7 Card Stud Guide

Seven card stud has been a popular poker game both offline and at online poker rooms for a very long time. Many stud poker players can be found at the internet’s top rooms but most small – medium sized rooms struggle to keep 1-2 active tables running around the clock. If you are a stud poker fan you will have probably signed up at a couple rooms only to find out that their stud tables are empty. This guide will cover the best poker rooms for 7 card stud and some basic strategy concepts . First lets take a look at where the 7 card stud action can be found.

Where to play 7 card stud online?

Stud players tend to eventually migrate from the small/medium rooms to the largest rooms. There are two online poker rooms that have done a good job at attracting stud poker players: Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker. Pokerstars boasts around 25% more stud players than Full Tilt Poker so if you are looking for the room with the most 7 card stud traffic they would be a good choice. Full Tilt Poker isn’t the 2nd most popular poker room for nothing though so you may want to take a look at each room before settling down somewhere. Both of these rooms offer players a wide range of 7 card stud ring table action, sitngo’s and tournaments.

Strategy for 7 card stud

Successful 7 card stud strategy can not be set in stone because it will vary from table to table. I will share a few basic strategies and concepts that will help you avoid costly mistakes but in the end it is up to you to develop your own strategy for the various situations you come across. The most important tactic is called “hand selection” and is pretty self exclamatory. In Stud you want to fold garbage hands and play premium hands. Below is a list of some of the commonly played starting hands in 7 card stud:

•Pairs
•Three to a flush
•Three to a straight

Those are the main 3 card starting hands you will be looking for in 7 card stud. Three of a kind is obviously the best starting hand but it is somewhat rare. When you get a starting hand like the ones mentioned above the first thing you want to do is to look at the other players’ “upcards”. You should look at their cards for cards you need to make and/or improve your own hand. This will help you better understand the odds of you catching this hand or that hand. For instance if you have two pair (K’s & 7’s) and the player next to you has a King and a seven in their upcards the odds of you hitting your full house have been cut in half. Using this information to help you make better decisions at the poker table will greatly improve your chances of becoming a winning seven card stud player.