How to Play Different Kinds of Seven-Card Stud Poker

You can play seven-card stud Poker in three ways – Mississippi, Razz or high-low. Here are some general rules for each kind of Poker that you must keep in mind.

• In Mississippi seven-card stud Poker, the best five-card hand wins
• An ante is placed then two cards – one face up and one face down – is dealt to each player
• In a limit-bet game of poker, the player with the low card must bet and the one with the high card must bet or fold
• Two more face-up cards are given to each player with the highest hand player betting
• A fourth face-up card is given to each player and again the betting is from the highest hand
• A final card is dealt face up and the highest hand bets leading up to showdown
• Sometimes in limit betting, the fourth street card is not followed by betting
• There is no ante in limit-betting Mississippi games

In Razz seven-card stud low betting the general rules are simple enough:
• The lowest hands gets the pot with the Aces counting as low. The player with the highest card, decided according to the suit, has to bet in the first round but the player with the lowest hand has to act first in all other rounds.
• There is no ranking assigned to straights and flushes. Therefore, the wheel – 5,4,3,2,A is the best hand to possess in this type of Poker. An open pair has no affect on the betting limit either
• If the lowest hand is a tie in rounds after the first, the player first from the dealer in the clockwise direction has to initiate the action
• In case of fixed-limit Razz games, the lower limit is used on the third and fourth streets for betting while the upper limit is used on all other streets with no affect on the limit by an open pair.
• The dealer always points out or announces the pairs when they happen except those of the face-up cards

The other variation you can play in Seven-Card stud poker is the high-low one. Here are the general rules for this type of game:
• This is a high-low split game with the 8-or-better hand qualifying for all the games unless otherwise decided. In the  first round, the betting is begun by the low-card player with Ace counting as high for this ranking. On all other rounds the player with the high card begins the action.
• In case there is no qualifying hand, then the best high hand wins the pot
• In case there is a tie then the player first clockwise from the dealer begins the betting. Other betting rules are same as in the RAZZ game.
• Any five cards can be used to make both the high hand and the low hand
• After the game has begun the Ace can be used both as the high or low card
• Splitting of the pots is only decided by the cards and not by mutual agreement of the players
• Odd chips go to the player with the high hand