The normal Sunday game we(5-6 of us is all) play is NL Holdem mini tourneys, $5 buy-in gets you 50 chips(each chip is of equal value). The blinds start at 1/2 and go up(2/4, 3/6, 4/8, 5/10 etc) EVERY TIME the button gets to the original starting dealer. Needless to say after a couple people are out the blinds move up fast and it comes down to lucky catches alot.

I actually prefer 7 card stud to holdem and a couple of the guys want to give it a try in our weekly game. Any thoughts on how we could set up the game?

So the setups we were planning were $5 buy-in gets you 50 chips. I have no control over this, everyone but me feels 50 chips is enough to start with.

The 3 different structures we came up with:
1 chip ante, small bet = 2, big bet = 4
no ante, bringin = 1, complete = 2, big bet = 4
no ante, small bet = 1, big bet = 2

We'd raise the bets and add an ante(if we start without one) at some point. They want the touneys to last no more than an hour remember.

Most of the guys I'm playing with are NOT poker players, they just want to play cards, gamble and watch a little football while sitting on the sofa after busting out chasing a gutshot.

The guys want action.

What I'm not sure of is if having an ante(which would help build the pot)would be better or no ante and giving them a chance to see 4th a little cheaper and catch something would give more action. I'm starting to think no ante might be the way they'd prefer to play. Especially the last choice listed. After a couple rounds chasing I'm pretty sure they'd end up feeling they have to gamble once the bets are upto 3/6 or 4/8 as I'm sure we'd have atleast a 1 chip ante at 4/8. And this would give them the action they seem to like.

Any thoughts welcome