The Sequence in a Seven Card Stud Game

Before Texas Hold'em splashed into the scene and became the most popular poker variant in the world, Seven Card Stud was considered the premier poker game. It is still one of the most popular poker game variants today, and many websites and online cardrooms feature this game.

As the name might suggest, in Seven Card Stud, players are dealt seven cards. These cards are dealt out in a certain face-down, face-up sequence, with betting rounds in between. In Seven Card Stud, four cards are dealt face-up and visible to all of the other players, and three are dealt face-down. A player is supposed to create the best possible hand from the cards that the have been dealt.

This poker variant emphasizes card memorization and good analytical skills. Each player has some of their cards revealed, and if there are enough players, and one has an excellent memory as well as a keen eye for reading other players' tendencies, it is possible to make a fairly accurate approximation of which player got which cards.

The first cards to be dealt are two face-down cards and one face-up card. This is called the "third street," and the single face-up card this third street is often referred to as the "doorcard." After the third street, there is a betting round, and the first bet is usually a forced bet; a bring-in. A bring-in is a kind of forced bet where a player is chosen to open the betting round with a small amount. In Seven Card Stud, the player who posts the bring-in is the one with the lowest doorcard. If there is more than one player with the same doorcard rank, the bring-in is decided according to suit value. In this case, the highest suit is clubs, followed by diamonds, then hearts, then spades. After the bring-in, all betting actions proceed to the left of the player who had posted that initial bet.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth streets are the other cards dealt face-up, and the final street -also called the river- is deal face-down. The face-up cards dealt to a single player is called a "porch." After the seventh street has been dealt, the last betting round begins. This final betting round is usually opened by the player who has the highest porch. After that, the showdown proceeds in much the same way other poker game variants do; players show their hands -this may include any number of the concealed cards that had been dealt to the player- and the winning hand is determined and then awarded the pot.