How To Play 5 & 7 Card Stud
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010Five Card Stud
Five Card Stud is similar to Five Card Draw, the difference being that you do not ever get a chance to replace cards in your hand and therefore do not get a chance to improve that hand. As in Seven Card Stud you get a hole card and 4 open cards for all to see. Most versions play the final card as a community card. Since there is no chance to improve your hand, the winning hands tend to be either pairs or high cards and it is hard to string people along to the final street. Some variations on Five Card Stud alleviate this by making the last card a pocket card allowing for some raises.
The Open
The hand starts with the dealer handing each player 2 cards. First cards dealt are a hole card and then the dealer follows up with an open card for each player. Wagering then begins, usually with the high open card going first and then following clockwise. This continues until betting is over. These are the first two “Streets”.
Third Street
The dealer then hands out a third card, which is another open card. This is followed by another round of betting. Betting begins again with the highest open card opening and continues until there are no more bets made. Then it is time for the Fourth Street.
Fourth Street
Again the dealer hands out an open card, which is then followed by another round of betting. Betting again continues until all call and then it is on to the Fifth Street.
Fifth Street
The Fifth Street is the final card. Usually this is an open card but some variations play this as a hole or pocket card to make the game more interesting. This variation creates more uncertainty about which cards your opponent’s hole cards could be and allows for more interesting betting opportunities. Bluffs and more creative betting make this variation more interesting than four straight open cards.
Another variation is to have both the first and second cards remain hole cards, for much the same reasons as making the fifth card a hole card. The problem with having only the first card as a hole card is that even beginning players get a feel for the odds of any particular player having a better hand than theirs, based on their open cards. Therefore it is difficult to have an interesting hand of cards as betting tends to be rather a bit more conservative as a result.
Seven Card Stud
One of the most popular variations of Poker, the 7 Card Stud Poker game is played at every Vegas casino and in all internet casinos. The popularity of 7 Card Stud Poker is eclipsed only by a variant of the game called Texas Hold ‘Em, which is the main format of the World Series of Poker, the largest professional tournament in the world. Once you know how to play 7 Card Stud Poker, it is an easy step to learn Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha, or other popular variants.
The hand ranking order is the same for 7 Card Stud as it is for just about every one of the hundreds of Poker variations played around the world. The highest possible hand is a Royal Flush, and after that in descending order are the Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, and Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, and High Card. The odds of being dealt a high hand in 7 Card Stud are lower than those in Texas Hold ‘Em because you must construct the hand using only the cards you receive. There are no community cards in traditional 7 Card Stud.
As with every Poker game, play in 7 Card Stud begins with the ante: each player pays a small amount to the pot in order to participate in the game. There are six stages in 7 Card Stud Poker; known as third street, fourth street, fifth street, sixth street, the river, and the showdown. After the ante, each player is dealt two face-down cards (called hole cards) and one face-up card. This initial deal is third street. The player with the highest card showing initiates the betting, and will either check (not raise the pot), or bet. Then, each subsequent player can either call (match the first player’s bet), raise (increase the bet amount), or fold (withdraw from the hand). Three more face-up cards are dealt to each player, one at a time, with a round of betting after each deal pass–these stages are fourth, fifth and sixth street.
The seventh card is known as “the river,” and is dealt face-down. One final round of betting ensues, after which those players who have not folded enter the last stage, called “the showdown.” At this point, beginning with the last player to call the bet, each player shows their respective cards and names the best five-card hand they can make with their cards (full house, two pair, etc.). The pot is given to the player with the highest ranking hand, and then the next hand begins. Now you know how to play 7 Card Stud Poker!
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