Seven-card stud is played with a starting hand of two
downcards and one upcard dealt before the first betting
round. There are then three more upcards and a final downcard,
with a betting round after each, for a total of five betting
rounds on a deal played to the showdown. The best five-card
poker hand wins the pot. In all fixed-limit games, the
smaller bet is wagered for the first two betting rounds,
and the larger bet is wagered for the last three betting
rounds (on the fifth, sixth, and seventh cards). If there
is an open pair on the fourth card, any player has the
option of making the smaller or larger bet . Deliberately
changing the order of your upcards in a stud game is improper
because it unfairly misleads the other players.
RULES OF SEVEN-CARD STUD
1. The first round of betting starts with a forced bet
by the lowest upcard by suit. On subsequent betting rounds,
the high hand on board initiates the action (a tie is
broken by position , with the player who received cards
first acting first).
2. The player with the forced bet has the option of
opening for a full bet .
3. Increasing the amount wagered by the opening forced
bet up to a full bet does not count as a raise , but merely
as a completion of the bet . For example: In $15-$30 stud,
the lowcard opens for $5. If the next player increases
the bet to $15 (completes the bet ), up to three raises
are then allowed when using a three-raise limit.
4. In all fixed-limit games, when an open pair is showing
on fourth street (second upcard), any player has the option
of betting either the lower or the upper limit. For example:
In a $5-$10 game, if you have a pair showing and are the
high hand, you may bet either $5 or $10. If you bet $5,
any player then has the option to call $5, raise $5, or
raise $10. If a $10 raise is made, then all other raises
must be in increments of $10. If the player high with
the open pair on fourth street checks, then subsequent
players have the same options that were given to the player
who was high.
5. If your first or second holecard is accidentally
turned up by the dealer, then your third card will be
dealt down. If both holecards are dealt up, you have a
dead hand and receive your ante back. If the first card
dealt faceup would have been the lowcard, action starts
with the first hand to that player’s left. That
player may fold , open for the forced bet , or open for
a full bet . (In tournament play, if a downcard is dealt
faceup, a misdeal is called.)
6. If you are not present at the table when it is your
turn to act on your hand, you forfeit your ante and your
forced bet, if any. If you have not returned to the table
in time to act, the hand will be killed when the betting
reaches your seat. (In tournament play, the dealer is
instructed to kill the hand of any absent player as soon
as all the players have received their entire starting
hands.)
7. If a hand is folded when there is no wager, that
seat will continue to receive cards until the hand is
killed as a result of a bet (so the fold does not affect
who gets the cards to come).
8. If you are all in for the ante and have the lowcard,
the player to your left acts first. That player may fold,
open for the forced bet, or open for a full bet .
9. If the wrong person is designated as low and that
person bets, the action will be corrected to the true
lowcard if the next player has not yet acted. The incorrect
lowcard takes back the wager and the true lowcard must
bet . If the next hand has acted after the incorrect lowcard
wager, the wager stands, action continues from there,
and the true lowcard has no obligations.
10. If you pick up your upcards without calling when
facing a wager, this is a fold and your hand is dead.
This act has no significance at the showdown because betting
is over; the hand is live until discarded.
11. A card dealt off the table is treated as an exposed
card.
12. The dealer announces the lowcard, the high hand,
all raises, and all pairs. Dealers do not announce possible
straights or flushes (except for specified low-stakes
games).
13. If the dealer burns two cards for one round or fails
to burn a card, the cards will be corrected, if at all
possible, to their proper positions. If this should happen
on a final downcard, and either a card intermingles with
a player's other holecards or a player looks at the card,
the player must accept that card.
14. If the dealer burns and deals one or more cards
before a round of betting has been completed, the card(s)
must be eliminated from play. After the betting for that
round is completed, an additional card for each remaining
player still active in the hand is also eliminated from
play (to later deal the same cards to the players who
would have received them without the error). After that
round of betting has concluded, the dealer burns a card
and play resumes. The removed cards are held off to the
side in the event the dealer runs out of cards. If the
prematurely dealt card is the final downcard and has been
looked at or intermingled with the player's other holecards,
the player must keep the card, and on sixth street betting
may not bet or raise (because the player now has all seven
cards).
15. If there are not enough cards left in the deck for
all players, all the cards are dealt except the last card,
which is mixed with the burncards (and any cards removed
from the deck, as in the previous rule). The dealer then
scrambles and cuts these cards, burns again, and delivers
the remaining downcards, using the last card if necessary.
If there are not as many cards as players remaining without
a card, the dealer does not burn, so that each player
can receive a fresh card. If the dealer determines that
there will not be enough fresh cards for all of the remaining
players, then the dealer announces to the table that a
common card will be used. The dealer will burn a card
and turn one card faceup in the center of the table as
a common card that plays in everyone’s hand. The
player who is now high using the common card initiates
the action for the last round.
16. An all-in player should receive holecards dealt
facedown, but if the final holecard to such a player is
dealt faceup, the card must be kept, and the other players
receive their normal card.
17. If the dealer turns the last card faceup to any
player, the hand now high on the board using all the upcards
will start the action. The following rules apply to the
dealing of cards:
(a) If there are more than two players, all remaining
players receive their last card facedown. A player whose
last card is faceup has the option of declaring all-in
(before betting action starts).
(b) If there are only two players remaining and the
first player's final downcard is dealt faceup, the second
player's final downcard will also be dealt faceup, and
the betting proceeds as normal. In the event the first
player's final card is dealt facedown and the opponent's
final card is dealt faceup, the player with the faceup
final card has the option of declaring all-in (before
betting action starts).
18. A hand with more than seven cards is dead. A hand
with less than seven cards at the showdown is dead, except
any player missing a seventh card may have the hand ruled
live. [See “Section 16 – Explanations,”
discussion #4, for more information on this rule.]
19. A player who calls a bet even though beaten by an
opponent’s upcards is not entitled to a refund.
(The player is receiving information about an opponent’s
hand that is not available for free.)
