7 Card Stud is quite different from Texas Hold’em and Omaha, despite the similarities of players ultimately having 7 cards to work with to form the best five card hand, which is declared the winner and awarded the pot.

Each player is dealt two cards facedown and then one card face-up to start the action at 7 Card Stud. There’s a round of betting, and each player is then dealt another card face-up, followed by a round of betting. Another face-up card is then dealt, and another round of betting. One last face-up card (for a total of four for each player) is dealt, with a round of betting, then each player gets a final 7^th card dealt to them facedown. After the final card is dealt there’s one last round of betting, after which the player with the best five card poker hand is declared the winner.

To recap, players are dealt two facedown cards and one face-up card to start play. They’re then dealt three more face up cards, then a final card facedown, for a total of 7 cards. Unlike Hold’em and Omaha, there are no shared community cards, with each player using the 7 cards they’re dealt to make the best five card poker hand possible.

7 Card Stud is usually played as a high hand game, but it can be played as a split pot game, with the pot divided between the player with the high hand and the player with the low hand. Like most split pot games, a player can win both the high and low hand by forming their five card hands in different ways, and to win the low hand a player must play a hand with no card higher than 8.