Wednesday 20 June 2012

Welcome to 5-Card Stud Poker

By Thomas Kearns


Five card stud being one of first poker varieties has been around a long while and enjoys a rich history. It is still one of the more popular of the varieties of poker played today. Even within stud poker there are many varieties such as fixed limit, spread limit, no limit pot limit and yet other varieties containing a mixture of the above. On first look, the game seems simple enough, but winning strategies require one to endeavor to attain more depth of understanding of betting, positioning and the combination of cards that make a hand successful. The high earning stud poker players use a mix of strategies and calculate odds on every move, similar tactics of all the poker varieties.

Texas Hold'em is the most popular form of poker played today with 5-card stud also popular in cash and tournament play. Five Card stud is not usually present in major tournaments, however it does show up quite often with traditional and cash players and those tournaments whose sole offering is 5-card stud.

Five Card Stud Fundamentals

To begin the round, each player is dealt a face-up card and then a card face down. The rules can be such that the player with the lowest visible card antes up and the first betting round takes place. If there is a tie for the lowest card, the player with the largest ante begins the betting. After this betting round is done, another card is dealt face up and the player with the best visible hand starts the next round. Two more rounds of face-up cards are dealt and the best hand of 5 cards wins the game. All 5 cards are made visible at the end to determine the winning hand.

Ideal Strategies in 5 Card Stud

With stud, it would be a rare incident indeed that you draw into a straight or flush due to the five card hand limitation, so what you are drawing for are three of a kind, high pairs, or better. Do not be betting heavily toward draw hands because the odds are low, but do bet toward dual draws where the opportunity presents itself to make a straight or a different, higher scoring draw hand through the art of bluffing.

Early in the game, it is not unusual to find a player betting towards pair hands, high cards, or the same in some combination. Thus, it will greatly behoove you to heed intensely the cards your opponents are holding and set your sights on the pot only if you don't draw an ace or better at your first three draws. The nature of the game, conservative, gives you the chance to bluff and if you expose your bluffs, it can aid you in more effective bluffs and semi bluffs and/or formulating that aggressive strategy when your hand is powerful.

The very directness of 5-card stud poker attracts many a traditional player because of the easier reading of opponents tells and signing. Because of this, you must pay strict attention to the hands that your opponents are folding on and learn volumes for reference in subsequent rounds. The better you are at this insightful technique, the more money you will walk away with.




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