Although Seven Card Stud Poker is not a very old form of poker games, it hasearned a very good reputation in the playing community due to its simple rules and lack of ability to win or lose a large sum of money. Seven card stud poker is often named “the game that can’t lose” because you basically can’t lose even if you don’t have a high hand.
Blinds are placed at the beginning of the game and put into the pot before any cards are dealt. The first bet is always put into the pot by the player closest to the dealer’s left. This is called under the gun or under the dog.
The game begins by a player being dealt two cards face down and betting or folding based on the strength of those two cards. Play then follows the direction of the stickman, moving the bets to the side and starting with the player closest to the blinds.
The 2nd card in the hand is dealt face up and the player with the best hand wins. Cards are dealt until each player has a total of five cards in hand. After the fifth card is dealt face up the winner is determined. If the five cards total less than what the player has, the player can either choose to fold or bet. If the player has 7 or more than the player has, the player must draw cards to improve the hand.
This increases the bet required in the game. At some point the pot must be brought into the player’s field of vision so that the player can see the pot. At this point the player must double the bets, re-drawing when necessary. The next round of betting starts and the best hand wins. The player can change or remove cards in between rounds.
The game is finished when one player has all their cards and the other has no more than five cards. In this situation, the player with the best hand wins, face-down, in contrast to with the traditional poker game. There is no bluffing or other deceptive techniques. The hand with the best hand wins even if the other player has a better hand.
How to win
The goal of this game is the same as with any other poker game: to win the pot. The highest hand wins. The two ways to win are by having a higher hand total, or by making your opponent fold.
However, there are a couple of slight variations to this common poker game. The first is that you do not start out with the best hand. You start out with what is called the “hole cards.” These are the two cards you are dealt in the beginning, before you even see your opponents’ cards. Your cards become the “end cards” which determine the rank of your hand.
The second variation of Seven Card Stud Hi Low is also called Seven High Low. In this variation, the highest hand is not the best hand. Instead, the player with the lowest ranked hand wins. admittance to the game is done by setting the “small blind.” The person with the smaller blind sets a bet first. If the bet is not enough to cover the cost of the blind, the player can increase it, or just drop out of the hand altogether. This is known as ” MPO777.”
It is also common to use a small blind and a big blind during Seven Card Stud Hi Low. This is because the low hand is not the least hand, but the weakest. The dealer places the “small blind” and puts a larger bet included in the blind into the pot. The only time the blind bet is less than the pot size is when the player calls the bet, small blind or raise (re-raise). In those cases it is less of an additional cost to call, rather the entire blind is used.
Seven Card Stud Hi Low is winnable in limit poker. But because it is winnable in limit, the chances of winning are much smaller than in no limit poker. This is because in no limit poker games are many possibleVariations to the game you could play. Furthermore, no limit poker is a game of wild swings, making it more difficult to define the best hand and to predict the result of the game. It is for this reason Seven Card Stud Hi Low is more of a thought than a fact of life game.
Seven Card Stud Hi Low is one of the most popular poker games played online, with a fan base numbering in the thousands. You can always find multiple tables in different parts of the world at differing buy-in levels for this one game. Whether you play it online or at a casino, the rules are the same. However, the Seven Card Stud bet is more preferable in the latter case. Betting limits of $2-$4 allow for some space for wild swings, and high stakes.
