A player puts three units into a seven-card stud pot. Another player completes the betting to ten. The first player now needs seven more to call, while someone entering the betting for the first time must put in ten. Completion has set the total amount to match.
The distinction belongs to fixed-limit stud's opening round, called third street. Under PokerStars' published seven-card stud rules, each player receives two private cards and one exposed card. The lowest exposed card starts the action with the bring-in. That player can post the smaller forced amount or open for the full lower betting increment. Action continues clockwise.
PokerStars' third-street explanation describes completing a three-unit bring-in to a ten-unit bet. The walkthrough below uses that structure in a different fictional hand. These web descriptions were checked on 3 November 2026; they establish the named source's procedure, not the rules or availability of every poker room.
Follow the chips around one opening round
Four players sit clockwise in the order A, B, C and D. A has the uniquely lowest exposed card. Everyone has enough chips for the stated actions, and nobody folds or raises beyond the completion in this example.
Set an ante of one unit per player, a bring-in of three and fixed betting limits of ten and twenty. The full bet on this opening round is ten. These are teaching units and assumptions, not an advertised table or a record of real play. Rake and other deductions are excluded.
All four players ante one unit. Those four units enter the pot before the sequence below. They do not count towards the players' individual wagers on this betting round.
| Action in clockwise order | Chips added now | Player's total wager on third street |
|---|---|---|
| A posts the bring-in | 3 | 3 |
| B calls the bring-in | 3 | 3 |
| C completes to the full bet | 10 | 10 |
| D calls the completed bet | 10 | 10 |
| A calls the difference | 7 | 10 |
| B calls the difference | 7 | 10 |
C had not yet wagered on third street. Completing to ten therefore required C to place ten units, even though the previous live amount was three. The completion increased the amount to match by seven; it did not require C to put in thirteen.
When action returned to A, the three-unit bring-in already counted towards the live ten-unit wager. A added seven. B's earlier three-unit call received the same credit, leaving B another seven to pay. D, who entered after the completion, had paid the full ten in one action.
The ante is already in the pot
A had spent four units before facing the completion: one as an ante and three as the bring-in. Only the three counted towards the ten-unit wager. Subtracting all four would leave A's call one unit short.
An ante pays for participation in the hand. The betting-round total records what the player has matched against the current wager. Our big-blind ante article follows a separate tournament posting procedure; here, each of the four fictional stud players pays an individual ante.
After B's final call, the six actions in the table have added 40 units: three, three, ten, ten, seven and seven. Add the four antes and the pot contains 44 before deductions. Each player has contributed eleven altogether, comprising a one-unit ante and a ten-unit wager.
The table stops at the end of third street. It does not determine a winner or carry A's opening position into the next round. PokerStars' fourth-street description gives the first action to the player with the strongest exposed cards, so the next card can change who leads.
A's last payment was seven. That made A's wager ten and A's total contribution to the hand eleven. All three figures describe the same player at the same point in this hand.
