How to Play 7 Card Stud (Rules for Your Home Game)

In seven card stud, the worst card on the table is forced to bet first, and after that, the best looking hand goes first. So, the order changes every single street. There are no blinds, no board in the middle, and no button, and that's exactly where every first night of stud falls apart. But, the hand rankings are the same as hold'em, and you still make your best five cards. So, if you know hold'em, you're most of the way there. And under the biggest stud tutorials on YouTube, people say they always played that the high card bets first, and they've never even heard of the bring-in. The most liked comment on Daniel Negreanu's video is someone whose grandma taught them stud as a kid. So, this game lives at kitchen tables with house rules nobody wrote down, and I'll flag every spot where your home game might do it differently. So, here's the setup. Stud works best with five to seven players, and eight is the most a deck can handle for a reason we'll get to at the end. Nobody posts blinds. Instead, everybody puts in a small ante, so there's always something to play for. If your hold'em game is 25 cent 50 cent, a stud game that feels about the same is a 10 cent ante, 50 cent bets early, and $1 bets later. Then, the dealer gives everyone two cards face down and one card face up, and that's called third street because you've got three cards. The face-down cards are your whole cards, and nobody else sees them until the showdown. The face-up card is your door card, and everyone can see it, and that's the whole game in one idea. Because in stud, you're always reading what other people are showing. And this is where the bring-in comes in. Whoever shows the lowest card has to start the betting, and aces count high. So, a deuce is the lowest card you can show. If two people both show a deuce, card rooms break the tie by suit with clubs the lowest, then diamonds, hearts, and spades. That player puts in a small forced bet like 25 cents, or makes it a full 50 cent bet, which is called completing. Then, everyone to the left can call, complete, or fold. And if your home game always had the high card bet first, that's a real house rule, so just agree on it before the first deal. But, after third street, the order flips. From fourth street on, the player showing the best hand acts first. So, a pair beats no pair, and with no pair, the highest card goes first, and that player can check because there's no forced bet anymore. A new card can turn anybody's board into the best one, so the order can change every street. And if two boards tie, the one closest to the dealer's left goes first. So, you never need a button, you just look at the table and ask whose cards look the best. So, fourth, fifth, and sixth street each bring one more card face up and a round of betting. Seventh street, the river, comes face down. So, by the end you have three cards nobody can see and four that everybody can. The dealer burns a card before each street and the bets are usually fixed, the small amount on third and fourth and double on fifth, sixth, and seventh. Then you make your best five out of your seven using any mix of up cards and hole cards. So, let's play one with four friends and Jen is dealing. Mike shows the king of hearts, Sarah the seven of hearts, Tony the deuce of clubs, and Jen the 10 of spades. Tony has the lowest card, so he brings it in for 25 cents. Jen completes to 50, Mike and Sarah call, and Tony folds. And underneath, Mike has the king of spades and the nine of diamonds. Sarah has the ace and queen of hearts, and Jen has a pair of sixes. On fourth street, Mike gets the five of clubs, Sarah the deuce of hearts, and Jen the 10 of diamonds. So, Jen shows a pair of 10s and she acts first. She bets and they both call because Sarah has four hearts and Mike has a pair of kings nobody can see. On fifth street, Mike catches the king of clubs, so now he's showing kings, which beats Jen's 10s, and the order flips to Mike. He bets a dollar because the bets doubled and both of them call. On sixth street, Mike gets the five of diamonds, so his board is king, five king five, and everybody can see two pair. Jen gets the four of diamonds and her 10s and sixes lose to what Mike is showing, so she folds. Sarah gets the nine of spades, but she's still got four hearts and one card to come, so she calls. But here's what nobody at the table knows. Mike's hole card is the king of spades, so he isn't showing two pair, he already has a full house, kings full of fives. Seventh street comes face down and Sarah's card is the five of hearts, so she just made an ace high flush. Mike bets, Sarah raises, Mike raises again, and Sarah calls. Mike made the last raise, so he shows first, and his full house beats her flush. And that's stud in one hand because Sarah could see everything Mike was showing, and the one card that beat her was the one she couldn't see. And on dealer's choice night, the most fun house rule is high Chicago. The player with the highest spade in the hole takes half the pot and the best hand takes the other half. A spade showing on your board doesn't count, and the ace of spades in the hole is a guaranteed half pot, so that player never folds. Agree on three things first. Does the seventh street card count? Do you have to stay to the end? And who gets it if nobody has a whole spade? In our hand, Mike's king [music] of spades was the only one in the hole, so he take the whole pot. And now the deck problem because someone did the math in the comments. Eight players times seven cards is 56, plus the burn cards, and a deck only has 52. Usually someone folds, but if the deck runs short on seventh street, the dealer turns one card face up in the middle, and everyone still in uses it as their seventh card. That's why seven is comfortable and eight is the absolute max. So, if you're bringing stud to a hold'em group tonight, say three house rules out loud before the first deal, bring in our high card first, what the bets are, and whether high Chicago is on. Then deal the first hand slowly and have the dealer say who's first on every street. And if you're tracking buy-ins and rebuys while everyone learns a new game, that's what HG Poker does, the app I built for our home game. It takes no bets, holds no money, and moves no money. It just keeps track of the night. So, tell me in the comments, did your table play the bring in or high card first, and who taught you stud? And would you have folded Sarah's flush? Remember, the low card brings it in, the best board goes first after that, and the card that beats you is usually the one you can't see. >> [music]