Poker Home

Stud Poker

An Introduction To Stud Poker

With so much of the poker world focused these days on No Limit Texas Holdem, you might be wondering why you should be interested in learning and playing an ‘old school’ game like limit Stud Poker. The answer is simple: because you can win. With so many people devoting time and energy to Texas Holdem, Stud Poker has enjoyed a real rebirth as a game where the well-informed player (you) can profit at the expense of the less adept. In a wider sense, it’s a good idea anyhow to add new games to your poker repertoire, because who knows, you might find yourself in a situation where a given game is the only one in town. Plus, such study will teach you to think more broadly and analytically about poker in general, and that’s always a good thing.

What has famously been called ‘the waiting game’, the game of Stud Poker is a style of poker that rewards patience, memory, and the powers of deduction.

In Seven card stud poker, there’s an ante from each player on top of the blinds to get the pot started, and then every player is dealt two cards face down and one card face up that everyone can see. Whoever has the lowest ‘up’ card, or door card, makes a mandatory minimum bet. Each player in turn after that has the standard poker options to call, raise or fold. After the betting round is completed, each remaining player gets another up card. Now there’s another round of betting, but this time (and for the rest of the hand) the highest hand leads out, with everyone following clockwise in turn. This continues for two betting rounds of face-up cards until completion of the betting round. You are then dealt a sixth card, face up, by which time you should have a very good idea of your hand strength. Then comes a seventh card – this one dealt face down – followed by a final round of betting and then a showdown. The winner of the pot is determined according to standard poker values: flush beats a straight, pair beats a bluff, etc.

Five card stud poker is very similar to Seven card stud poker, but obviously you only get 5 cards. It is probably one of the oldest forms of poker, as featured in most poker related films. There are no community cards, each player will end up with one card face down and four cards face up at the end of the game.

Stud Poker Guide - Download Your Pocket Guide to Poker Now!


Ladbrokes pocket guide to poker is available in PDF format and can be easily downloaded by clicking the links below.

Online Poker - Click on the link to download (Full guide)
Stud Poker - Click on the link to download

For more information on any of our online poker games, such as Texas Holdem or Omaha Poker please see Poker Games.

The full rules for each of our online poker games including Texas Holdem Rules, Omaha Poker Rules, Five Card Stud Rules, Seven Card Stud Rules, Omaha Hi-Lo Rules, Pot/No Limit Rules, Single Table Tournaments Rules and Multi Table Tournaments Rules can be found in Poker Rules.

Back to top