of Hold’em has put it in the shadows somewhat. So let’s put it back in the spotlight. Like Hold’em you are trying to make the best 5 card hand from seven cards, the highest hand wins and Ace plays both high and low for straights. Unlike Holdem there are no community cards and it has five betting rounds rather than four.
The rules are as follows:
Each player is dealt 3 cards, 2 faced down and one face up.
Then the player with the lowest face up card starts the betting. If two or more players have the same value card, it is determined by suit value. Suit values from lowest to highest are: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. Players to the left then have the option of folding, calling or raising.
A further 3 cards are dealt face up. Each time there is a round of betting however this time it is the person dealt the highest card that starts the betting.
The last card is dealt face down. (So there are a total of three face down and four face up) The betting is started by the person with the highest value cards face up.
You must be very observant to play this variation of poker. Not only must you take note of players betting tendencies but you must also remember the up cards of the players who have folded.