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Seven-card stud is played with two downcards and one upcard dealt before the first
betting round, followed by three more upcards (with a betting round after each card). After the last downcard
is dealt, there is a final round of betting. The best five-card poker hand wins the pot. In all fixed-limit games,
the smaller bet is wagered on the first two betting rounds, and the larger bet is wagered after the 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. Example: In $15-$30, 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 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.
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.
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 must play and it is treated as an exposed card.
12. In all games, 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.
Stud HiLo Eight or Better
Seven-card stud high-low split is a stud game which
is played both high and low. A qualifier of 8-or-better for low applies to
all high-low split games, unless a specific posting to the contrary is
displayed. The low card initiates the action on the first round, with an
ace counting as a high card for this purpose. On subsequent rounds, the
high hand initiates the action. If the high hand is tied, the first player
clockwise from the dealer acts first. Fixed-limit games use the lower
limit on third and fourth street and the upper limit on subsequent betting
rounds, and an open pair does not affect the limit. Aces may be used for
high or low. Straights and flushes do not affect the low value of a hand.
A player may use any five cards to make the best high hand, and the same
or any other grouping of five cards to make the best low hand.
Rules of Seven Card Stud High Low
(Tournament Seven Card Stud HiLo Strategy)
1. All rules for seven-card stud apply to seven-card stud high-low split, except as otherwise noted.
2. A qualifier of 8-or-better for low applies to all high-low split games,
unless a specific posting to the contrary is displayed. If there is no
qualifying low hand, the best high hand wins the whole pot.
3. A player may use any five cards to make the best high hand and any five
cards, whether the same as the high hand or not, to make the best low hand.
4. The low card by suit initiates the action on the first round, with an
ace counting as a high card for this purpose.
5. An ace may be used for high or low.
6. Straights and flushes do not affect the value of a low hand.
7. Fixed-limit games use the lower limit on third and fourth streets and
the upper limit on subsequent rounds. An open pair on fourth street does
not affect the limit.
8. Splitting pots is only determined by the cards and not by agreement among players.
9. When there is an odd chip in a pot, the chip goes to the high hand. If two players split the pot by tying
for both the high and the low, the pot shall be split as evenly as possible, and the player with the highest
card by suit receives the odd chip. When making this determination, all cards are used, not just the five
cards used for the final hand played.
10. When there is one odd chip in the high portion of the pot and two or more high hands split all or
half the pot, the odd chip goes to the player with the high card by suit. When two or more low hands
split half the pot, the odd chip goes to the player with the low card by suit. - Bob Ciaffone |
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