Stud poker refers to any
of a number of poker game variants in which each poker player receives
a mix of face-down and face-up cards dealt in multiple
betting rounds. Stud poker games are also typically
non-positional games, meaning that the poker player who bets first on each round
may change from round to round (it is usually the player whose face-up cards
make the best hand for the game being played).
Five-card stud poker first
appeared during the American Civil War, and became very
popular. In recent years,
seven-card stud has become more common, both in
casinos and in home poker games. These two poker games form the
basis of most modern stud poker game variations.
The number of betting rounds
in a poker game influences how well the game plays with different
betting structures. Poker games with four or fewer betting
rounds, such as five-card stud poker and Mississippi stud poker
(described below), play well with any structure, and are
especially well suited to no limit and pot limit play.
Poker games with more betting rounds are more suited to fixed
limit or spread limit. It is common (and recommended)
for later betting rounds to have higher limits than earlier ones.
For example, a "$5/$10 seven-card stud" poker game in a Nevada
casino allows $5 bets for the first two rounds and $10 bets
for subsequent rounds. Also common is to make the
final round even higher - a "$5/$10/$20" poker game would allow
$20 bets on the last round only. Another
common rule is to allow
the larger bet on the second round if there is an open pair
(that is, at least one player's up cards make a pair).
Some casinos (typically in California) use the smaller limit
on the first three rounds rather than just the first two.
It is a common convention in stud poker games to name the betting
rounds after the number of cards each player holds when that
betting round begins. So the bet that occurs when each
poker player has three cards is called third card or third street,
while the bet that occurs when each player has five cards is
fifth street. The final round, regardless of the
number of betting rounds, is commonly called the river or
simply the end.
The poker game variations described below assume that you are already
familiar with five-card stud and seven-card stud, and with
the basic poker rules and game play.
General Poker Rule Variations
Some poker rule variations can be applied to almost any
poker game, and combinations of these variations can be used to
create ad-hoc games. These include roll your own,
rollouts, blind stud, and twist rounds.
Any game can also be changed by adding one or more jokers to
the deck to act as wild cards,
or by designating certain other cards as wild. Some
specific common poker rule variations
include low hole card wild, in which each player's
lowest-ranking down card (and all other cards of that same
rank) are wild in that player's hand only, and follow the
queen, in which each time a Q is dealt face up to anyone,
the next face up card (and all others of that rank) become
wild. The usual practice in the latter case is that if
a second Q appears among the up cards, the previous wild
card loses its status to the new one.
One can also vary any stud poker game by dealing
extra down cards and
requiring either that one or more hole cards be discarded at
some point in the poker game or adding a restriction on how many
of those hole cards may be played in the final poker hand.
For example, five-card stud poker can be modified by dealing each
poker player an extra down card at the start of the game, adding
the restriction that each poker player may only use one of his two
down cards in his final poker hand. This poker game is called
Crocodile Stud.
Likewise, seven-card stud poker can be modified by dealing each
player three down cards instead of two on the first round,
but adding the restriction that a player may use no more
than two of those cards in his final poker hand (called
Buffalo Stud; if the
extra hole card must be discarded after the first betting
round, then it is
Australian Stud).
If playing one of these poker games without the requirement to
discard the extra hole card at some time during play, it is
recommended as a practical matter to ensure compliance that
each poker player physically discards one hole card immediately
before showdown, before revealing the "live" hole cards (so
that there can be no confusion about which cards were down).
Variations can be made by eliminating betting rounds or
dealing more than one up card at a time for one or more
rounds. For example,
Mississippi Stud Poker (see below) is basically
seven-card stud poker with the second betting round removed, and
the last card dealt face up instead of face down.
Further adding an extra hole card as above makes it
Murrumbidgee Stud Poker.
Games that mix stud-like rounds with community cards are
discussed on the community
card poker game page. In general, one can mix up card
rounds with community card rounds in many ways.
Specific Variants
As mentioned above,
seven-card stud poker
is probably the most common form of the game, with most
other games being variants of that, although five-card stud
poker is also a basic pattern upon which many variations are
built. Most of the poker games described below started as
ad-hoc variants, but they have either become popular enough
to have a common name, or else have some unique feature to
merit including them here.
Six-Card Stud Poker
Six-card stud poker is usually played as identical to seven-card
stud poker, except that the last face-up round is removed (thus it
is two down, three up, one down). It can also be
played as 1-4-1, where the first betting round occurs after
only two cards are dealt (one down and one up). This
latter form more closely resembles five-card stud poker with an
extra down card.
A variation called
Alligator Stud Poker
starts with one hole card and one up card, followed by a
first betting round; then two up cards are dealt to each
poker player followed by a second betting round; then a fourth up
card and betting round, and finally a fifth up card and
betting round. This poker game plays well at no limit and
pot limit. The same poker game, but with each player
initially dealt two downwards and one up card, and
restricted to using only one of his down cards in his final
poker hand, is called
Zanetti Stud Poker.
Razz (and
London Lowball)
Razz Poker is seven-card stud
poker played with ace-to-five low poker hand values. It is usually
played with a bring-in paid by the poker player with the
highest-ranking up card on the initial deal (aces are always
low cards in Razz poker, even for the purpose of assigning the
bring-in). On the second and subsequent rounds, the
poker player with the lowest exposed poker hand starts the betting.
London Lowball Poker is
seven-card stud poker played with ace-to-six low
poker hand values.
It is usually played at pot limit or no limit, and is
otherwise identical to Razz poker.
Eight-or-Better High-Low Stud Poker
Also known as seven eight or stud
eight poker, eight or better poker is the most common form of
high-low split stud poker. Played as seven-card stud poker, but
the pot is split between the player with the highest poker hand
and the player with the lowest poker hand (using the
ace-to-five low poker hand values).
An 8-high poker hand or lower is required to win low.
Betting takes place as if playing standard high-hand stud poker;
that is, low card pays the bring-in, if any, on the first
round, and subsequent rounds start the betting with the
highest showing poker hand.
The showdown is cards
speak, that is, there is no declaration for the high poker hand and the low
poker hand.
Each poker player may choose a different subset of five cards to
play for high and low.
For example, a player with A-A-8-6-6-4-3 can play a high
poker hand of A-A-6-6-8, and a low poker hand of 8-6-4-3-A. A poker player
with K-9-8-7-6-5-4 can play a 9-high straight for his high poker
hand, and 8-7-6-5-4 for the low poker hand (which is the worst possible
qualifying low, but it does qualify). A player with
K-9-8-7-7-6-5 can play the 9-high straight for high, but
cannot play any low hand, because he cannot make an 8-high
or lower. If there is no qualifying low poker hand, the high
poker hand takes the entire pot.
This poker game plays well with a bug or two in the deck.
Mississippi Stud Poker
Mississippi stud poker was created to make seven-card stud poker play
better at no limit and pot limit, and is slowly becoming
popular for that reason. It is also often played with
a betting structure more typical of
Texas hold'em poker: fixed
limit with the last two rounds double the limit of the first
two. The bring-in should be less than the first-round
limit.
The initial deal is the same as standard seven-card stud poker.
After the first betting round, two up cards are dealt to
each poker player, so each now has two down and three up (so
unlike standard stud poker there is no betting on "fourth
street"). A second betting round is followed by one
more up card and a third betting round. Finally, the
last card is dealt face up, so that each player ends with
two down cards and five up cards. Because each player
has five up cards on the last round, straights, flushes, and
full houses count as high hand exposed for the purpose of
determining who must bet first. After the seventh
street bet there is a normal showdown.
It can also be played with low poker hands, or high-low split.
If three down cards are dealt initially instead of two, with
the restriction that no more than two of them can be used in
the final poker hand, this variation is called
Murrumbidgee Stud Poker.
Mexican Stud Poker
Various forms of roll your own five-card stud poker, often with a
stripped deck and wild cards, are called
Mexican Stud Poker,
Mexican Poker, or
Stud Loco. One
such variant played by the Casino San Pablo in northern
California has these rules: 8s, 9s, and 10s are stripped
from the deck, and a single joker is added (the deck
therefore contains 41 cards). The 7-spot and the J
become consecutive, so that 5-6-7-J-Q is a straight. A
flush beats a full house (with fewer cards of each suit,
they are harder to get).
The joker plays as a bug if it is face up, and fully wild if
it is face down. The game is played as five-card stud
poker choose-before roll your own. It is usually played with
a very high ante, and the high card on the first round pays
the bring-in.
The game of
Shifting Sands
is Mexican Stud Poker in which each poker player's hole card (and all
others of that rank) are wild for that player only.
Miscellaneous Poker Games
Five-card stud poker played high-low split with an added twist
round is called
Option Alley or
Five-Card Option. The game
Canadian Stud Poker or
Sökö is
five-card stud poker with two new poker hand values added: a four-card
straight beats one pair, a four-card flush beats a four-card
straight, and two pair beats both of the above.
The term
English Stud Poker is
used ambiguously to refer to several poker games, including
six-card stud poker played 1-4-1 with a twist (also called
six-card option), London Lowball Poker,
and a seven-card stud poker game where both sixth street and
seventh street are twist rounds.
In the game of seven-card flip, each poker player is dealt four
cards face down, and chooses two of them to turn up.
All cards are turned up simultaneously after everyone has
chosen. At this point, the poker game proceeds as if it were
standard seven-card stud poker starting on fourth street.
Kentrel (or
48) is a
seven-card stud poker variation which starts with each poker player
being dealt four down cards. Each player must then
discard one, choose one of the remaining three to turn face
up (leaving two down and one up as normal), and then proceed
as with eight-or-better high-low stud poker.
The game of Chicago is
seven-card stud poker in which the high poker hand splits the pot with
the player who has the highest-ranking spade in the hole
(among his down cards).
Several different poker games played only in low-stakes home poker games
are called
Baseball, and
generally involve many wild cards (often 3s and 9s), paying
the pot for wild cards, being dealt an extra up card upon
receiving a 4, and many other ad-hoc rules (for example, the
appearance of the queen of spades is called a rainout and
ends the hand). These same rules can be applied to no
peek, in which case the poker game is called
night baseball.
Cowpie Poker is played
as seven-card stud poker until after after the seventh-street bet.
All remaining poker players then split their poker hands into a
five-card poker hand and a two-card poker hand. The five-card poker hand
must outrank the two-card poker hand, and the latter must contain
at least one down card. After the split there is one
more betting round and showdown. Upon showdown, the
highest five-card poker hand and the highest two-card poker hand split
the pot. The name of the game is a pun on Pai-Gow.
Draft Poker (or
socialist poker)
is usually a variant of seven-card stud poker in which the second
and subsequent up card rounds are dealt this way: for each
poker player remaining, one up card is dealt to the center of the
poker table (not to any specific player). The player with
the worst showing poker hand gets to choose which of them he will
take for his next up card, then the poker player with the
second-worst showing poker hand chooses his up card from those
left, and so on, until the player who previously had the
best showing poker hand takes the remaining card. Then betting
occurs as normal. In seven-card stud poker, this makes for
three draft rounds (the first three cards are dealt
normally, as is the final down card).
Auction Poker is a similar
variation in which each up card round (or possibly just
those after the first) begins with an auction phase.
Instead of dealing each poker player one up card, the first card
is dealt to the center and all players bid on it; the player
who bids the highest amount places that amount into the pot,
and then has the right to either keep the auction card as
his own up card, or designate another player who is required
to take it as his.
After the first card is auctioned off and placed, the
remaining poker players are dealt a random up card as usual, and
betting proceeds as usual. This variation is commonly played
as high-low split, so it is common for a player to purchase
a high card to force it upon an opponent seeking low.
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