| Seven-card stud is played with two downcards and one
upcard dealt before the first betting round, followed by three more
upcards (with a betting round after each card). After the last downcard
is dealt, there is a final round of betting. The best five-card poker
hand wins the pot. In all fixed-limit games, the smaller bet is wagered
on the first two betting rounds, and the larger bet is wagered after
the 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. 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).
2. The player with the forced bet has the option of opening for
a full bet.
3. 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. Example: In $15-$30, 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.
4. In 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.
5. 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.)
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. If you are all in for the ante and have the lowcard, the player
to your left acts first. That player may fold, open for the forced
bet, or open for a full bet.
9. If the wrong person is designated as low and that person bets,
the action will be corrected to the true lowcard if the next player
has not yet acted. The incorrect lowcard takes back the wager and
the true lowcard must bet. If the next hand has acted after the
incorrect lowcard wager, the wager stands, action continues from
there, and the true lowcard has no obligations.
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 must play and it is treated as an
exposed card.
12. In all games, 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.
Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better
Seven-card stud high-low split is a stud game which is played both
high and low. A qualifier of 8-or-better for low applies to all
high-low split games, unless a specific posting to the contrary
is displayed. The low card initiates the action on the first round,
with an ace counting as a high card for this purpose. On subsequent
rounds, the high hand initiates the action. If the high hand is
tied, the first player clockwise from the dealer acts first. Fixed-limit
games use the lower limit on third and fourth street and the upper
limit on subsequent betting rounds, and an open pair does not affect
the limit. Aces may be used for high or low. Straights and flushes
do not affect the low value of a hand. A player may use any five
cards to make the best high hand, and the same or any other grouping
of five cards to make the best low hand.
Rules of Seven Card Stud High Low (Tournament Seven Card
Stud Hi-Lo Strategy)
1. All rules for seven-card stud apply to seven-card stud high-low
split, except as otherwise noted.
2. A qualifier of 8-or-better for low applies to all high-low split
games, unless a specific posting to the contrary is displayed. If
there is no qualifying low hand, the best high hand wins the whole
pot.
3. A player may use any five cards to make the best high hand and
any five cards, whether the same as the high hand or not, to make
the best low hand.
4. The low card by suit initiates the action on the first round,
with an ace counting as a high card for this purpose.
5. An ace may be used for high or low.
6. Straights and flushes do not affect the value of a low hand.
7. Fixed-limit games use the lower limit on third and fourth streets
and the upper limit on subsequent rounds. An open pair on fourth
street does not affect the limit.
8. Splitting pots is only determined by the cards and not by agreement
among players.
9. When there is an odd chip in a pot, the chip goes to the high
hand. If two players split the pot by tying for both the high and
the low, the pot shall be split as evenly as possible, and the player
with the highest card by suit receives the odd chip. When making
this determination, all cards are used, not just the five cards
used for the final hand played.
10. When there is one odd chip in the high portion of the pot and
two or more high hands split all or half the pot, the odd chip goes
to the player with the high card by suit. When two or more low hands
split half the pot, the odd chip goes to the player with the low
card by suit.
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