Five-card stud

Five-card stud is the earliest form of the card game stud poker, originating during the American Civil War,[1] but is less commonly played today than many other more popular poker games.

The description below assumes that one is familiar with the general game play of poker, and with hand values (both high and low variations).

If there is no bring-in, then the first betting round begins with the player showing the highest-ranking upcard, who may check.

In this case, suit should not be used to break ties; if two players have the same high upcard, the one first in clockwise rotation from the dealer acts first.

Betting now begins with the player whose upcards make the best poker hand (since fewer than five cards are face up, this means no straights, flushes, or full houses).

Bob folds, indicating this by turning his upcard face down and discarding his cards.

Alice calls and the two must now enter into a showdown - where both players compare their best five-card poker hand.

Since Carol was the last player to take aggressive action, she shows first - flipping over her hole card, the A♣ - thus giving her a pair of aces.

Although five-card stud has not been featured in major tournaments since the 70s, it was occasionally still offered in the 1990s in both Europe[4] and North America.

In order to enlarge that element of uncertainty variants increase the number of hole cards, add a high-low split, play with a stripped deck, introduce a twist round, enable the player to do a 'roll your own' game or even create new and interesting hand rankings.

[8] This variant differs from traditional five-card stud only in the way the final card is dealt.

[8] This is also a common variant in Finland, where the action of players looking to their hole river card secretly from the others is called "pihistäminen", (Engl.

Mexican stud is a roll your own game where the player receives five face-down cards, and has to reveal four of them.

However, a final round is added where all the players are dealt a single community card.

The order of suits, strongest to weakest, is hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades.

[12] Another unique rule states if two players have a flush the highest-ranking card is not used to determine a winner; instead, the Telesina suit order is used to resolve the situation.

[13] Note that these rules are as the game has been played on several online poker sites, but Telesina may generically refer to any stripped deck five-card stud variation.

[17] As with other stripped deck games, a flush is ranked higher than a full house.