Five Card Stud Poker playing guide and rules – compliments of Wild Jack Poker Room
In this handy article, we explain How to play Five Card Stud Poker. Five Card Stud is the original stud poker game and is played with two to eight players. At the start of each hand, players are dealt two cards – one up, one down. The betting begins and when completed, players receive another card face up. This continues until players have five cards – four up, one down. Players use all their cards to form a winning hand. As such, playing requires a keen skill to judge the value of each hand.
How to play Five Card Stud Poker
Five Card Stud requires an ante and a bet
- Place your ante on the table. The poker room sets the ante. In a $0.50/$1.00 game, there is no ante
- Starting A Game Each player is then dealt two cards; one face down and one face up. The player with the lowest face-up card by suit starts the betting with a bring-in bet that is half the lower full bet. Subsequent players may then either fold, call or raise the amount to a full bet
- Second Round Another card is then dealt, face up, to all players at the table. Another round of betting begins. The player who has the highest combination of cards showing acts first and may either bet or check. If two players are showing equal cards, the one nearest the dealer’s left acts first. If a player is showing a pair, any player may opt to bet at the higher limit in which case all subsequent calls and raises must be at the higher limit
- Third Round Another card is then dealt, face up, to all players at the table. Another round of betting begins with the player who has the highest combination of cards showing. Bets are at the higher limit
- Fourth Round With all the cards dealt, one down and four up to each active player, a final round of betting begins. When the betting is finished players show their hole cards and the highest five-card hand wins the pot
Five Card Stud Poker Tips
- If you have a big pair, bet on it unless you see another player betting aggressively on what appears to be a very strong hand
- The Fourth Street is a critical point in the game. The bet doubles each round so make sure your hand is capable of winning. This way, you will minimize the amount of money you lose
- If another player’s visible cards beat your entire hand, you should fold
- If you are trying for a straight, check for the cards you need in another players’ displayed hands
- Fold when you don’t have a good hand. Five Card Stud is a game of patience and you should not waste your betting money on losing hands