Basic Five Card Stud

Written by Nigel

I would imagine that based on the last few posts, you already have a pretty good idea on how to play stud poker.  Last time we talked about basic seven card stud, wherein you have 7 cards for each player.  For this variation, we have 5 cards for each player.

The game starts with the dealer dealing out 1 card – face down – to each player.  He then deals another card, this time face up, to each player at the table.  A round of betting ensues.  As with 7 card stud, the player with the highest face up card starts the betting round.  After everyone has bet, the dealer then deals another face up card to each player.  Everyone starts betting again.  This cycle goes on until each player at the table has one face down card and four face up cards.  The total number of betting rounds is four.  At the end, the player with the best hand wins.

Sometimes, there are certain stipulations for a five card stud game.  Though this is rare, it is worth mentioning.  One variation is called “roll your own.”  In this variation, each player is initially dealt 2 cards face down.  Players then decide which of the two cards they will turn up as a face up card.  After the betting round, another face down card is dealt to each one and players again decide which of the two face down cards they will show.  As with the basic game, this continues until everyone has 5 cards in all.

Stud Poker

Written by Nigel

Stud poker is another poker variant that is quite popular with many poker lovers.  Under stud poker are a lot of other sub-variants.  For this post, let’s look at the main theme governing this group of poker games.  The binding theme for stud poker games is that each player at the table has a certain number of cards face up and a certain number of cards face down.

The cards which are face down, also called cards in the hole, are seen only by each player.  The face up cards, on the other hand, are the cards seen by all the players at the table.  The number of face up/.down cards is dependent in the specific type of stud poker you are playing.

The dealer can state stipulations at the table.  He can call certain cards to be wild cards, though this is not commonly done outright for face up cards.  Usually, wild cards involve face down cards so as to ensure that no one knows who has a wild card until the end.

Some stud poker games feature High/Low set ups.  This means that the pot is divided by the player with the highest hand and the player with the lowest hand.  Though this means that you have less winnings, more players stay at the table with this kind of set up.

Another stud poker variation is called Lowball.  In this case, the player with the perfect low will win the pot.  The perfect low has to be established by the dealer before the deal or is dependent on the existing House Rules.