Poker Dynamic

Unlike Texas Hold ‘Em and, to a smaller degree, Omaha Hold ‘Em, the game of Seven Card Stud does not get much publicity from television and/or poker players around the world. This can be attributed to the fact that Seven Card Stud is a slow and somewhat boring game compared to the other two. While Texas Hold ‘Em frequently has and Omaha Hold ‘Em usually has big hands appear, Seven Card Stud players are much less likely to see a big hand very often.

As you may be able to tell, I am not a big fan of this game. But if you insist on trying it, we will go over the rules and which hands to play in time.

Lets start with the basics. As the name of the game indicates, Seven Card Stud is played with seven cards. In Hold ‘Em games, players are allowed to use community cards, five of them in total, to make their five-card poker hand. In Seven Card, however, there are no community cards and each player must make his or her hand with his or her cards alone.

The game begins with each player, that’s right each player, putting in a small amount for blinds. Once blinds are in, all players playing get three cards. The first two are face down and the third is face up for all to see. A round of betting then ensues. After betting finishes, another face-up card is dealt to the remaining players. Then another round of betting ensues…and so on until each player has seven cards or only one player remains. The final and seventh card dealt will be given face-down.

That means that each player who plays the hand through will have four cards showing to everyone and three concealed for themselves. Preying on others’ impressions of your hand based on face-up cards is a big part of the strategy of this game.

We’ll go over more advanced strategies later, for now just try out the game and get a feel for the basics.

Filed under: Seven Card Stud