Stud poker also has variations and the popular stud poker games are called the five card poker and the seven card poker.

Five Card Stud Poker:

The five card poker became popular at the time of American Civil War and in a very short period of time became world famous. In five card poker, most cards are visible which makes it very easy for the players to understand their strength. This method of judging makes the game a lot different from the modern Stud Poker.

The dealer at first distributes the cards to the players sitting left to him and then moves in clockwise direction. In five card poker, the players get two hole card’s one faced up and the other is faced down. Door card is the reference given to the face up cards. The player who has got the lowest suit card starts the betting, which is known as bring in bet or forced bet. Since the game doesn’t follow the suit, it seems to be an unusual one.  The suits are kept in set of alphabetical order. At first the spades do follow Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. In five card suit, the Clubs are in the lowest rung of the game. The suit does not have any role to play after the first betting starts.

7 Card Stud Poker:

During the last half of the century, the seven card poker has been very famous and still enjoys the status of being one of the most popular games in American East Coast and in other parts of the world. The use of wild makes the game very interesting since it can change the game in many different ways.

This game is played to win a huge sum of money where one tries to make flushes, straights, etc. The amount that the players will put in to the game is decided at the start of the game, and only after that the game starts. At first, the dealer distributes three cards among the players and the person who got the lowest card calls the first bet. In 7 card poker, the clubs are in the lowest rank followed by diamond, heart and spades. Only five rounds of betting are there in 7 cards Stud Poker.

If you scan the web then you will be getting other important information about Stud Poker. This is very important step to be taken before you practice the play.

The Seven card Stud Poker is played with betting in five rounds and this is the main difference fromTexas or Omaha Holdem, which is played for four rounds of betting. The betting in the first two rounds are done with a single amount and the limits are played by doubling them in the tailing rounds. The levels are more spread out in lower limit games and the levels are demarked for the higher limit games. The player who wants to raise will be asked to double the amount bet. The five card draw stud game is played with two blinds and one is higher and the other is lower.

The size is fixed by the betting limit of the table. When one is with the five cards Stud Poker, one to the left of the dealing person posts the small bet or blind and the one to the right deals the bug blind. The small blind being the main – they deal five cards with their face down to the players. The play starts from the person in the left of the big blind and is called “under the gun” and he is allowed to fold the cards or call equal money to the big blind.

He can also do a raise and that is to put in double the amount of the big deal. The play goes on till all the players matched the amount of the ongoing bet or have folded so as not to play. The blinds are also taken in as bets and if there are no raise before the game is completed, then the big blind has the option to check and draw. He can raise and re-open the game. The five card Stud Poker can be played with three raises on the rounds of betting.

The draw is the next phase and the players choose to discard the cards and replace them facedown. They are again dealt with cards as many as they discard and they can discard as many as five of them. The game starts with the person on the left of the button who has highest card face up, once more. The play of Stud Poker goes on in the clockwise direction till the bets are matched or the cards are folded for not playing. The five cards are used to form the best hand and then the one who has the highest ranking hand as per sequence, wins the game. If there is more than one hand of same value, the pot is divided in equal divisions.

There are many kinds of poker games, with each having its own variations. Game of poker started with just one or two kinds and over time smaller changes to make them more interesting produced different poker games. Today there are scores of poker games being played and a broader classification puts them under any of these three categories: Community Poker, Draw Poker and Stud Poker.

It was during the American Civil War that we saw stud poker emerging as a poker game. In stud poker games there are multiple rounds’ of betting and the cards are dealt both face-up and face-down- also referred to as hole cards. Depending on which stud poker game is played, number of betting rounds as well as cards dealt varies. The first stud variant that became popular is five-card stud. 5-Card Stud Poker starts with ante, a small bet. Two cards each are dealt to the players; one card is face down (pocket card) and the other is face up.

Now we see an increasing popularity of seven-card stud. Seven card stud games and other variants of it are seen in majority of poker tournaments.

Some popular stud poker games are:

Turbo Five-Card Stud, Bold Stud, Low Hole Card Wild, Mexican Stud, Mississippi Stud, Caribbean Stud Poker, Six Card Stud, Mexican Sweat

Caribbean stud poker is popularly played in online poker rooms and the game requires just about two to three players. This game is played not against the other players, but against the house and that’s what sets it apart from other poker games and makes it unique. It is not very difficult to pick on this game and you will stumble upon one or more variations of this game in online poker rooms.

Another variant of seven card stud poker is 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo. In this game sequence of betting is same, except that the betting round is commenced with the highest card. The game is known as hi-lo and in this the pot is split between the players with the highest and lowest hands.

The biggest thing about the game of poker has been its evolution over time and stud poker as a branch of poker reflects this evolution very clearly. Stud poker is also referred to as non-conventional poker game and as discussed above there are various things that characterise it; the face up and face down cards being the first basic characteristic that makes up stud poker. There are many online sites where you will come across stud poker and its different variants. You can sign up and practice these games for free before you actually get on to playing for money.