Seven Card Stud (SCS) is a well-known form of poker. It is usually played with up to eight players at the table.

Before the beginning of the game, a fresh deck of cards for the hand must be generated. On TopsPoker a single deck of cards to play a hand of poker is used. To shuffle the decks for the game poker rooms the Random Number Generation machine is used.

The First round

A fresh table starts with all the players posting the "ante" (putting a predetermined amount in the pot before the cards are dealt). This amount is based on the size of the game. While the ante amount is not based on a set rule, the same is decided upon by the prevailing game trends. For e.g. the ante amount for a 1/2 table is 25 cents while for a 3/6 table, it is 50 cents. A new game on an active table starts with all the players at the table posting antes.

Players receive seven cards, three "down" cards and four "up" cards in this kind of gambling games.

Each player is dealt three cards after the antes have been placed. These cards are two "down" cards and one "up" card). The "up" card is also called the "door card" or "Third Street". The lowest "up" card must initiate the action with a "Bring-In" bet.

Each player has one bet and three raises in each betting round. To continue to play, players must take an action from what is displayed to them on each "street" or betting round (unless they are all-in).

The Second round

After the first round of betting, another card is dealt face-up to each player that remains in the pot. This is "Fourth Street" (the second round of betting). The highest hand showing begins the action by checking or betting from the "fourth street" on. Players have the option to make a single or double bet if a pair is showing on "Fourth Street". If a player makes a single/double bet, the other players may call, raise the single bet, raise the double bet or fold. Only an equal amount can be raised in case of double bet.

The Third round

Another card is dealt face-up to those who remain in the pot upon completion of the betting on "Fourth Street". This is known as "Fifth Street" (the third round of betting - which doubles and continues at this amount for the remaining betting rounds). The highest hand showing again starts the action by checking or betting.

The Fourth round

Upon the completion of betting on "Fifth Street", another card is dealt face-up. This is known as "Sixth Street".

The Fifth round

The final card is dealt down. The last card is also called the "River Card" or "Seventh Street".

Some standard rules

Each betting round per playing allows for three raises. To continue to play, players must take an action from what is displayed to them on each "street" of betting round (unless they are all-in). We use the term cap to describe the final raise in a round since betting is then capped and no one can make another raise. Players will have only the calling and folding options. You can fold at any stage of the game. To show the player cards being moved to the dealer the action of folding is used. The player from then on won't be considered as part of the game.

Poker is typically played "table stakes". That means that only the chips in play at the beginning of each hand may be used throughout the hand. The player can't get additional funds from the cashier while he is in the midst of a game. The table stakes rule is also known as the "All-In" rule, which states that a player can't be forced to forfeit a hand because the player does not have enough chips to call a bet.

Exceptions to the value of betting in each round

All-In declares the player who does not have enough chips to call a bet. The player is eligible for the portion of the pot to the point of his final wager. All further action involving other players takes place in a "side pot", which is unavailable to the player who has already gone All-In. When a player goes All-in, the pot currently at the center of the table, which has contributions from him/her as well, is treated as the main pot, over which the All-in player has rights. After it, all the new bets are placed in a side pot, over which only the contributing players have rights. The All-in player does not have any rights over the side pot. The side pot is then given to the next winning combination.

The players are expected to play within a set period. TopsPoker provides players with approximately 30 seconds to play with. Initially the player has 10 seconds, after which there is a timer countdown. It is displayed on the table for 20 seconds. Then if user has contributed some money to the pot, he goes all-in. The system is very attentive in detecting if the player has got disconnected or not. The player has an additional 20 seconds to play his turn, if he got disconnected. But if the player is not able to connect back to the table then he goes All-in. All-in basically means that the player is in the game, but this player wouldn't be an active player. Whatever pot is collected till this time is referred, and the all-in player has rights to this pot only. After this the money that is bet on the table is added to a side pot, over which the all-in player does not have any rights.

The best hand wins the pot upon completion of the final round of betting. The pot may also be won by someone who bets without being called at any time during the hand. Your "hand" is determined by using the best five of seven cards. A combination of the following may be used

• Five cards from the seven dealt to you
• One board (community) card and four of the cards dealt to you.

For deciding the winning combination players use a set rank of cards. For more details, click here.

The winner is the one having the higher cards, if two or more hands are the same ranking. If the poker hands remain tied, then the highest card not being held in common determines the winner.

We don't take the suit order of the cards into account while deciding on the winning cards. Standard rules of playing poker are important to TopsPoker. The rule of poker pot distribution will be split evenly between the two or more winning players. If there is an odd chip, the winning player to the left of the button/dealer will receive it. This applies to both play money and poker for real money.

For all the four rounds of betting, the house based on set rules collects a commission. It is called the Rake. The rules set at TopsPoker are:

ALL MONEY GAMES will be raked according to the chart below:

1. About us
2. Game info
3. Download
4. Free play
5. Real money
6. News
7. Support
8. Poker sites
9. Contact us
10. Help