Strategy for Memorizing Your Seven Card Stud Poker Cards

Many Seven Card Stud players find that memorizing the cards is one of the toughest tasks they can take when playing the game and this is true both to online seven card stud and 'regular' session of it as well. The problem lays in the fact that in the middle of the games there are so many things you must look out at all moments that it's hard to memorize the cards, and here's the answer as well: you don't need to memorize all the cards, just SOME of them.

During a round of Seven Card Stud, memorizing the cards is important since it can tell you what the odds are for a player to complete a full house, a three of the same kind et cetera. For example, if you the player to your right folds at Third Street showing a King and on Fourth Street your opponent receive a King himself you know that he could never complete it into a Four of the Same Kind.

If you haven't noticed it in the above example the important part was to remember past cards, ones that were used by players that folded at the beginning of the game. When 3-4 people fold at Third Street then you must memorize their cards and no one else's cards.

Right now you remember 3-4 cards that have been put back into the deck by the dealer (since the folded players no longer need them) – that's 3-4 cards you need to memorize. If the cards were 3, J, 9 and a 7 then put them in High-Low or Low-High order: 3-7-9-J OR J-9-7-3.

In later stages of the game simply add to this sequence different cards. If there are more than two cards of the same value then you can put an imaginary 'point' above them in you imaginary list.

This technique requires some imagination but with some practice you can make it work. Practice at home on this method of memorizing the cards or go back and choose one of our free online poker games and practice it there, without losing real money on the process of mastering it.

Daniel Jenkins, Editorial Staff
2006–01–16