How to play
Seven Card Stud was the most popular poker game in the world before Hold’em. There are no community cards: every player gets their own seven cards, some face down and some face up, and makes the best five-card hand. Here you sit at a fixed-limit cash table with one to five computer opponents. Everyone starts with 1,000 chips and a fresh 52-card deck is shuffled for every hand.
- Antes. Everyone puts 5 chips in the pot before the cards are dealt.
- Third street. You get two cards face down and one face up. The player with the lowest up card must start the betting: either the bring-in of 10 or a full bet of 20 (complete). Aces count high here, and if two up cards have the same rank, clubs are lowest, then diamonds, hearts and spades.
- Facing the bring-in, each player in turn can fold, call the 10, or complete the bet to 20 (after a complete: fold, call or raise). If nobody completes, the bring-in player doesn’t act again on third street.
- Fourth, fifth and sixth street. Everyone still in gets one more card face up, with a betting round after each. From fourth street on, the player whose up cards are best acts first: four of a kind beats three of a kind, then two pair, a pair, and finally the highest card. Straights and flushes don’t count for this.
- Seventh street. The last card comes face down, followed by the final betting round.
- Showdown. Every hand still in is turned over, and each player makes the best five-card hand from their seven cards. The best hand wins the pot.
Fixed limit. Every bet and raise is the same size: 20 on third and fourth street, 40 on fifth, sixth and seventh. A betting round allows at most four bets (a bet and three raises; completing the bring-in counts as the first bet). There’s no slider: the Bet and Raise buttons always show the one amount you can bet.
All-ins and side pots work as in Hold’em: you can only win as much from each opponent as you put in, an uncalled bet comes back to you, and a split pot’s odd chip goes to the first winner after the dealer position.
Your cards. Your face-down cards have a blue edge to remind you that only you can see them. When an opponent folds, their up cards stay on the table, faded, until the end of the hand: those cards are dead, and it’s worth noticing them. When an opponent runs out of chips, a new player takes the seat with 1,000 chips. If you run out, you can get 1,000 free credits and sit down at a new table. Your table is saved, so you can close the page and come back to the same hand.
Strategy
Start with the right three cards. Strong starting hands are three of a kind (“rolled up”), a high pair, and three cards of one suit or three in a row. Small unsuited cards with no pair lose chips over time.
Watch the up cards. Stud is a game of information. If you’re hoping for a pair of kings and two kings are already showing in other players’ hands or among the folded cards, your chances are much smaller. The same goes for flush and straight draws.
Respect the board. When an opponent’s up cards show a pair or four cards to a flush, they might already be there. Their face-down cards are the part you have to guess.
Fifth street is the big decision. That’s where the bet doubles. Calling on third and fourth street with a draw is cheap; continuing on fifth street means you expect to see the hand through.
Read the labels. Each computer player is marked Tight or Loose, and aggressive or passive. A tight player who completes the bring-in usually has a strong start.
More poker. For the split-pot version, play Stud Hi-Lo. For community-card poker, try Texas Hold’em.
If you enjoy Seven Card Stud, try Seven Push Baccarat or Sevens Trio next.
