1. SCS - NUMBER OF PLAYERS. The game is typically played with a maximum of eight players, although sometimes it is played with nine. When played with nine however the situation sometimes arises where there are not enough cards to finish the deal, and special procedures have to be instituted using burn cards and dead cards to complete the hand. It is best to avoid this by limiting the game to eight, although it is possible to run out of cards even in an eight-handed game. (See Back Man Out and Rovers In Article 16, Miscellaneous Rules for possible solutions to handle too many players in this or any other game.)
  2. SCS - ANTES. Players ante before receiving a hand. The dealer deals a hand to every seat that has anted, and does not deal to any seat that has not anted. If a player seated at the table has not anted, the dealer shall ask him if he wants a hand before dealing. If a player away from the table has anted before leaving, the dealer shall give him a hand. As noted elsewhere, the size of the antes is not a matter for rules but one for house policy; however suggested antes for various stakes are set forth at Appendix A.
  3. SCS - INITIAL CARDS AND BRING-IN. At the beginning of the hand players receive two downcards and an upcard. This is followed by the initial betting round, on which the lowest upcard (by suits if two players have the same lowest upcard) is required to initiate the betting with a forced bring-in bet. The player required to make the forced bet has the option of opening for the partial bet or a full bet. An example would be in a $15-$30 game, where the forced bring-in is for $5, and the opener has the option of bringing it in for the $5 or for $15. (The game is occasionally played where the high card instead of the low card must bring it in, but this is not the standard rule.) As in all other poker games, the action then moves clockwise around the table until it is back around to the opener.
  4. SCS - RESPONDING TO THE BRING-IN. Subsequent players react in clockwise rotation to the initial action. They can call the bet, complete the opening bet by increasing it to the full amount of the small bet (from $5 to $15 in the previous example; if the opener brought it in for a full bet they can raise to $30) or fold. (Alternate Rule. In some cardrooms the opener is allowed to complete the bet if when the action has passed all around the table no other player has completed the bring-in. This is the preferred rule, because it induces action, but it is in fact the less common rule. In other cardrooms if the opener wishes to complete the bring-in he must do so when he opens. This rule remains more common. Each establishment shall decide in its best business judgment which rule to implement.) A player raising a forced bet when the bring-in is for less than a full bet shall be deemed to have completed the bet rather than having raised. Thus, where the rules of the establishment permit one bet and four raises, then the completion of the forced bring-in does not constitute a raise, and four raises remain open.
  5. SCS - FOURTH STREET. Players receive a fourth card up, followed by a betting round. On this betting round if any player's two upcards are of the same rank (a pair) then the size of the bet doubles. The doubling of the bet is optional, not mandatory, and any active player may exercise this option. If a player pairs his door card on fourth street then he has the option of checking, betting the small fixed limit amount or the large fixed limit amount. If the player bets the small limit amount then the player(s) after him have the option of calling the small amount, raising the bet the amount of the small amount or raising the bet the amount of the large limit. (For example, in a $10-$20 game, where the initial betting rounds are $10, if a player's board pairs on fourth street, then any player in action may bet or raise $20 or $10, whichever he prefers.) Once the stakes are raised to the large bet amount they cannot go back down.
  6. SCS - FIFTH & SIXTH STREET. Then a fifth card is dealt up, followed by a betting round. On fifth street the betting automatically moves to the higher limit, regardless of whether or not it did on the previous betting round. Then a sixth card is dealt up followed by a betting round.
  7. SCS - SEVENTH STREET. The seventh and final card is dealt down, followed by a betting round. Thus a player has four upcards and three hole cards from which to make his best possible five card hand, and there are five betting rounds.
  8. SCS - ORDER OF PLAY. After the first round of betting the high hand on board initiates the action. If two players have the same high hand then the suit of the high card in the players' hands breaks ties. IE if both players have A, Q showing, the player with the Ace of Hearts would be deemed to have a higher hand than a player with the Ace of Clubs, and thus would act first. (Alternate rule: Ties shall be broken by position, with the player closest to the dealer's left acting first. The disadvantage of the alternate rule is that it creates a positional advantage in players starting at the dealer's right.)
  9. SCS - DEALER ANNOUNCEMENTS. In the course of dealing the hand, the dealer shall announce the low card on the initial betting round, the high hand on all subsequent betting rounds, and all pairs on board. Dealers do NOT announce possible straights and flushes. (Alternate rule: The house may require dealers to announce possibles in low-limit games as a courtesy to inexperienced players. In such cases the dealer shall only announce that a straight or flush is possible, and not which cards are necessary to complete the possible. )
  10. SCS - ABSENT PLAYER WHO HAS ANTED. A player who has posted an ante but is not present at the table when it is his turn to act forfeits his ante. If that player was required to bring in the forced bet, then the amount of the forced bet shall be taken from his stack by the dealer and placed in the pot. If he has not returned to the table by the time he faces action the forced bet shall also be forfeited. In each case where the player has not returned to the table in time to act on his hand when facing action the hand shall be killed.