The Game 5-Card Stud

5-Card Stud poker was at one time the favorite poker game. Up until the Civil War 5 Card Stud was the game that poker players sat down to play. The game moved up the Mississippi River from New Orleans and then west in the saloons of the old west. During the Civil war the game became popular with soldiers on both sides of the conflict and a version of poker has remained popular ever since that time.

5-Card Stud is a relatively simple game to play as each player is dealt 5 cards one at a time. The first one is dealt face down and then another face up. There are variations of how the betting starts at this point, but the usual way is for the lowest card showing to start the betting. A round of betting follows the face up card. Those players that make the call are then dealt another face up card. A second round of betting follows and those that call are dealt another face up card. At this point each player has four cards. Any player with a high value pair has a very strong hand. A player with high cards still has a draw. Those players that call are then dealt a final face up card. The betting is completed and the cards are turned face up. The best high poker hand wins the hand and rakes in the pot. If a player wants to see the way the game was played in the old days rent the movie Cincinnati Kid and watch the play.

5-Card Stud is not as popular as it once was and many casinos do not even spread the game each day. Seven Card Stud and Holdem have replaced it in the typical poker room. It is very hard to find a game online throughout the day, although some will offer it on a special day of the week.

It is hard to bluff in the game, as it is fairly straightforward to figure out what every player has as his or her best hand. The problem with the game is there are so few hands that a player may have in their five cards. The lack of variations has led to the other games being more popular with poker players. Still it is a popular poker game variation that breaks up the play on a Saturday night.