Five Card Stud

Five Card Stud is not as popular as it once was but it is still offered at a few online poker rooms. To many old school poker players Five Card Stud is the purest poker game there is. Five Card Stud is all but dead at live poker rooms. It is usually dealt limit but can sometimes be found as pot limit or no limit. There are four betting rounds in five card stud. Players first ante before cards are dealt. The ante is usually 10% of the small bet. In $1/2 that would make the ante $.10. Players are then dealt one card down and one card up. Just like in Seven Card Stud the player with the lowest card brings in the first bet. If two players have the same value card the lowest suit would bring in the first bet. The suits are ranked, from lowest to highest, clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades.

The player with the low card can decide to bring in for usually 25-50% of the full first bet or bet the full amount. If a player raises and the low card player chose to bring in instead of making a full bet then that player must complete the bet. For example if the bring in is $.25 in $1/2 then a player must complete the bet to $1. Any player after the first raiser will raise the full amount. For example the next raiser in the above hand would raise from $1 to $2. If two or more players are still in the hand then the action moves to third street.

Third Street

The remaining players are dealt another card up. The best two card hand starts the action. If any player is showing a pair then any player may single or double bet even if they are not the player showing the pair. In a $1/2 game that would mean players would have the option to bet $1 or $2. If the player holding the pair only bets $1 and another player raises then the player that raises may choose to raise $1 or $2. If the paired player opens with $2 then any player that chooses to raise must only raise $2.

Fourth Street

The remaining players are dealt another card up. The player with the best hand showing starts the action. The best hand may either check or bet one big bet, in $1/2 that is $2. If there are still two or more players in the hand then fifth street is dealt.

Fifth Street

Fifth street is the last card. In all online games it is dealt up although in some home games it is dealt down. The player with the best hand showing starts the action by checking or betting one big bet. After all players have had a chance to act it is time for the showdown. The player with the best hand wins the pot. All five cards must be used to determine the best hand.

Rake

Online poker rooms usually take 5% up to $3 from the pot. Live poker rooms usually take 10% up to $4 or $5. Your rakeback is based on the amount of rake the house takes out of the pot. The rake is usually seen to the dealer’s right. Online you can either hover over the pot or the rake box to see how much rake was taken during a hand.