Five Card Stud

By Wagercomms

The Game

Five Card Stud is the original stud game and its popularity was unmatched and widely played until the introduction of Seven Card Stud, a game who quickly gained in popularity. Five-Card Stud is still a game to be played, especially among the purist at heart, and is played with up to eight players. Using one deck of cards (52 cards), with jokers excluded, the player is dealt a total of five cards. One “down” card and four “up” cards. The goal is to build the strongest five card poker hand.

How to Play Five Card Stud

It’s the source of poker and an exciting game as well as easy to play and learn. The trick of the game is to predict what the other players are holding, at the same time building your five card hand. No community cards are used; each player holds one card face down and four cards face up. Keeping track of the face up cards is an important part of the game, as a straight or flush is much harder to build with only five cards.

The Rules

Five Card Stud is about getting the highest five card poker hand from the five cards dealt. From the five cards there are one down card and four up cards. The game begins with all players posting the ante bet. After the antes have been placed each player is dealt two cards, one down card and one up card. The up card is also known as the hole/door card. All dealing is left going right from the dealer’s position.

In Five Card Stud there is no ante at table limit 0.5-1.

Opening Deal

The players will after placing the ante bet be dealt one card face down followed by a second card face up. The round of betting will now take place starting with the player with the lowest card value and suit, known as the force bet/bring-in bet. The player who has the force bet can now select from betting a minimum amount, equal to half the tables minimum bet, or a larger amount, equal to the full minimum bet of the table.

In the event that two players or more holds door cards of the same value then the lowest suit will determine who holds the force bet. 

Suit Rank

Determining which player holds the force bet, when door cards are of the same value, the lowest suit will decide rank. Suits are ranked as follows.

Spades

Hearts

Diamonds

Clubs

Spades being the highest suit and clubs the lowest.

Hand Rank

The game outcome is determined per the following poker hand ranking.

Royal Flush             A, K, Q, J, T in same suit

Straight Flush         Five cards in sequence, same suit

Four of a Kind         Four cards of the same rank 

Full House               Three of a kind and one pair 

Flush                         Five card of the same suit

Straight                    Five cards in sequence, no suit

Three of a Kind       Three cards of the same rank

Two Pairs                 Two different pairs

One Pair                   One pair plus three odd cards

High Card                Five cards, nothing of the above

Third Card/2nd Betting Round

The next card dealt is the third card, also known as the 2nd betting round. The dealer will burn one card from the top of the deck and then start to deal the player closest to the dealers left and moving clockwise around the table. Third card is dealt face up. The round of betting takes place and starts with the player with the highest two-card value, known as having the action.

If a tie occurs between two players as to best hand, the player closest to the dealers left will have the action.

Open Pair

The 2nd betting round will be at the table’s lower betting limit, unless any players two up cards shows an open pair, in which the player can bet the higher amount of the tables limit. Otherwise only available at the 3rd betting round.

If the player with the action select the lower limit bet other players in the hand can select either the lower limit or the higher limit raise.

Fourth Card/3rd Betting Round

The next card dealt is the fourth card, also known as the 3rd betting round. The dealer will burn one card from the top of the deck and then start to deal the player closest to the dealers left and moving clockwise around the table. Fourth card is dealt face up. The round of betting takes place and starts with the player with highest three-card value.

With the 3rd betting round, and 4th betting round, all bets and raises in a fixed limit game are made at the higher limit.

Fifth Card/4th Betting Round

The next card dealt is the fifth card, also known as the 4th betting round. The dealer will burn one card from the top of the deck and start to deal the player closest to the dealers left and moving clockwise around the table. Fifth card is dealt face up. The round of betting takes place and starts with the player with the highest four-card value.

The Showdown

Determining which player must and will show their cards first is based on the player who initiated the action or player last holding the action, the player who last initiated a bet, raise or re-raise. In simple terms the player who created the last action on the 4th betting round must show his or her cards first. If all players checked it’s the player having the initial option to bet that show his or hers card first. If a player checked and the next player bets and then a player raises it’s the player who raised that will and must show first.

No Show

If a player wins by default the player do not need to show his or hers cards. Meaning that if two or more players are in the game and one player bets and the other(s) fold the player winning will not have their down card shown. Instead an option is given the winning player, show or don’t show.

Players are not required to show their down card if they are not the player creating the last action by betting or raising. If a player calls a bet and sees that they cannot win, they are given an option to fold or show their cards.

Split Pots

It is theoretically possible that two or more players can hold the best five-card hand. If a tie occurs between two or more players the dealer will split the pot equally between winning hands.

All-in

A term used when a player is in an active game and runs out of money before the hand is over. All poker games are table stake only, meaning what you have on the table is what you play with, no additional chips or money can be brought into the game in the middle of a hand. The all-in is when you place your last money into the pot and when doing so you can not win any of the additional money being put into the pot as the game continues. Going all-in you are playing the pot as it was when you went all-in. Betting that continues after a player is all-in goes to what is called a side pot. Players that have gone all-in cannot claim any stakes on a side pot.

Most poker rooms allows unlimited game all-ins per 24 hour and two bad connection all-ins per 24 hour, hence one detects the difference between game all-ins and bad connection all-ins.

Game History

During an hour of poker and dealing 60-90 hands there are most likely poker hands that might be debatable. Ensuring a fair game a complete game history should be available.

Practice Play

If not ready to engage in real money games, ensure that your poker room offers the possibility to play at designated practice play tables, preparing for the thrill and excitement of a real poker game, in your own time. Practice play does not involve any real money.

Table Limits

The following table limits are standard in Five Card Stud.

Fixed Limit Games

Table Limits                 0.5-1       1-2       2-4       3-6       4-8       5-10

Minimum Buy-in        10            20        20         30         40          50

Ante                              no           0.25     0.25      0.25      0.50      0.50

Force                            0.25         0.50     1            1            2            2

2nd betting round     0.50         1           2           3           4            5

2nd round with pair  0.50 or 1  1 or 2   2 or 4   3 or 6   4 or 8    5 or 10

3rd betting round      1               2          4           6           8            10

4th betting round      1               2          4           6           8            10

Cap no. raises            3              3          3           3            3           3

Table Limits               6-12      8-16    10-20       15-30     20-40      30-60

Minimum Buy-in      60         80        100           150         200           300

Ante                            0.50      1            1               2             2                3

Force                          3            4           5              7             10              15

2nd betting round   6           8           10             15            20            30

2nd round w. pair    6 or 12  8 or 16  10 or 20  15 or 30  20 or 40  30 or 60

3rd betting round    12          16          20           30            40            60

4th betting round    12          16          20           30            40            60

Cap no. raises          3           3            3             3              3               3

Raises must be equal or greater than previous bet.

Heads up games, unlimited raises.

Spread Limit Games

Table Limits                          1 to 3 Stud           1 to 5 Stud

Minimum Buy-in                 30                         30

Ante                                       0.25                      0.25

Force                                      1                            1

Bet amount any street       1 to 3                    1 to 5

Cap no. of raises                 3                           3

Raises must be equal or greater than previous bet.

Heads up unlimited raises.

Betting the low or high limit amount on 2nd betting round if holding an open pair does not apply in a spread limit game.

House Rake

Rake is a fee taken from the pot on behalf of the house. The list below details standard rake levels per game limit. However rake levels often varies between operators.

Fixed and Spread Limit Games

Table Limits 0.5-1 and 1-2

Pot Size           5             12           20         Max

Rake                0.50       0.25       0.25      1

Table Limits 2-4, 3-6, 4-8, 5-10, 6-12 and 8-16

Pot Size           20          30          40          50       60        Max

Rake                1              0.50      0.50       0.50    0.50     3

Table Limits 10-20, 15-30, 20-40 and 30-60

Pot Size          40            50         70          100          Max 

Rake               1                0.50     0.50       1               3

Fixed Limit Games

The most common used betting structure, and a fixed limit game is as the name states, fixed betting amounts. In a fixed limit game the bets permitted are already decided and will remain consistent through several betting rounds and then change. For instance in a 2-4 five card stud game a bet and any raises must be exactly 2. In 3rd and 4th betting rounds any bet and raises must be 4.

Betting at Fixed Limit

Bets are placed in accordance with a predetermined limit structure, if a player chooses not to bet the player is said to check, pass on the option to the next player. If a player bets the next player may call the bet or fold. If a player checks and another player places a bet the player who checked can now raise, known as a check & raise.

Spread Limit Games

The second most common betting structure. A spread game permits players to decide within a certain spread what bet to place at any given street, e.g. in a 1 to 5 game players can decide whether to bet 1 to 5.

Betting at Spread Limit

With the exception of 2nd betting round rule on open pair, which is not applied in a spread game, it is the same general rules as in a fixed game. However in a spread game the raise must be equal to or greater than the previous bet. If in the event there is a re-raise, then the re-raise amount will be equal or greater than the raise amount, but not to exceed the maximum bet.

The only difference between fixed- and spread-limit stud poker is betting structure and 2nd round open pair betting rule.