The objective of 7-card stud is to win money from other players either by having the best hand at the end of the deal (the showdown), or by betting and forcing them to fold their hand before the showdown. Players can use any five cards out of the seven they are dealt to make the best five-card poker hand. 7-card stud is played using the Limit betting style on an 8 seat table.
Joining a Table
To begin playing, join the table by clicking any available seat. If you are already logged in to the poker room, you will be prompted to log in with your casino username and password. If you have not logged in yet, you will be prompted to log in twice: once with your poker username and password, and once with your casino username and password. Your casino account must be active in order to play poker (if you can't log in to the casino site, you won't be able to log in to the poker room). After you login, click your seat to buy-in. You will be prompted to specify how much you want to buy in for.
The "buy-in" is the amount of money you want to bring to the table, and the minimum buy-in in a Limit game is typically ten times the minimum bet for the table. Different tables may have different minimum and maximum buy-in amounts. You can choose to buy-in with any amount you like within the minimum and maximum. When you submit your buy-in, the buy-in amount is transferred from your casino account to the poker table. When you leave the table, your remaining poker chips are automatically transferred back to your casino account.
If you need more poker chips, you can buy-in with more money at any time by clicking the Get Chips button on the bottom right-hand corner of the poker table window. Your total chips on the table cannot exceed the maximum buy in amount.
Playing 7-Card Stud
After you've taken a seat at a table and bought in, as long as there is at least one other player sitting at the table, the game will begin (unless you are playing in a tournament, in which case you will wait until the designated start time). All players must place a small bet before receiving any cards, called an ante.
After the ante, each player is dealt three cards: two hole cards dealt face down, and one up card dealt face up. Seven Card Stud is played with a single deck of cards, shuffled every game. The up card is referred to as the door card or Third Street.
Bring In
The player with the lowest up card must begin the game by placing the first bet - this bet is forced. If more than one player has a low card of the same value, the player nearest the dealer button is first to act.
The size of the mandatory bet or forced bet is specified by the table rules. For example, on a £1/£2 table, the forced bet must be 50p. The player required to place the forced bet may optionally raise it to the bet limit. (The ante amount, forced bet amount, and bet limit are all clearly displayed at the top of the poker table screen.)
The betting proceeds clockwise around the table. Each player can:
* Call by contributing the same amount of money as the preceding player to the pot
* Raise by staking more money to the pot than the preceding player
* Fold signifying that he is abandoning the hand
Play continues clockwise around the table with each player given the same set of options. When all players have either folded, called the last raiser, or put all of their chips in the pot, the betting round is complete and the cards are dealt for the next round. Bets and raises are restricted to one bet and three subsequent raises per round. Of course, if a player raises and no one calls him, then he wins the pot and the hand is over.
Fourth Street
After the first round of betting completes, each player is dealt another card face up. This card is called Fourth Street. From this point on, the player with the best hand showing starts the betting. If two players are tied, the player nearest the dealer button is first to act.
In this and all subsequent betting rounds, the first player to act has the option to check or bet. By checking the player remains in the hand without adding money to the pot. If the first player checks, the following player can also check. If a player bets by adding additional money to the pot, the players to the left must fold, call or raise as on the first betting round.
If there is an exposed pair on the table, any player may bet or raise either the lower or higher betting limit. The higher bet limit is normally twice the listed lower bet limit. After someone has made a bet or raise at the higher limit, then all subsequent raises must also be at the higher limit.
Play continues clockwise around the table with each player given the same set of options. When all players have either folded, called the last raiser, or put all of their chips in the pot, the betting round is complete and the cards are dealt for the next round.
Fifth Street
After Fourth Street betting completes, each player is dealt another card face up. The player with the best hand showing starts another round of betting. All bets and raises must be made at the higher limit from this point forward (twice the posted bet limit).
When all players have either folded, called the last raiser, or put all of their chips in the pot, the betting round is complete and the cards are dealt for the next round.
Sixth Street
After Fifth Street betting completes, each player is dealt another card face up. The player with the best hand showing starts another round of betting.
After the player the best hand showing starts by either checking or betting, play continues clockwise around the table with each player given the same set of options. When all players have either folded, called the last raiser, or put all of their chips in the pot, the betting round is complete and the cards are dealt for the next round.
Seventh Street/The River
After Sixth Street betting completes, the last card is dealt to each player, face down. The player who began the Sixth Street betting begins betting in this round. Play continues clockwise around the table with each player given the same set of options. When all players have either folded, called the last raiser, or put all of their chips in the pot, the betting round is complete and the cards are dealt for the next round.
Showdown
After the final betting round ends, the showdown occurs to determine the winner. The player with the best hand wins the pot (see All-in for exceptions). Any player who wins a part of the pot must reveal his hand to the rest of the players. The last winning player who raised displays his cards first - if no players have raised, then the first active player to the left of the dealer displays his cards first. All losing players have the option of choosing whether or not to display their hole cards.
The winning player receives the entire pot, less a small fee charged by the poker room, called a rake. Rake is charged as a small percentage of each pot and is based on the pot size and the number of players at the table. The amount of rake taken from each pot is displayed in the middle of the board, along with the pot size.
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