Wall Street Rules

The game is played with a standard 52-card deck without jokers. The deal follows seven-card stud except where these rules say otherwise.

Each player ends with seven cards and makes the best five-card hand from them. The best high hand and the best low hand split the pot.

High hands rank according to the standard poker hand rankings. The low ranking, and whether a low hand must qualify, shall be agreed before play; ace-to-five low is the usual choice in home games.

A unit is a fixed amount agreed before play. Prices are expressed in units.

Each player antes. The dealer deals each player two cards face down and one face up.

The dealer then deals a row of four cards face up in the centre. This row is called Wall Street. The card at one end of the row is marked with a chip.

The marked card costs 1 unit, and the other three cost 2, 3 and 4 units in order along the row.

A betting round follows, begun by the player with the highest card showing.

On fourth, fifth and sixth streets, each player in turn, starting to the dealer's left, gains one face-up card. The player may either buy a card from Wall Street, paying its price into the pot, or be dealt a card face up from the deck free of charge.

Immediately before each player's decision, any empty position in Wall Street is filled with a new card from the deck. If the last player in a round buys a card, the row therefore shows only three cards during the betting round that follows.

After every player has their new card, there is a betting round begun by the player with the highest hand showing.

When everyone has four face-up cards, the unsold Wall Street cards are discarded. After the betting round on sixth street, each player is dealt a seventh card face down, and the final betting round follows.

After the final betting round, the remaining players declare high, low or both. The method (simultaneously with chips held in the fist, or in turn) shall be agreed before play.

The best high hand among those who declared high and the best low hand among those who declared low split the pot. Under the usual convention, a player who declares both must win, or tie, both ways.

High only. Some groups play Wall Street for the high hand alone, with no declaration. The dealer shall announce this before the deal.

Wild card. Some play that the card in the most expensive position is wild. Where this is played, the dealer shall announce the details before the deal, and the rules on five of a kind on the hand rankings page apply.