Seven Card Stud

Each player receives seven cards. The objective is to make the optimum five card hand from the seven cards dealt. The player with the best hand wins the pot

To start with two cards are dealt face down and one face up. The remaining cards are dealt face up apart from the last which is face down. There are four cards on display to your opponents and three which are hidden. Betting takes place after each card has been dealt with the person holding the highest ranking hand on view being the first to bet (or fold)

With seven card stud everyone in the game puts an amount of money into a pot before any cards are dealt. By repeatedly raising the stakes you can force your opponents to fold. The game often involves bluffing and can be a test of nerves.

In many cases the game may have a "spread limit". If a game had a spread limit of $1-$4 this would means that players can bet between $1-$4 at any time. Three or four raises per round are allowed, so long as the raise is at least equal to the previous bet. An illustration of this would be if Paul bet $1 and Oliver raises $2, John can only play if he calls $3, that is the total of Paul's bet and Oliver's raise.

If John wished to play, the minimum he can raise by is $2. If John raised by four dollars, then the next player, Peter, would either have to fold, call $7 to match John's raise above the previous raise, or raise $4 more, which would mean the next player, Stephen would have to raise $11.....and so on.