7 Card Stud Poker

It is played from two to eight players with a standard deck from fifty two cards. By the end of the game every player has seven cards...

The Stud Poker games are those kind of games in which the players receive mix of face-down and up cards. The cards are usually dealt in several betting rounds. There are many kinds of the Stud Poker but the most popular varieties are the Seven Card Stud Poker and the Five Card Stud Poker.

The history and the origin of the Seven Card Stud Poker are still not clear and there are many theories about its origins, but none of them is really proven. The most common theory claims that the Poker itself originates from Europe.

The first time it was played in USA was in 1829 in New Orleans. The Stud kind game was played only in 1864. For the period till 1980’s the Stud Poker gained great popularity and developed professional players. Nowadays Seven Card Stud Poker is played basically in all online Poker sites and Casinos all around the world.

The Seven Card Stud Poker is the most popular from all kind of Stud Poker games.

It is played from two to eight players with a standard deck from fifty two cards. By the end of the game every player has seven cards, three of them are faced- down and the rest four are faced- up. Before dealing the cards every player must put Ante into the pot, this is in a way forced bet and amount that the player must bet is around five to ten percent from the highest bet in the game. After placing the Ante every player receives one card at a time until all players gets all together three cards. The first two cards are dealt face- down and third one is exposed.

The player who has the lowest value of the face- up card has to start bet, this is the beginning of the game itself. Not so often, but it still happens that there are few players who have received the same low card, but in different suit. In a situation like this the lowest from them is determined by the suit. The suits go like this from strongest to weakest: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades. The player with the lowest card opens the game with the bet which usually is fifty percent of the lowest bet in the game. After that every player has the right to fold, call or rise. The motion around the table is always clockwise.

There are five rounds of betting called streets. As it was mentioned already in the first two rounds the bets must be equal to lowest or to the highest bet in the game. In the begging of the Third Street every player receives three cards. Two of these cards are faced – down and one is exposed to everybody. The player with the lowest face – up card must start the round. This player determines the bet as he/she has two options to make a nominal bet or to make a full bet. After that all the players make their bets in clockwise order around the table. After this turn every player receive additional face – up card; this is the beginning of the Fourth Street.

This time the player to begin is the one whose cards are with the highest value. This player has the option to choose between betting or going out of the game. After that all players can proceed and make their bet. In the begging of the Fifth Street each one of the players receives another exposed card. The one with the highest poker value of the face – up card must begin the turn. From this round on all the bets are high. After the opening the players bet again. The Sixth Street is the same as the Fifth. The Seventh Street is also called the River.

In this round every player receives the final seventh card that is face – down and only the player himself has seen it. The player to begin is the one with the strongest face – up cards. This is the final round of betting.

If in the end of this turn more than two players have remained in the game, than is the time for the Showdown. In the Showdown all players who are still in the game must show all their cards.

The player who has the highest 5-card hand wins the game. Sometimes it happens that two players have the same value of their hands, in such cases usually the pot is equally divided between the two players.