Home Poker

Stud Poker

The basic principle of Stud Poker is that some of your cards will be face-down, and only you are allowed to see them, while the rest will be face-up for everyone at the table to see. The popular Stud Poker games are Seven-Card Stud and Five-Card Stud.

Typically in Seven-card Stud, two cards are initially dealt face-down to each player, followed by four cards dealt face-up to each player, followed by the seventh card dealt face-down to each player. This adds up to three cards in each hand that only the player can see, and four cards in each hand that everyone at the table can see. As a result, you can see how close other players are to making a hand, or you can pretend you have a better hand than you really do. For example, if my four face-up cards are 4-5-7-8, I can bet high to convince the others that one of my face-down cards is a six, completing a Straight.

Poker hands consist of five cards, so in any seven card poker game, each player makes the best five-card hand from their seven cards. For example, three pairs is not a valid poker hand, even though you might have the cards.

Five Card Stud is similar, with some cards dealt face-down and some face-up. The popular method is to deal one card face-down, followed by four cards face-up.

Although the specifics are left to the dealer, Stud Poker is typically played along the principle that the initial face-down cards are immediately dealt to each player, followed by one face-up card at a time. After each round of face-up cards are dealt, there is a betting round before the next round of face-up cards. These betting rounds are opened by the player who has the best hand showing of his or her face-up cards. For example, if I have a pair of Eights showing, and no other player's face-up cards can beat that, then I would open the betting round.

Adapted from HomePoker.com