How to Play 7 Card Stud

Seven Card Stud Poker is one of the less frequently played games at online poker sites, but it is a much simpler game to understand and master. In fact it is essential for players who enjoy “mixed games” of poker to absorb the best strategies in draw styles of poker, to compliment their knowledge of Hold´em and Omaha.

Seven Card Stud is always played “Fixed Limit” and the hand rankings are the same as in Hold´em. Each player pays an “ante” into the pot at the beginning of the hand, and three cards are initially dealt to each player – two that only you can see and one “face up” that everyone can see. A round of betting follows this, and each subsequent card that is dealt, with the next three cards being open (face up), and the final card only viewable to you.

Your focus in Stud should be on mentally registering all the open cards you can see during the various stages of the game, and using this information to determine the odds of you making your hand, or an opponent making a better hand than you. By applying this information, your calculations regarding your “expected value” of a hand will be more accurate and therefore enable you to know when to increase your betting or to fold.

The player with the lowest open card after the initial deal will start the betting with either a “bring-in” or a bet, depending on the strength of their hand. Subsequent rounds of betting are started by the player who has the best hand showing, using only their open cards, and therefore your position on the table in relation to the betting frequently changes.

Therefore position does not hold the same relevance as it does in Hold´em or Omaha, although having a strong hand partially concealed by your two face-down cards can be of great advantage when you are close to the end of the betting rotation. It is also useful to see the betting action that has preceded your turn, as another player may also have caught a strong hand, and is possibly giving you a “tell” as to its relevant strength, by the speed at which s/he makes their bet.

Seven Card Stud is most widely played on PokerStars, with three times the traffic for Seven Card Stud Poker than any other site. They have a wide range of stakes available at their ring game tables to suit the novice through to the most advanced player, and they also have several Stud and mixed poker tournaments each day.

To find out more about how you could be among the stars at PokerStars, please follow this link >>>>> www.PokerStars.com