7 Card Stud is the most popular version of Stud poker. 7 Card Stud is played with between two and eight players.

Players are dealt 7 cards,  3 of them face down and the other 4 face up.

The objective of the game is to make the best 5 card poker combination with the 7 cards you are dealt.

Ante

7 Card Stud is usually played with an ante. The ante(the forced bet) is approximately 1/5 of the low limit bet size. Every player must pay this ante before the hand begins. This ante does not count towards future bets.

Bring in

every player has one card showing after the first deal. the person showing the lowest card must 'bring in'. This means that this player must place 1/2 of the low limit best size into the pot. If two or more players show the same lowest card, the person closest to the dealer's left side must 'bring in'. This bet counts as the first round bet. When the hand is not raised this counts as the first round bet for that player and he or she doesn't have to put more money into the pot to see the next card.

Betting rounds

There are five rounds of betting.

With Fixed Limit Seven Card Stud all bets and raises must be equal to either the low limit or high limit bet size, depending on which round the hand is in. In the first two betting rounds all bets and raises must be equal to the low limit bet size. In the third, fourth and fifth rounds all bets must be equal to the high limit bet size. If you are, for example, playing 1-2 Seven Card Stud Poker all bets in the first two rounds are increments of 2 dollars and all bets in the last three betting rounds will be increments of 2 dollars. There is a maximum of 3 raises per betting round.

Betting Round 1:

third street

All players are dealt wo cards face down and one card face up. The player shwoing the lowest card has to 'bring in', betting 1/2 of the low limit bet. He can choose to raise and place the full low limit bet. Moving clockwise around the table, each player folds, calls or raises. All bets and raises must be equal to the low limit bet size.

Betting Round 2:

fourth street 

All players are dealt a fourth card face up. The player showing the highest hand at this moment(highest of all would be two aces) is first to act. He may choose to fold, check or bet. Again, if two players or more are showing the same highest hand, the player closest to the dealer's left will be first to act. The game continues clockwise untill every player has either folded, checked, bet, called or raised. If a player is holding a pair at this point then he and all the other players have the option to bet either the low limit bet size or the high limit bet size. in all other cases all bets and raises must be equal to the low limit bet size.

Betting Round 3:

fifth street

All players are dealt a fifth card face up. This round is played like the previous rounds, with the highest hand betting first but this round all bets and raises must be equal to the high limit bet size.

Betting Round 4:

sixth street

All players are dealt a sixth card face up. This round is played like the previous round. All bets and raises must be equal to the high limit bet size.

Betting Round 5:

seventh street

All players are dealt a seventh and final card face up. This round is played like the previous round. All best and raises must be equal to the high limit bet size. In the case of all eight players still being in the hand at this point there would not be enough cards left to deal every player another card this rare case a single card is placed face up in the middle of the table which every player is free to use to make their best 5 card poker combination.

Showdown

All players still remaining after the fifth betting round will now have the option of showing their hand and winning the pot. The person last to bet is the first to show their hand. This then proceeds clockwise. Players can also choose to muck their hand if they already know they haven't won the hand and don't want show which cards they played.