7 Card Stud Poker

Seven Card Stud is a complex poker game and one that will provide a serious poker player with the vehicle to improve their poker game overall. If you like, the ability to play the classic 7 card stud poker game is the difference between a good poker player and a great poker player, and this is true if you are playing at the tables or online.

Stud poker in its many forms was until the seventies the poker game of choice, however more recently the much faster poker game of Texas hold ‘em and Omaha have leapt to the fore. Although without doubt Seven Card Stud is not as popular as it was, there are still plenty of places to play, and if you haven’t played 7 card stud poker then it is certainly something you should consider learning, think of it as a poker finishing school!

Certainly Seven Card Stud is a game of skill and a good memory, keen eye for reading other poker players (obviously this is more difficult to do when playing online stud poker), deciding whether a hand is worth playing, what cards are still available and analysing the pot odds are all critical. The stud poker game commences with two ‘hole’ cards being dealt to each player (up to a maximum of 8 players can play 7 card stud poker), these cards are placed face down, the next card the ‘door’ is placed face up, players then place bets, the dealer burns the next card and a further card ‘fourth street’ is dealt to each player. Poker players bet again and another card is dealt face up ‘fifth street’, this is continued as before to ‘sixth street’. The ‘river‘ is the final card dealt face down and players still in the game are given another opportunity to bet. Depending on what form of Seven Card Stud poker is being played you can win on either a high hand or a hi-lo, which effectively results in both the highest and the lowest hands winning, and the payout is either a set limit or pot total of a single game.

Variations of stud poker games are ‘stud H.O.R.S.E’ an acronym for the merged games of Hold ‘em, Omaha, Razz, Stud, Eight-or-better. Another variation on this theme is ‘H.O.S.E’ which is like HORSE but without the Razz, and of course ‘Razz’ itself which is seven card stud low.