7 Card Stud

7-card stud poker game is the extremely accepted and famous form of stud poker games. This game is played among 2 and 8 players. Each player has to deal with a hand containing seven cards, in which three will be facing down, and rest of the four faces up. Making the best hand of 5 cards with the use of any cards from the total of seven is the main objective of playing this game.

Mandatory or Forced Bets

Ante
An ante with the 1/5 of the betting size is there with which the game of 7-card stud poker is generally played. It is required for all players to ante up prior to beginning of the game. Towards any bet in future game no ante is to be counted.

Bring in
Later than the preliminary deal when all players are having 1 card to show, the player having the least card has to bring-in, which reflects that he has to put half of the betting amount of low limit into the pot. The player who is nearest to the left side of the dealer has to bring in as if there are equal or more than 2 players’ for the sharing of the lowest cards. This would be counted as the first betting round so far when the pot would not be raised by anyone. There is not required to put more money into the pot for seeing the subsequent card.

Rounds of betting
There are 5 betting rounds in a stud game. In the fixed limit game of 7-card stud poker, each bet and raise should be equivalent to the betting amount of either the higher or lower limit, which depends upon the prevailing round of betting. In the next three betting rounds i.e. the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounds, all bets are required to be equivalent to the betting amount of high limit. For instance, if anyone is playing 3-6 seven-card stud poker game, in first two betting rounds every bet will be increased up to $3, and in last three betting rounds every bet will be increased up to $6. There allowed the highest rate of 3 raising as per every round of betting.

Showdown
With the hope of winning the pot, all players have the choice to show their hands who have not folded their hand after the last betting round. Player who bet or raised last has to show his hand first. From there, the showdown process moves in clockwise direction with all the players who are remaining in the game either for showing their hand or to muck. Most frequently, players move to much their hands up when they are losing the pot and do not wish to show their played hand to their opponents.

Most poker rooms on internet are offering the choice of automatically mucking of the losing hands, so that it won’t be seen by other players what one has played. Generally, selection of this is a good idea. However, your hand may still become visible to other players who reached showdown with you in the hand history.