5-Card Stud
When I woke up this morning, I had a terrible hangover. I had a hard time trying to remember what happened the night before. All I could recall was dinner, a few rounds of poker and entering the bar. It must have been a crazy night since I woke up on the sofa instead on the bed. Then I realized that I was lucky enough to win some from a the five-card stud games. I think we tried three variations and I was lucky to win in two.
The five-card stud is considered the grandfather of all five-card stud games dating back to the American Civil War. Too bad it lost its fame but is still played in a lot of casinos all over the world. It is popular in Finland where they have a Scandinavian version. It is no longer played in the World Series of Poker. The game has also been featured in shows like in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation and in the movie The Cincinnati Kid.
A typical five-card stud game starts with one hole card and four others that are all dealt face up. It can be played in a High-Low variation wherein at the end of the game, the pot is split between the highest and lowest hands. The Two down, Three up variation features two hole cards instead of one. The three other cards are dealt face up. The Three down, Two Up variation only has three betting rounds making it ideal to be played with no limit or pot limit. The One Down, Three Up, One Down deals the last card or the river face down. The Mexican stud allows the players to choose which one of his cards to show. It is a roll your own game which sometimes uses a stripped deck.
There are other variations available. You can check them out in online casinos.