Seven-Card Stud (multiplayer) — rules

The deal and the streets

• Everyone antes. Then two cards down and one up to each player, one at a time from the button’s left (third street).
• The lowest card showing brings it in with a forced half bet; a tie on rank goes by suit, clubs lowest, then diamonds, hearts and spades. Action goes to the bring-in’s left: call it, fold, or complete it to a full small bet. The bring-in acts last.
• Fourth, fifth and sixth street: one more card up each. Seventh street: one card down.
• From fourth street on, the best hand showing acts first — trips over two pair over a pair over high cards; straights and flushes do not count while showing; a tie goes to the seat nearest the button’s left.
• The button moves one seat each hand, so the deal starts somewhere new.

Betting

• Fixed limit: every bet and raise on third and fourth street is one small bet, on fifth to seventh one big bet. There is no double bet on an open pair.
• A bet and three raises close a street.
• Short of a full bet or call, you go all in for what you have; a short all-in raise does not reopen the betting. Side pots work as in hold ’em.
• When at most one player can still bet, the rest of the cards are dealt out with no more betting. If everyone else folds, the hand ends at once and nothing is shown.

The showdown

• Everyone still in turns their cards over; the best five of each player’s seven wins. Identical hands split, suits never break a tie, and an odd chip goes to the first winner left of the button.
• Seven players at most, so the deck never runs out and no card is ever turned up for the whole table.
• Quick game opens a private table where up to 6 other players from around the city sit in, dealt from your own seed pair; everyone plays by the same rules and the same clock. Every hand can be replayed on the fairness page once the dealer’s seed is revealed.

If somebody leaves mid-hand

• Leaving the table or losing your connection does not take you out of a hand already dealt: when your clock runs out you check or fold, and whatever is left of your stack is still paid back to you when the hand ends.
• A player who dies mid-hand is folded when their clock runs out.
• Nobody sees your cards unless you show them at the showdown, and only the players dealt into a hand can open it.

Betting and hand rankings in full: poker hands and betting.