Great Seven Card Stud Variations for Poker Night

Poker Night parties are a great way to get friends together, do a little socializing, and have fun, too! These days, poker is increasing in popularity as celebrities compete in tournaments on television. You and your buddies can enjoy the game, too, in the privacy of your own home.

If you've played poker a time or two, you probably know how to play basic Seven Card Stud. But there are some variations of the game that might bring a little excitement to the evening. All of the following games are played like Seven Card Stud, but they're less common versions:

Follow The Queen: If a queen is turned up during a deal, the next "up" card (and others of the same rank) that follows her becomes wild. If another queen turns up later in the hand, the first wild card returns to its original state - as a non-wild card. The "up" card that follows the second queen then becomes wild. This continues for every queen that is turned up during a hand.

Follow The Queen That Kills: Similar to Follow The Queen, "up" cards that follow an upturned queen are wild. The queen of spades, however, has a special power. She kills the hand. If she turns up, the cards are collected but the pot remains untouched. A new hand is dealt, and all bets are added to the first pot. In other variations, players are permitted to "turn up" the queen of spades at any time if they wish to kill the game, a move that would result in a new deal and possibly a better chance of winning the pot.

Baseball: In this Seven Card Stud game, threes and nines are always wild. If you get dealt a four, you can get an extra card from the dealer. Variations include the rule that you must pay the pot for the extra card, or that you can choose whether the extra card is turned up or down.

Seven Card No-Peek: In this game, all seven cards are dealt face down to players. No one is permitted to look at their cards. Players turn their cards face up one at a time, with a bet occurring after each card is revealed.

Hi/Low: A common variation, this game allows players to share the wealth. Rather than rewarding the highest hand with the entire pot, the player holding the lowest hand splits the pot with the player holding the highest hand.

Seven Card Stud variations add excitement to Poker Night!

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