Seven Card Stud: Rules, Streets and Limit Betting
Roughly seven out of ten cardrooms that still spread stud games run seven card stud in a fixed-limit format, and that fact shapes how the game plays compared to no-limit hold'em. Seven card stud is a stud-family game with no community cards, where each player gets a mix of face-down and face-up cards across five betting rounds. If you already know hand rankings from hold'em, good news -- they carry over directly. What changes is the dealing and the five streets of action. For background on how tools approach different variants, this variants guide is one option worth a look.
What Is Seven Card Stud
Seven card stud is one of the oldest variants still spread today, and it was the dominant American poker game for most of the twentieth century, before hold'em took over in the 1980s and 1990s. Each player is dealt seven cards total -- three face-down and four face-up -- but only five form the final hand. Since there are no shared cards, every player builds a hand entirely from their own, which means reading the table means reading what's exposed across opponents' up cards.
How Seven Card Stud Is Dealt
A standard hand starts with each player receiving two down cards and one up card, known as third street. From there, players get one card per round: an up card on fourth, fifth, and sixth street, then a final down card on seventh street, also called the river. With no community cards, the deal must stretch across a full table using one 52-card deck, so seven card stud is normally capped at eight players. If the deck runs short on seventh street, most rooms deal one shared card face-up instead.
The Five Betting Streets in 7 Card Stud
Seven card stud betting runs across five streets rather than the four in hold'em: third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh street. Third street opens with the bring-in, a forced bet described below. Fourth street is where the betting limit can double if any player shows a pair among their up cards. Fifth, sixth, and seventh street follow the standard limit pattern. Since every street reveals a new up card, sharp stud play leans on tracking dead cards, which affects your odds of catching what you need.
Bring-In and Limit Betting Structure
Seven card stud is traditionally a limit game, and the bring-in gets the first bet on the table. The player showing the lowest up card on third street must bring it in, posting a small forced bet below the normal limit. From there, players can complete the bet, raise, or fold. In a typical $10/$20 game, third and fourth street use $10 increments, then jump to $20 for fifth through seventh street -- unless an up pair on fourth street triggers the bigger limit early. Most rooms cap raises at three or four per street.
7 Card Stud Terminology Quick Reference
Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo and Related Variants
Seven card stud hi-lo, also called stud eight-or-better, splits the pot between the best high hand and best qualifying low hand at showdown -- the most common split-pot variant built on the stud structure. Dealing, streets, and the bring-in work exactly as in standard seven card stud; what changes is players chase two targets at once, shifting strategy. If the low side alone interests you, razz is the dedicated lowball stud game worth a look, and mixed rotations that cycle stud into a broader format are covered on our HORSE poker page rather than here.
Comparing Seven Card Stud to Other Variants?
See how stud, razz, and hold'em differ in dealing and structure -- one option worth exploring.
Browse the Variants GuideNone of this changes whether you're playing seven card stud at a live table or online -- the streets, bring-in, and limit structure stay the same. If you're weighing where to sit down for a hand, both GGPoker and PokerStars spread stud-family games for real money. For the canonical rule set, see Pagat's seven-card stud rules.
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