Seven-card stud: how the classic game works

• Lowest up card brings it in.
• Highest showing hand acts first later.
• Remember folded cards.
• Fixed limit is common.

Bets double from fifth street in fixed limit.

Everyone posts an ante. On third street, the lowest up card pays the bring-in, a small forced bet.

From fourth street on, the player with the best showing hand acts first. That can change every street.

Because the first actor can change, position is not fixed as it is in hold em. A player with a strong showing hand acts first but gives away information, while the later players see that bet before they decide.

Folded up cards are out of play. If three of your flush cards were folded, your draw is much weaker.

Good stud players track every card they see. It is the main skill that separates stud from hold em.

1. 1

   Step 01

   Post the ante

   Every hand.

2. 2

   Step 02

   Check your three

   Pairs and draws.

3. 3

   Step 03

   Track up cards

   Live or dead.

4. 4

   Step 04

   Bet by street

   Small, then big.

5. 5

   Step 05

   Show down

   Best five.

You start with a pair of jacks, one down and one up. The queens you fear were folded by two players.

You catch a third jack on fifth street and bet the big bet. Your trip jacks hold up at showdown.

Folded queens matter here: with two queens gone, fewer cards remain that could give an opponent a better pair, so your jacks are a little safer than they would be otherwise.

In hold em, everyone shares five cards. In stud, each player has their own cards and four of them are visible. Stud was the most popular poker game in US cardrooms before the rise of hold em.

Seeing up cards gives more information but also more to remember. Stud games usually have eight seats, not nine or ten.

Stud has no blinds. Antes and the bring-in start the pot.

Forgetting folded cards

They change your odds.

Chasing dead draws

Check the board.

Playing weak hands

Pairs and draws only.

Acting out of turn

Order changes.

With eight players, 56 cards may be needed if everyone stays to seventh street. The deck has 52. Many mixed games still include it in their rotation.

If cards run out, the dealer deals one shared community card on seventh street. Learn to spot live cards first, then add hand reading as you play more.

This is rare, since some players fold before the end. Each player has seven cards in all, but only five count. Your three hidden cards and four open cards give you many ways to build a hand, so the best five of seven can differ from what the open cards suggest.

Stud hi-lo splits the pot between the best high hand and the best qualifying low hand. A pair showing on fourth street lets a player make a big bet early in some rooms.

A low hand must have five different cards of 8 or lower to qualify. Bets and raises follow the same order each street once the first player acts.

If no low qualifies, the high hand wins the whole pot.

• Razz basics →Stud for low.
• Hand rankings →What beats what.
• Limit vs no-limit →Betting formats.
• Poker room etiquette →How to act.

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1. Poker TDA — Rules Not from a registry (Reference source, not an official registry) · accessed Oct 15, 2026Standard cardroom rules
2. UNLV Center for Gaming Research Not from a registry (Reference source, not an official registry) · accessed Oct 15, 2026Research library on casino games and gambling
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