As long as I live, continuing to play and write about poker, it will be difficult for me to ever forget my first experience with fixed limit 7-Card Stud. Nor would I ever want to forget the experience, though it was an undeniably painful one. I have learned over the years (as I imagine many of you have) that the least pleasant moment of life often prove to be the most valuable. That qualification can certainly be applied to that first notorious game of fixed limit 7-Card Stud study I played, back in the summer of ‘62.

What exactly made it so disastrous? In truth, there are a number of relevant answers to that question, but I would rather not go into all of them. Clearly my youth and inexperience played a large role, as did the fact that I was gambling with a group of much more experienced and savvy players. And the fact that I had unwisely consumed a 12-pack of warm Schlitz (on a dare from one of the more experienced players, mind you) just moments before we put chips on the table.

Obviously, I was being set up and my lack of knowledge was ruthlessly exploited. I cannot really feel too sorry for myself, as I have since gone on to pull the same slimy maneuver on many naive young players.

However, the true reason for my devastatingly bad performance that night was that we were playing a short handed game of 7-Card Stud. In fact, there were only four of us seated around a rickety card table in the back of a smoke-filled pool hall in South Texas. I had no business being there, and at the time I did not realize how dangerous a short handed game can be four novice players.

The hands kept coming at such a fast and furious rate that I was totally lost within three minutes of the first card being dealt. My head was spinning on its axis, and I literally could not follow what was happening. Before long, my stack of chips was quickly decimated and divided up among the grinning, chuckling other players.

I always use this memory as a vivid cautionary tale for young individuals who are just beginning to play 7-Card Stud. If you find yourself in a pot limit game, knowing full well how quickly money can change hands, for God’s sake make sure it’s a long handed game! Specifically, I would recommend playing with no less than ten people. Even if they are more experienced, you will have enough time to make detailed decisions, and there is less chance that you will be singled out of by voracious sharks looking to take advantage of clueless newbies.

Learn for my mistakes, novice players! It’s not too late to profit from my pain. Do as I say, not as I did in my own wayward youth. Hopefully, you will never take a beating like I took long ago in that South Texas hellhole.

Give you a guideline to how poker hand using the seven cards stud is played.