SEVEN CARD STUD
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Seven-card stud is played with a starting hand of two downcards
and one upcard dealt before the first betting round. There
are then three more upcards and a final downcard, with a betting
round after each, for a total of five betting rounds on a
deal played to the showdown. The best five-card poker hand
wins the pot. In all fixed-limit games, the smaller bet is
wagered for the first two betting rounds, and the larger bet
is wagered for the last three betting rounds (on the fifth,
sixth, and seventh cards). If there is an open pair on the
fourth card, any player has the option of making the smaller
or larger bet . Deliberately changing the order of your upcards
in a stud game is improper because it unfairly misleads the
other players.
RULES OF SEVEN-CARD STUD
1. If your first or second holecard is accidentally turned
up by the dealer, then your third card will be dealt down.
If both holecards are dealt up, you have a dead hand and receive
your ante back. If the first card dealt faceup would have
been the lowcard, action starts with the first hand to that
player’s left. That player may fold , open for the forced
bet , or open for a full bet . (In tournament play, if a downcard
is dealt faceup, a misdeal is called.)
2. The first round of betting starts with a forced bet by
the lowest upcard by suit. On subsequent betting rounds, the
high hand on board initiates the action (a tie is broken by
position , with the player who received cards first acting
first).
3. The player with the forced bet has the option of opening
for a full bet .
4. If the player with the lowcard is all in for the ante the
person to that player's left acts first. If the player with
the lowcard has only enough chips for a portion of the forced
bet, the wager is made. All other players must enter for at
least the normal amount in that structure.
5. When the wrong person is designated as low and bets, if
the next player has not yet acted, the action will be corrected
to the true lowcard if the next player has not yet acted.
The incorrect lowcard takes back the wager. If the next hand
has acted after the incorrect lowcard wager, the wager stands,
action continues from there, and the real lowcard has no obligations.
6. Increasing the amount wagered by the opening forced bet
up to a full bet does not count as a raise , but merely as
a completion of the bet . For example: In $15-$30 stud, the
lowcard opens for $5. If the next player increases the bet
to $15 (completes the bet ), up to three raises are then allowed
when using a three-raise limit.
7. In all fixed-limit games, when an open pair is showing
on fourth street (second upcard), any player has the option
of betting either the lower or the upper limit. For example:
In a $5-$10 game, if you have a pair showing and are the high
hand, you may bet either $5 or $10. If you bet $5, any player
then has the option to call $5, raise $5, or raise $10. If
a $10 raise is made, then all other raises must be in increments
of $10. If the player high with the open pair on fourth street
checks, then subsequent players have the same options that
were given to the player who was high.
8. If you are not present at the table when it is your turn
to act on your hand, you forfeit your ante and your forced
bet, if any. If you have not returned to the table in time
to act, the hand will be killed when the betting reaches your
seat. (In tournament play, the dealer is instructed to kill
the hand of any absent player as soon as all the players have
received their entire starting hands.)
9. If a hand is folded when there is no wager, that seat will
continue to receive cards until the hand is killed as a result
of a bet (so the fold does not affect who gets the cards to
come).
10. If you pick up your upcards without calling when facing
a wager, this is a fold and your hand is dead. This act has
no significance at the showdown because betting is over; the
hand is live until discarded.
11. A card dealt off the table is treated as an exposed card.
12. The dealer announces the lowcard, the high hand, all raises,
and all pairs. Dealers do not announce possible straights
or flushes (except for specified low-stakes games).
13. If the dealer burns two cards for one round or fails to
burn a card, the cards will be corrected, if at all possible,
to their proper positions. If this should happen on a final
downcard, and either a card intermingles with a player's other
holecards or a player looks at the card, the player must accept
that card.
14. If the dealer burns and deals one or more cards before
a round of betting has been completed, the card(s) must be
eliminated from play. After the betting for that round is
completed, an additional card for each remaining player still
active in the hand is also eliminated from play (to later
deal the same cards to the players who would have received
them without the error). After that round of betting has concluded,
the dealer burns a card and play resumes. The removed cards
are held off to the side in the event the dealer runs out
of cards. If the prematurely dealt card is the final downcard
and has been looked at or intermingled with the player's other
holecards, the player must keep the card, and on sixth street
betting may not bet or raise (because the player now has all
seven cards).
15. If there are not enough cards left in the deck for all
players, all the cards are dealt except the last card, which
is mixed with the burncards (and any cards removed from the
deck, as in the previous rule). The dealer then scrambles
and cuts these cards, burns again, and delivers the remaining
downcards, using the last card if necessary. If there are
not as many cards as players remaining without a card, the
dealer does not burn, so that each player can receive a fresh
card. If the dealer determines that there will not be enough
fresh cards for all of the remaining players, then the dealer
announces to the table that a common card will be used. The
dealer will burn a card and turn one card faceup in the center
of the table as a common card that plays in everyone’s
hand. The player who is now high using the common card initiates
the action for the last round.
16. An all-in player should receive holecards dealt facedown,
but if the final holecard to such a player is dealt faceup,
the card must be kept, and the other players receive their
normal card.
17. If the dealer turns the last card faceup to any player,
the hand now high on the board using all the upcards will
start the action. The following rules apply to the dealing
of cards:
(a) If there are more than two players, all remaining players
receive their last card facedown. A player
whose last card is faceup has the
option of declaring all-in (before betting action starts).
(b) If there are only two players remaining and the first
player's final downcard is dealt faceup, the
second player's final downcard will
also be dealt faceup, and the betting proceeds as normal.
In the
event the first player's final card
is dealt facedown and the opponent's final card is dealt faceup,
the
player with the faceup final card
has the option of declaring all-in (before betting action
starts).
18. A hand with more than seven cards is dead. A hand with
less than seven cards at the showdown is dead, except any
player missing a seventh card may have the hand ruled live.
19. A player who calls a bet even though beaten by an opponent’s
upcards is not entitled to a refund. (The player is receiving
information about an opponent’s hand that is not available
for free.)
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