Along with Five Card Stud, Seven Card Stud is one of the poker variants which characterised
19th century gambling in the United States. For many decades it vied with Five Card Stud as the most popular variant and it certainly dominated in casinos in the Eastern half of the United States. Similar to the Five Card version, it also brings with it (possibly) apocryphal tales of cowboys and gold rush miners playing in the wilderness.
It’s a game which can be played with up to eight players, although it is possible to run out of cards with too many participants. In casinos it’s played with antes (a small bet laid by everyone) and a bring-in. The task of dealing rotates clockwise amongst the players.
The game begins with the dealer distributing three cards to each player, two face down and one face up. The player with the lowest ranked face up card bets the bring-in and the game proceeds as follows:
A first round of betting takes place in which players can call, check, fold or raise. If two or more players remain after this, a fourth face up card is dealt to all remaining players (fourth street).
A second round of betting takes place in which players can call, check, fold or raise. If two or more players remain after this, a fifth face up card is dealt to all remaining players (fifth street).
A third round of betting takes place in which players can call, check, fold or raise. If two or more players remain after this, a sixth face up card is dealt to all remaining players (sixth street).
A fourth round of betting takes place in which players can call, check, fold or raise. If two or more players remain after this, a seventh face down card is dealt to all remaining players (seventh street).
In the unlikely event that there are two or more players remaining at this stage, we have one more round of betting followed by the showdown. Cards are revealed and a winner is declared, being the one with the best five card hand according to general poker rankings.
If too many players are left in the game and there is a possibility that the dealer will run out of cards, it’s OK to deal seventh street as a face up community card.
