Seven-Card Stud Rules: How to Play

Seven-card stud is a high-hand poker game with no community cards and no flop. Each player is dealt seven cards over the course of the hand — some face down, some face up — and makes the best five-card poker hand from them. There are five betting rounds, and standard high-hand rankings apply: a royal flush is the nuts, a high card is the worst.

Before Texas Hold’em took over in the 2000s, seven-card stud was the poker game in American card rooms. It rewards patience, memory, and sharp card reading, because a big part of your information comes from the cards your opponents show.

The deal, street by street

Stud uses a sequence of named “streets.” After each player antes, the cards come out like this:

Street	Cards dealt	Face up or down
Third street	2 cards, then 1	Two down, one up
Fourth street	1 card	Up
Fifth street	1 card	Up
Sixth street	1 card	Up
Seventh street (“the river”)	1 card	Down

You end with three hidden cards (two from third street, one from seventh) and four exposed cards. Each player makes their best five out of those seven.

Betting: the bring-in and the rounds

Stud is most often played as a fixed-limit game with a small bet and a big bet. After the antes:

1. Third street. The player with the lowest up card must post the bring-in, a small forced bet, and acts first. Action then continues clockwise. (If two players tie for lowest, suit order breaks it — clubs lowest, then diamonds, hearts, spades.)
2. Fourth through seventh street. The player showing the best hand on board acts first and chooses to check or bet.

Bets are at the small-bet size on third and fourth street, and at the big-bet size from fifth street on. A typical cap is one bet and three raises per round.

Worked example: reading the board

You’re dealt (A♠ A♦) 7♣ on third street — a hidden pair of aces, an excellent start. The pot plays out and on fifth street the boards look like this:

• You: (A♠ A♦) 7♣ 7♦ 2♥ — you’ve made aces and sevens, two pair, mostly hidden.
• Opponent: (x x) K♥ Q♥ J♥ — three hearts showing.

Your two pair is currently ahead, but your opponent has a visible flush and straight draw. Here’s where stud thinking pays off: you scan the folded cards and count that three other hearts are already dead. That sharply cuts their flush outs, making your two pair stronger than it looks. You bet for value rather than checking in fear. Tracking dead cards like this is the core skill that separates winning stud players.

Five-card best hand and showdown

After seventh street and the final betting round, remaining players turn up their hidden cards. Each makes the best five-card hand from their seven cards — extra cards are simply ignored. Hands are compared using standard high rankings, so a flush beats a straight, a full house beats a flush, and so on.

Quick tips for new stud players

• Start tight. Premium starting hands are big pairs, three to a flush, and three to a straight. Fold weak holdings early — stud punishes loose play.
• Watch up cards before you act. If the cards you need are showing in opponents’ hands, your draw is weaker than the raw odds suggest.
• Remember folded cards. Memory is a genuine edge here in a way it isn’t in Hold’em.
• Value position by board strength, not by seat — the best visible hand acts first each street.

Once you’re comfortable with the high version, try the lowball mirror image: razz, which is seven-card stud where the worst hand wins. Both show up constantly in mixed-game rotations. For the broader family, head back to the poker variants hub or brush up on how to play poker in general.