5 Card Stud Rules and Basic Strategies

5-Card Stud is A well known, classic poker game, and it continues to be one of the favorites in home games around the world. The game is easy to learn and provides players with fast action.

Five Card Stud is played very similar to 7 Card Stud. The obvious difference is that each player receives 5 cards.

General Rules, Betting and Sequence of Action for 5-Card Stud

You are dealt one down card, ( 1 ) the "hole card", and one up card. The player showing the lowest card by suit (highest - spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs - lowest) must bring in the first round of betting with a forced bet of half the lower limit. If two players are showing the same door card, we'll use the suit rankings to decide which card is weakest.

The bring-in's purpose is much like the ante's; to encourage players to stay in a hand, and build the pot.
To stay in the game, all players must call, raise or fold to the bring-in bet. Betting begins to the bring-in player's left, and continues clockwise. If the bring-in opens with half the low stake, the first raise will "complete" the bring-in, raising it to the lower stake limit. Any raises after that must be the lower stake amount.
So, at our $5/$10 table, if a player brings-in with $2, and you want to raise him, you must raise $3, completing the bring-in. Now, any player that raises after you must raise $5.
Still with us? Great! On to Third Street.

The First Round of Betting :Third Street

After the first round of bets have all been called, each player is ( 2 ) dealt another face up card, called "Third Street." Now, the highest showing hand opens the betting round. If a pair is showing for any hand on Third Street, that player has the option of doubling his (or her) bet amount, and "raising the stake" for this betting round. Otherwise, Third Street bets and raises are limited to the small stake.

So, let's say we're in a $5/$10 game, and your facing cards show a pair. You now have the option of doubling the bet to $10, and if you do, any subsequent raises have to be the upper stake limit of $10. If you choose not to double up, the bet/raise amount stays at $5 for this round.

The Second Round of Betting :Fourth Street

Another face up card ( 3 ) is dealt to each player, and high hand opens the betting round. For these last two rounds, the bet amount is now the higher stake ($10 in a $5/$10 game).

The Third Round of Betting :Seventh Street

The fourth and final face up card is ( 4 ) dealt to each player, making a total of 5 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. ($10 in our $5/$10 game.)

The Showdown:

This is it! The last player to bet or raise during the final betting round (the river) will show their hand first. If all the players checked through (nobody bet), the player to the left of the dealer will show first. The remaining players' hands will be automatically revealed moving clockwise, unless a hand is weaker than the winning hand shown. In this case, you'll have the option to show, or muck (fold without showing). The best 5-card hand takes the pot.

Standard Rules

The maximum allowable number of bets per player during any particular betting round is four. This would consist of (1) a bet, (2) a raise, (3) a re-raise, and (4) a cap. The term cap is used to describe the 3rd raise in a round since betting is then capped and can not be raised anymore. Once the pot is capped, players will have only the option of calling or folding.