Seven Card Stud Poker is the most popular of games amongst poker games. It is played between two and eight players. In the game, each player is dealt seven cards, three of them face down, and the other four face up. The objective is to make the best five card hand using any combination of the seven cards issued. Given below are the poker rules.

Forced Bets

There are two types of forced bets in seven card stud; Ante and Bring-in. Ante is about 1/5th of the lower bet limit. Every player must place an ante before the game begins. On the other hand, bring-in is placed by a player with the lowest up card, after the initial deal. This'll be ½ of the lower bet limit.

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Betting Rounds

In seven card stud, there are five round of betting. The game begins with the dealer issuing each of the players' three cards – two face-down cards and one face up. If there is bring-in, the player with the lowest ranking upcard should pay the bring-in, and the betting starts in the normal clockwise order. The bring-in is assumed to be an 'open' and hence the next player may not check. In case of two players having low cards of the same rank, suit may be used as tie-breaker. On the other hand, if there is no bring-in, the betting begins with the player showing the highest ranking upcard, who may check. However, if a tie occurs here, suit is not used to break the tie. Instead, the player who sits first in the clockwise direction from the dealer gets the first chance to place the bet.

After the first round of betting is over, the players are dealt another face-up card. This is the fourth street. Betting now starts with the player whose upcards constitutes the best poker hand (highest possible at this point is an ace pair). In fact, in all the following rounds, the player with the best poker hand acts first, check or bet up to the highest limit. In case of a tie regarding the value of hand, the one closest to the dealer's left acts first.

In the fifth street, another upcard is dealt to the players, followed by another round of betting with the highest poker hand betting first. This'll be followed by Sixth Street, followed by betting, and the seventh street, where a downcard is dealt to the players, and the game proceeds as in the previous rounds. The bets or raises must be equal to or greater than the high limit bet size. The seventh street is followed by a showdown, and here, the player with the best poker hand will win the pot. The pot is split if there is a tie.

In certain rare instances, in Seventh Street, if all the eight players are still going strong, there won't be enough cards left to be dealt to all the players. In such cases, as a first step, previously dealt burn cards are used to complete the deal. If that option does not work, instead of dealing a downcard in the final round, a single community card is placed in the middle, and is shared by everyone, assuming it to be the seventh card in their hand. However, any cards from the folded hands are not used as backup cards in such instances.