Traditional 7-card stud is still widely played today.
7-Card Stud is played with 2 to 8 players. It is generally played with fixed-limit betting, though sometimes people play it as a spread-limit game.
7-card stud is generally played with an ante. Different stakes games have different antes. For example, a USD1 ante is common in a USD10-USD20 game, but a USD0.25 ante is also common in a USD1-USD2 game.
After everyone antes, all players are dealt two cards face down and one exposed card. The person with the lowest card must ‘bring in’ and is forced to bet half the small bet.
Then An exposed card is dealt to each player, followed a round of betting.
Then An exposed card is dealt to each player, followed a round of betting. If the game is played in a fixed-limit format, this is where the big bet would kick in.
Each player is dealt a final hole card, followed by the final round of betting.
If the game has 8 players and there aren’t enough cards left in the deck to deal each player a final hole card, a card is placed on the board and it is considered ‘shared’ by all the players.
Best poker hand wins, best 5-card.