5-Card Stud poker was at one time the favorite of all the poker games. 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 moderately simple game to learn as each player is dealt 5 cards one at a time. The initial card is dealt face down and then another face up. There are variations of how the betting starts at this point, but the common 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 a further face up card. A second round of betting follows and those that call are dealt one more face up card. At this point every player has four cards. Every player with a high value pair has a very strong hand. A player with high cards still has a draw. The players who are still left in the game are then dealt a final face up card. The gambling is concluded and the cards are turned face up. The holding the best high poker hand wins the 5 card stud hand and rakes in the pot. If a player wants to see the way the game was played in the old days rent the film Cincinnati Kid and watch the play.
It is difficult to bluff players in 5 card because it is quite straightforward to work out what each player has as his or her best hand. The problem with the game is because there are so few hands that the player may have in their five cards. The deficiency of variations has led to many of the other card games to being increasingly more popular amongst card players. Five card stud remains a fun poker game variant that can make a welcome change from your regular games.
