Seven Card Stud Rules

The 7 Card Stud Poker starts off with each player at the table receiving three cards; one card face up and two cards face down. The player with the lowest card showing is required to make the bring in bet, which is a forced bet similar to a blind. Most Seven Card Stud Games will have antes as well as the bring in bet, which is why the bring in bet is probably going to be smaller in most stud games than the blinds would be in most board games. In any case, once the bring in bet has been placed, the player to the left of the bring in player has the opportunity of calling, raising or folding.

This continues around the table until the betting has resolved and the players still holding cards in the hand receive another card face up. This card, also know as Fourth Street, is followed by a betting round. The betting round is followed by Fifth Street being dealt face up, which is then followed by another betting round followed by Sixth Street being dealt face up. After the betting round on Sixth Street, the final card of Seventh Street is dealt face down and the final betting round occurs. After that final betting round if there are two players or more left in the hand a showdown occurs and the player with the best five card hand wins the pot.

The basic way in which Seven Card Stud is played is almost identical to the way in which stud in general is played, with the only real difference being the number of cards that each player receives before they head out to play. With that in mind, most Seven Card Stud rules are going to be the same as stud rules in general but there are a few differences that mostly come from the number of cards that are used within the game. The biggest difference is that in stud you only use 5/7 of your hand in the end, while in five card stud you would use your whole hand. This makes 7 Card Stud very similar to Hold 'Em and that is why it ultimately is still a very popular game; it is able to piggy back off the popularity of Hold 'Em in a way that five card stud can not.
As for other differences, there is one difference that might occur if a number of people go all the way to Seventh Street in a 7 Card Stud hand. If all of the people at the table do this, then very likely there will not be enough cards left to deal a complete street to each player. If this occurs, the dealer will then burn a card and place a card in the centre of the table. This card will be a community card that all players can use. This is the only time a community card will ever be dealt in Seven Card Stud and it is an extremely rare occurrence that people might never see in their life.