After the players have posted their antes, play begins with the first three cards dealt, the first two of which are turned down and the third card is face up.

This is known as third street. Remember there are no community cards in 7 card stud so these cards belong exclusively to the individual players and they can only make their hands from the cards they are dealt.

 

Now follows the first round of betting, the player with the lowest face card must start the betting, this is known as the bring-in. 7-card stud was designed in this way to generate action, seeing as the lowest and hence weakest face-card is forced to get involved it helps to encourage more players to get involved. If one or more players have the same lowest card, then it’s decided by suit. Spades are the weakest, then hearts, diamonds and clubs.

 

The bring-in bet is normally around half the small bet amount. After the bring-in bet has been made, play continues clockwise around the table. Players can now elect to call, fold or raise. Raises on third street are for the small bet amount i.e. in a $1/$2 game raises are $1.

 

Fourth street begins with each player receiving another face-up card from the dealer. Unlike the opening round, play now starts with the player who has the strongest face-up poker hand. Again play follows in a clockwise direction and finishes when all players have acted and all betting has been closed. If the highest hand has a pair showing then they can elect to bet the small bet or the big bet amount. If the opener decides to check instead of betting, then if someone else decides to bet, then they too can elect to bet for either the small or big bet size. Whichever bet size us chosen, all subsequent bets must be for the same bet size.

 

Fifth street and sixth street are the same in that players receive another face-up card. Play follows the same format as fourth street in that the highest face-up hand begins the betting, except in these two rounds all bets are big sized bets, so in a $1-$2 game bets would be $2. Sixth street is the second last betting round and the last round where players receive a card face up.

 

Seventh street also commonly known as the river is the last round of play, just like the first two dealt cards, this card is dealt face down to all the players still in the hand. Play once again starts with the player with the strongest face-up hand (Note the strongest face up hand might be obviously behind in terms of the overall best hand. Example someone with 2-2-x-x showing is very likely behind someone with Kd-Qd-Jd-Td showing). Once all players have acted and betting has completed we have a showdown and the winning hand takes the pot and so we move on to the next hand and it all begins all over again.