How to Play Five
Card Stud
Five Card Stud
Rules
Five Card Stud
is a classic poker game, and it continues to be
one of the favorite poker games around the
world.
Five-Card Stud
is easy to learn. I will use a $2/$4 limit
structure to describe the betting round that
takes place in Five Card Stud.
Before any
cards are dealt each player must put in a small
ante. The ante is typically about $.25.
Players are
dealt one face-down card (referred to as the
"hole card"), and one face-up card (referred to
as the "door card"). This is followed by the
first round of betting. The first bet is
referred to as the bring-in.
The
Bring-In: The player with the lowest
showing door card must post "the bring-in", a
mandatory initial bet of usually half the
smaller stake amount. In our $2/$/4 limit
structure game the bring-in would be $1. In some
online poker rooms the bring-in player has the
option to increase this bet to the full small
stake which in our example would be $2.
If two players
are showing the same door card, the suit
rankings decide which card is weakest. The ranks
of the suits are (strongest to weakest): Spades,
Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs.
Play begins
starting to the left of the bring-in. Betting
begins to the bring-in player's left, and
continues clockwise. Each player at the table
must call, raise or fold. The bring-in bet was
$1 and the first raise completes the bring-in
meaning that the next player needs to put $1 in
the pot to stay in the game. This is known as
completing the bring in and raises the stakes to
the lower limit which in our example is $2. The
players after the pot must either call the $2,
raise $2 or fold.
After the
betting is completed, the dealer then deals to
one more face-up card. This round is known as
Third Street. This is then followed by a second
round of betting. On Third Street the highest
showing hand opens the betting round. The bets
on this round are $2 although some online poker
rooms give a player the option to raise the bet
to $4 (the higher stake) if that player has a
pair showing.
Another face-up
card is dealt to each player. This round is
known as Fourth Street. The high hand opens the
betting round. For these last two rounds, the
bet amount is now the higher stake ($4 in our
$2/$4 game).
The fourth and
final face-up card is dealt to each player
giving everyone that has not folded a total of
five cards. Now the final betting round begins,
and as before, the highest showing hand starts
the betting. The river bets are still limited to
the upper stake ($4 in our $2/$4 game).
Once the final
round of betting has been completed the showdown
takes place and the player with the highest
five-card hand takes the pot. |
