PokerToast · study tools for mixed-game poker
Seven Card Stud strategy and study tools
Seven Card Stud (high only): each player gets two cards face down and one face up, then four more cards, the last one face down. The best five-card poker hand wins.
PokerToast is a study tool for mixed-game players: you practice decisions and see what a trained solver does. There is no real-money play.
Stud starting hands: what the solver does
The heads-up solver's most frequent play in 11 common 3rd-street spots. "How often" is a mix: the solver plays some hands more than one way. "Not settled" means another play measured better, so treat that answer as uncertain. Each row opens the full answer: the solver's numbers, how they were made, and the common advice where we found one.
Stud starting hands, heads-up| Spot | Solver's main play (how often) |
|---|
| Stud: rolled-up 8s on 3rd street. Slowplay or raise? | Call the bring-in, 99.7% |
| Stud: split Queens against a deuce bring-in. Complete? | Complete, 100.0% |
| Stud: Aces in the hole, a King completes your bring-in. Call or re-raise? | Re-raise, 81.8% |
| Stud: Kings in the hole, an Ace completes your bring-in | Call, 94.2% |
| Stud: Kings in the hole, an 8 completes your bring-in. Call or re-raise? | Re-raise, 100.0%; not settled: call measured better |
| Stud: a pair of Tens, you brought in with a 9, an Ace completes | Re-raise, 100.0% |
| Stud: a pair of 5s, you brought in with a 2, an Ace completes | Call, 83.8% |
| Stud: a split pair of 4s with a 9 kicker against a deuce bring-in. Complete, call or fold? | Complete, 99.6% |
| Stud: a three-flush with a King (K-9-4 of hearts) against a deuce bring-in. Complete or call? | Complete, 99.2% |
| Stud: a three-straight (9-10-J) against a deuce bring-in. Complete or call? | Complete, 99.3% |
| Stud: brought in with K-Q-2, an 8 completes. Fold? | Fold, 100.0% |
Numbers from PokerToast's own trained solver (version S-9747144-20261006152555): trained by self-play, not a solved game; heads-up limit only; similar hands are grouped, so a number is for the group, not your exact cards. All of these spots in one table, with what each play is worth.
What PokerToast's solver knows about Stud
PokerToast trained its own Stud solvers for limit betting (at most four bets per street) by self-play (Monte Carlo counterfactual regret minimization). A solver learns how often to fold, check, call, bet or raise in each situation, and then each play's value is measured by playing the situation out many times.
- Heads-up (2 players): Trained and in use (30,546 situations learned, 9,747,144 training iterations). For each decision it looks at the street; your made hand (straight or better, trips, two pair, or a pair grouped by rank, and whether a card of your pair's rank shows on your opponent's board); your flush and straight draws that are still live; your opponent's board (a pair showing, high cards, three suited cards) and whether your hand beats it; the pot; and the betting so far on this street.
- 3-handed: Trained and in use (150,064 situations learned, 14,496,030 training iterations). Built the same way, with every opponent's up cards counted as dead cards, against the strongest live board, and also looks at how many opponents are left and how many act after you.
Limits, honestly: the solvers group similar hands together, so their numbers are for the group, not your exact cards; they play limit only; there is no solver for 4 or more players yet; and every "worth" number assumes an opponent who plays like the solver, not like the players at your table.
Real example spots
These are recent Daily Spots for Stud: hands dealt by the Bot Lab engine, with the decision picked and graded by the trained heads-up solver. The answers are hidden until you open them.
Example 1: Stud, 4th street
Daily Spot #14 (2026-10-18)
Stud, heads-up, limit 20/40. 4th street. You: (3s) (Qc) 9d Js. Opponent shows Kd Ks. 3rd: you bring in, opponent calls. 4th: opponent checks. Pot 16. Your move: Check / Bet.
What would you do? Decide first, then open the answer.
Show the solver's answer
| Play | How often | Worth (chips) |
|---|
| Check | 100% | +2 |
| Bet | 0% | -23.4 |
The solver checks 100% of the time.
In plain words: you have no pair (queen high). Your opponent shows Kd Ks.
Why check: checking is worth about 25.4 chips more than betting, so putting more chips in does not pay here.
"Worth" is what each play wins or loses on average from here on, compared with folding (0), measured in 552 play-outs of this situation, against an opponent who plays like the solver.
Example 2: Stud, 5th street
Daily Spot #13 (2026-10-17)
Stud, heads-up, limit 20/40. 5th street. You: (2h) (Js) 2c 7d Kh. Opponent shows Td 6s 3c. 3rd: you bet, opponent raises, you raise, opponent raises, you call. 4th: opponent bets, you call. 5th: you check, opponent bets. Pot 246. Your move: Fold / Call / Raise.
What would you do? Decide first, then open the answer.
Show the solver's answer
| Play | How often | Worth (chips) |
|---|
| Call | 100% | +39.3 |
| Raise | <1% | +25.9 |
| Fold | 0% | +0 |
The solver calls 100% of the time.
In plain words: you have a pair of deuces. Your opponent shows Td 6s 3c.
Why call: calling is worth about 13.4 chips more than raising, so putting more chips in does not pay here; folding would give up the 39.3 chips that calling wins on average, so the 246-chip pot is worth fighting for.
"Worth" is what each play wins or loses on average from here on, compared with folding (0), measured in 3,476 play-outs of this situation, against an opponent who plays like the solver.
Example 3: Stud, 4th street
Daily Spot #12 (2026-10-16)
Stud, heads-up, limit 20/40. 4th street. You: (Jc) (9d) 9c 5h. Opponent shows Th 6c. 3rd: you bring in, opponent completes, you raise, opponent raises, you call. 4th: opponent bets. Pot 146. Your move: Fold / Call / Raise.
What would you do? Decide first, then open the answer.
Show the solver's answer
| Play | How often | Worth (chips) |
|---|
| Call | 98% | +47.3 |
| Raise | 2% | +43.1 |
| Fold | 0% | +0 |
The solver calls 98%, raises 2% of the time.
In plain words: you have a pair of nines. Your opponent shows Th 6c.
Why call: calling is worth about 4.2 chips more than raising, so putting more chips in does not pay here; folding would give up the 47.3 chips that calling wins on average, so the 146-chip pot is worth fighting for.
"Worth" is what each play wins or loses on average from here on, compared with folding (0), measured in 599 play-outs of this situation, against an opponent who plays like the solver.
The Bot Lab for Stud
- Play Stud against bots at a table of 2 to 6 players (log in first): every Bot Lab game is on the Study plan.
- Heads-up at the default limit stakes, the bot plays the trained solver strategy.
- 3-handed at the default limit stakes, the bots play the 3-handed solver strategy. Bigger tables use simple rule bots.
- Bot personalities: shark, fish, rock and maniac (or a secret mix), to practice against different styles.
- Hints (Pro plan): while you play, how often the solver takes each action and what each is worth, where a solver exists for your table size (free accounts: 1 a day).
- My hands (Pro plan): your decisions compared with the solver (every spot it has learned), a skill score (chips lost per 100 hands compared with the solver) and your playing style.
- Table read: each opponent's likely style, the plays that gave it away, and how to adjust.
The Calculator for Stud
- The Research Calculator (PC site): lists every hand an opponent could hold in Stud, lets you narrow them down into a range, and works out your equity against it, street by street.
- Its Solver tab: for a heads-up limit spot you set up, how often the solver takes each action and what each is worth (free accounts: 3 lookups a day; the Study plan has no limit).
- The free Stud equity calculator: your cards against your opponents' up cards or the board, worked out on the server, no sign-up.
- The free equity calculator: your cards against your opponents' cards, no sign-up: open it for Stud.
Try it
Today's Stud Daily Spot Free equity calculator Open PokerToast
Bot Lab: open PokerToast, log in, choose Play Bots, then pick Stud and the number of players.
Other games: Razz · Stud 8 · Hold'em · Omaha 8
Solver answers to common Stud questions: the Stud Reference.