7-Card Stud Poker

The 7-card Stud poker variant is the third most played after Omaha and Texas Hold'em. Until the dazzling success of the latter, the Stud was the most popular variant in the United States. This version of poker is played around a table of 2 to 8 players. If no one goes to bed while you are 8, some rules will have to be applied. If you play in the company of experienced players who go to bed regularly, it is even possible to accommodate a ninth player at the table. Let's see together how the 7-card Stud is played.

Characteristics of the 7-card Stud

This version of poker is traditionally played in a cash game, it is extremely rare to see it in a tournament. Exception made for H.O.R.S.E type tournaments (where Hold'em, Omaha eight or better, Razz (or 7-card Stud in low), Stud (7-card high) and Stud eight or better (7-card hi-low) are played successively). Moreover, the most expensive of the World Series of Poker tournaments is played in H.O.R.S.E ($50,000 registration). The most played mode with the Stud is the high-low. The 7-card Stud, in English 7-card Stud , requires an excellent memory on the part of the players, as it is played in limited pot, which will call for strong mental calculation skills.

In 7-card Stud, it is the player still in contention (who did not lie down during the move) who has the best hand at the time of the slaughter. Note that when the hi-low form is played here, we reward both the player with the best hand and the one with the lowest hand (which is not synonymous with low in poker, be careful). The pot is then divided in two.

There are big differences between 7-card Stud and Hold'em. Already, there is no common card, we only play with private cards, so-called open cards (implied in the sight of other players) and others closed. The number of players in 7-card Stud is a maximum of 8, or even 9 players while Hold'em tolerates a maximum of 10 around the table. While the Hold'em betting system starts with blinds, in Stud, they do not exist. Each player pays an ante ($1) and then the player who starts places a forced bet called the bring-in. The next player will ask the sum of the bring-in or double it. The player who starts talking is the player who shows the best open hand. Except for the first round where it is the lowest hand that expresses itself before the others.

You will have understood that the advantage is not given with the place you occupy at the table before the cards are dealt. It is the value of the latter that decides the first speaker and the last during each betting round. This means that the luck factor holds a greater place in the short term.

Course of a game (or a move)

As specified above, the Stud is mostly played in limited mode, each player having to pay an ante which is a mandatory bet before the distribution of the cards to have the right to participate in the game. The cards are dealt in such a way that each player has in his hand two open cards and one closed. The player who starts talking is the one who has the weakest open card. He pays the bring-in, or the double, if he wishes and each of the players speaks successively in a clockwise direction. In case of equality of the weakest open card, the principle of hierarchy of colors is applied. In ascending order, we have the clover, the tile, the heart and the spade.

The action starts on the first round of bidding. The player who therefore has the weakest card is obliged to bet the bring-in, or the double if he wants. Then, the dealer burns a card and deals an open card to everyone, this step is called the " fourth street ». Then comes the second round of bidding. This time it is the player who has the strongest of the open combinations who speaks first. He can check or bet double the bring-in. Be careful, if a pair is exposed, he can bet twice the double of the bring-in (if the bring-in is at $ 5, the exposure of a pair in the second round of bidding allows the player owning it to bet $ 20 if he wishes).

The distribution of the third card open to all players by the dealer who first took care of one by one is called the " fifth street "In the same way as in the second round, the third round of bidding gives the floor to the player who has the best open combination (thanks to the three cards now exposed). To the fourth open card dealt, also called the " sixth street ", the dealer does not burn a card and once again gives an open card to each of the players at the table. Again, the player who has the best open combination is the first to speak.

Finally, comes the last card dealt (" seventh street »). The dealer burns a card and deals a last card, closed this time, to all the players. The bidding round takes place in the same way as before. The players still present in the game then knock down their cards, this is the slaughter, or the showdown. The last player to raise or bet (called the aggressor) is the first to show his cards. The best combination of the competing players wins the pot.

In the end, the most important decision you will have to make during a 7-card Stud move will be to determine whether you will play your starting hand or not. Depending on the number of players around the table, some hands are better than others. Pairs will be more valuable on tables with few players. Other hands will naturally have the advantage when the tables are more crowded.

This version of poker requires a great observation of the players, their hands and the memorization of the previous rounds as well as their betting logic. For all these reasons, the 7-card Stud is not a variant recommended for beginners.