Stud poker: The purest form of poker (2024)

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Many poker traditionalists consider the variations of stud poker to be amongst the purest form of poker.

(Star Ledger (Scott Lituchy))

With the emergence of regulated online poker in New Jersey, and the ease of joining new games online, many players have begun learning the different variations of the game. While Texas hold’em remains the most popular variation, games such as Omaha hold’em and stud poker can provide additional value for players.

Today we’ll look at stud poker and the multiple variations in which this age-old game can be played. Stud poker is a community of poker games where players independently own all of their cards, while competing against other players showing a limited amount of information about their own holdings. Prior to the Moneymaker boom in 2003, Seven-card stud was the most popular form of poker played in casinos. It is still very popular in Atlantic City, California casinos, and mixed games in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Many poker traditionalists consider it the purest form of poker.

7-card stud poker

The game begins with all players receiving two hole cards and a third card face-up. It is traditionally played with seven cards, with five independent streets of action. All players post a mandatory ante prior to the distribution of cards, followed by action commencing with the player showing the lowest holding. For seven-card stud high, this is the player showing the lowest-ranked card, prioritized by suit. Spades are of the highest rank, followed by hearts, diamonds, and clubs, (alphabetical order in reverse, for easy recall.)

The game is traditionally and almost exclusively played in a limit format, with fixed betting limits at every street. After the distribution of all the initial cards, the player with the lowest holding posts a mandatory small bet called a “bring-in”, with all further action playing clockwise from there. All other players may call the bring-in or “complete” to the amount set as the small bet in the game. In a 4/8 stud game (similar to the popular 4/8 limit hold’em), $4 will play as the complete and as the small bet. The $8 big bet will come into play later. The bring-in and antes will play for less than the small bet, at the discretion of the game operator. All further action plays in $4 increments in this game variety, similar to in limit hold’em.

After this round of betting, a fourth card is drawn to all players, face-up. A similar round of betting commences, beginning with the player showing the lowest-ranking two-card board that is exposed to all players. He may check or bet the small bet, which in this example game is $4. Calling, raising, folding, and so on play as in hold’em, in fixed limit betting fashion.

Next, a fifth face-up card is dealt to all players. This street commences the big-bet phase of stud poker. All bets are now double in value, with bets in this game being in $8 increments. Betting plays as it does in fourth street, with the lowest board of cards commencing action.

The next round, called sixth street, is the following round of betting. All cards are dealt face-up one more time. Betting continues similarly to previous rounds.

Finally, the seventh card is dealt to all players, face-down. The boards shown on sixth street determine the order of the action once again for the seventh street. All betting concludes in this round, with all remaining players exposing their hole cards to determine a winner.

Stud hi-lo poker

A very popular variant of stud poker is called Stud-hi/lo, with low cards played as a five-card hand, all five of which are of rank eight or better. The game play is exactly the same as that of regular seven-card stud, except that at the showdown, 50% of the pot is awarded to the highest-ranking hand, with 50% of the pot awarded to the player holding the best low hand, determined by owning five cards of unique ranks, all of which are ranked from low to high, with aces playing as low. The lowest low hand, called the bicycle or wheel, is 5432A. Flushes and straights do not affect low hands.

A quick gameplay strategy for stud hi-lo is to aim for “suited babies”, which consist of three cards, each ranked eight or lower, all of the same suit. Low hands are easy to attain and lock in wins when they are the lowest possible low hand, while high hands in this game are secondary and generally are only desirable in pairing with the low hand to “scoop” the entire hand, or otherwise winning both the low and the high boards simultaneously.

Razz poker

Razz poker is a very simple poker variant in stud poker format where all hands play as low, with no high component. The low hand, with A2345 considered as the nuts, is the only variable at play here. Highly considered a volatile and luck-based poker variant, razz is popular as a somewhat masoch*stic and amusing game, very commonly played in mixed games such as H.O.R.S.E. poker.

Basic strategy for razz involves drawing to “smooth” hands, which consist of draws that already contain aces, deuces, treys, fours, and fives, with missing cards being of higher ranks. In a full-ring game, nearly all starting hands that don’t contain three unique ranks of eight or better should be discarded.

5-card stud poker

The original grandfather of stud poker, largely unplayed since the early 80s, is played exactly the same as seven-card stud high with one critical gameplay element: the game is played with two fewer rounds of betting. Third and fourth street are played the same, but all betting concludes on fifth street, played with the big bet, face down. This game reveals almost all information, with the hole-card element playing as a much smaller element than in seven-card stud.

All of New Jersey’s regulated online poker sites offer a variety of stud games. And while the action may not be as great as hold’em, players who master these variations often times find it much easier to win against weaker players.