Seven card stud- How to play

Structured-limit or fixed-limit seven-card stud games have a double limit, with the lower limit used in the early betting rounds and the higher limit (which is usually double the lower limit) used in the later rounds. Thus the lower bet is allowed on the first and second betting rounds-referred to as third street and fourth street-which correspond to the first three cards and the fourth card, and a double-sized bet is required on the third, fourth, and fifth betting rounds. These later rounds correspond to the fifth, sixth, and seventh cards, and are called, respectively, fifth street, sixth street, and seventh street, or the river. There is one exception: If a player has an open pair on fourth street, either a single or a double-sized bet may be made.

Here’s an example. Suppose you are playing $3-$6 seven-card stud. Everyone will ante 50 cents, the player with the low card will bring it in for $1, and the first player to his left will have the options of folding, calling the $1 bring-in, or raising to $3.Once the bet has been raised to $3, all subsequent bets and raises on both third and fourth streets will be in $3 increments, unless a player makes an open pair on fourth street. In this case, any active player has the options of betting or raising either $3 or$6. All bets and raised on the last three betting rounds will be in $6 increments. Typically, cardrooms allow three or four raises . But heads up (two players), the number of rises is unlimited.

Many low-stakes seven-card stud games also are played with spread limits, where each player has the option to vet or raise an amount that is not fixed. As an example, in a typical $1-$4 spread-limit stud game, there is no ante, the low card brings it in for $1, and all bets and raises can be any amount from $1 to $4 at the bettor’s discretion

Finally, in some low-limit stud games, a jackpot is awarded when a very strong hand gets beat by an even better hand. To seed the jackpot pool, the house usually sets aside a small amount of money from each pot, although sometimes an additional ante is required to support the jackpot. When a good hand, such as aces full of queens, gets beat, the player holding the losing hand wins either the entire jackpot or a large percentage of it. In most cardrooms, the player holding the winning hand also receives a portion of the jackpot, and sometimes all players dealt in the hand are awarded a token amount of the prize money.
Jackpot poker is currently very popular in many locations where poker is legal. Depending on the game, typical jackpots range from $2,000 to $10,000, but some have exceeded $50,000.

Taken from playwinpoker.com