Five card stud is very similar to Seven card stud, 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.

Start Playing 5 Card Stud Poker

Each player must ante, before receiving any cards. The amount of the ante depends on the table limits, but is usually a percentage of the lower limit.

Initial Deal

In Five Card Stud Poker, each player is then dealt one card face down (hole card) and one card face up (up card). The player with the lowest up card brings in the betting. The betting follows the same structure as Seven Card Stud, with 1 bet and 3 raises giving a maximum of four bets.

Third Street

After betting has equalised, i.e. all players have bet the same amount, then each player is dealt another card face up. The player with the two strongest up cards starts the betting at the lower limit. If the strongest hand shows a pair, then the player has the option to start the betting at the higher limit. Betting continues with each player having the option to fold, call, raise or check if no money has been bet.

Fourth Street

This is identical to the third street except that all bets are at the higher limit.

Fifth Street

All players will now have five cards, one face down and four face up. A final round of betting takes place, and after all bets are equalised there is a showdown. The last player to show strength with a bet or raise, is the first person to show their hand. The highest hand wins the pot.

5 Card Stud Poker Strategy & Tips

You can see most of your opponents cards, so you should be able to easily work out his strongest hand. If you cannot beat the exposed cards, fold early. If you need completer cards for a flush or a straight, make sure other players are not showing them. High cards and pairs will win a lot of the hands.

Seven Card Stud Poker is probably the most popular of the stud games. It can result in high pots, and affords you the opportunity to evaluate the other player’s possible hands. There are no community cards, and each player has four of his seven cards exposed to the other players. There are five rounds of betting in Seven Card Stud, as opposed to the four rounds in Hold’em and Omaha.

Start Playing 7 Card StudPoker

In Seven Card StudPoker, before any cards are dealt, all players must ante. This is a small bet, usually a fraction of the lower limit on the table. The size of the ante depends on the limits of the table you are playing, $0.50/$1.00 tables have no ante.
Each player is dealt three cards, one at a time, two face down (hole cards) and one face up (up card/door card). The player showing the lowest upcard must bring-in the first round of betting. The lowest card is determined by value, in the event of a tie, then it is the lowest suit. This is the only time that suits are used in poker. In order of lowest suit, it is clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, (alphabetical order).
The bring-in bet is a small bet slightly larger than the ante, and is also determined by the limit of the table you are playing, usually half the lower limit. A normal round of betting follows with each player having the option to fold, call or raise to a full bet. Each raise is limited to the lower limit.
E.g. In a $10/$20 game, the ante is usually $1, the bring-in $5, and a full bet or complete bet is $10.
In each round there is a maximum of 1 bet and 3 raises. The limit for Seven Card Stud bets is the lower limit for the first two rounds and the higher limit for the remaining rounds. The exception is if a player shows a pair on the second round he can go straight to the higher limit.

Fourth Street (second round of betting)

After betting has equalised, i.e. all players have bet the same amount, each player is dealt another card face up. The player with the highest two face up cards starts the betting. If the highest two cards are a pair, they have the option to bet at either the higher or the lower limit. If two players are tied, then the player with the highest suit starts the betting.
Players can fold, call or raise, and providing that no-one has bet, they may also check (bet nothing), enabling them to see who else bets. If all players check, then play moves to the next round.

Fifth and Sixth Streets

In the fifth street each player receives another card face up. Betting starts the same as in the fourth street, but all bets are at the higher limit. Sixth Street is identical to Fifth Street.
The highest hand showing starts the betting in each round.

Seventh Street (The River)

Each player receives their last card face down, and the player who started the betting in Sixth Street, starts the betting in this round. Once betting has finished, the player who made the last strong raise or bet shows his five card hand, the best five card hand wins the pot.

7 Card Stud Poker Strategy & Tips

In Seven Card Stud, fifth street is a decision time, as the betting limit increases, this is the time to fold a poor hand, especially against aggressive betting. If you stay in be sure you can play your hand out to the end.
If an opponents exposed cards beat your whole hand, it is best to fold. If you are trying to make a straight, look to see if other players are showing the cards you need, and reconsider your bet.
If you are trying to make a flush, check to see how many of that suit are left not showing, and adjust your strategy accordingly. For example, if you are trying to make a flush of diamonds, and you hold four and there are another eight showing, there is only one diamond left.
The advantage of playing online is that if you are quick you can write down what cards other players have before they fold, so helping you analyse what possible hands are still available. But you must be quick, as slow play will empty your table of players.
This is a game of patience, so be prepared to wait until you get good hands before betting heavy.
Remember there are five rounds of betting in this game as opposed to four in Hold’em and Omaha, and the level of play can hit the higher limit quicker.

N.B.

Please note, that our 7 Card Stud tables allow 8 players to play. In the unlikely event that all 8 players are still in the hand at the river, or 7 or more players have played enough streets, then there would not be enough cards left in a standard 52 card deck for each player to receive a river card. In this situation, the river card is dealt face up in the middle of the table and is used as a community card.

History of blackjack

Blackjack’s precursor was vingt-et-un (”twenty-one”), which originated in French casinos around 1700, and did not offer the 3:2 bonus for a two-card 21.

When 21 was first introduced in the United States it was not very popular, so gambling houses tried offering various bonus payouts to get the players to the tables. One such bonus was a 10-to-1 payout if the player’s hand consisted of the ace of spades and a black Jack (either the Jack of clubs or the Jack of spades). This hand was called a “blackjack” and the name stuck to the game even though the bonus payout was soon abolished. As the game is currently played, a “blackjack” may not necessarily contain a jack or any black cards at all.

How to play blackjack

The hand with the highest total wins as long as it doesn’t exceed 21; a hand with a higher total than 21 is said to bust or too many. Cards 2 through 10 are worth their face value, and face cards (jack, queen, king) are also worth 10. An ace’s value is 11 unless this would cause the player to bust, in which case it is worth 1. A hand in which an ace’s value is counted as 11 is called a soft hand, because it cannot be busted if the player draws another card.

Each player’s goal is to beat the dealer by having the higher, unbusted hand. Note that if the player busts he loses, even if the dealer also busts. If both the player and the dealer have the same point value, it is called a “push”, and neither player nor dealer wins the hand. Each player has an independent game with the dealer, so it is possible for the dealer to lose to some players but still beat the other players in the same round.
Example of a Blackjack game. The top half of the picture shows the beginning of the round, with bets placed and an initial two cards for each player. The bottom half shows the end of the round, with the associated losses or payoffs.

The minimum bet is printed on a sign on the table and varies from casino to casino and table to table. After initial bets are placed, the dealer deals the cards, either from one or two hand-held decks of cards, known as a “pitch” game, or more commonly from a shoe containing four or more decks. The dealer gives two cards to each player including himself. One of the dealer’s two cards is face-up so all the players can see it, and the other is face down. (The face-down card is known as the “hole card”. In European blackjack, the hole card is not actually dealt until the players all play their hands.) The cards are dealt face up from a shoe, or face down if it is a pitch game.

In American blackjack, if the dealer’s face-up card is an ace or a ten-value, the dealer checks his hole card to see if he has blackjack. This check occurs before any of the players play, but after they have been offered insurance (if the face-up card is an ace). If the dealer has blackjack, all players lose their initial bets, except players who also have blackjack, who push. (In some American casinos, the dealer does not actually check the hole card until after the players have all played. At that time, if the dealer turns out to have blackjack, all players who did not have blackjack lose their bets, and players who increased their bets by doubling or splitting lose only the original bet, and have the additional bets returned to them; thus, the end result is precisely as if the dealer had checked the hole card before playing.)

A two-card hand of 21 (an ace plus a ten-value card) is called a “blackjack” or a “natural”, and is an automatic winner (unless the dealer has blackjack as well, in which case the hand is a push). A player with a natural is usually paid 3:2 on his bet. Some casinos pay only 6:5 on blackjacks; although this reduced payout has generally been restricted to single-deck games (Current Blackjack News, Pi Yee Press).[citation needed] This reduced payout for a natural increases the house advantage over a player by as much as 1000 percent. The move was decried by longtime blackjack players.

Player decisions

The player’s options for playing his or her hand are:

Hit: Take another card.
Stand: Take no more cards.
Double down: Double the wager and take exactly one more card.
Split: Double the wager and have each card be the first card in a new hand. This option is available only when both cards have the same rank.
Surrender: Forfeit half the bet and give up the hand.

The player’s turn is over after deciding to stand, doubling down to take a single card, or busting. If the player busts, he or she loses the bet even if the dealer goes on to bust.

After all the players have finished making their decisions, the dealer then reveals his or her hidden hole card and plays the hand. House rules say that the dealer must hit until he or she has at least 17, regardless of what the players have. In some casinos a dealer must also hit a soft 17 (a combination of cards adding up to either 7 or 17, such as an ace and a 6).

If the dealer busts then all remaining players win. Bets are normally paid out at the odds of 1:1. Players who push (tie) with the dealer receive their original bet back

Rules variations

Some common rules variations include:

Only one card for split Aces: a single new card is added to each Ace and the turn ends. They are thus regarded as 11-point cards. No other denomination is subject to this process.
Multiple splits: If a player splits 2 cards and receives a third card of identical value, the hand can be split again, resulting in 3 hands. However, some casinos only allow a single split of the first 2 cards.
Early surrender: Player has the option to surrender before dealer checks for Blackjack.
Late surrender: Player has the option to surrender after dealer checks for Blackjack.
Double-down restrictions: Double-down may only be allowed on certain combinations of cards (usually totaling 9, 10 or 11).
Double-down after split: Double-down may not be allowed after splitting cards. The split hands are played normally otherwise.
Split any tens: Players may split any 2 cards which are both worth 10 points, such as a Jack and Queen. This rule is rarely used, since 20 is a very strong hand which is unlikely to be split.
Five card charlie: a player who accumulates five cards without going over 21 wins automatically, regardless of what hand the dealer ultimately makes.
European No-Hole-Card Rule: the dealer receives only one card, dealt face-up, and does not receive a second card (and thus does not check for blackjack) until players have acted. This means players lose not only their original bet, but also any additional money invested from splitting and doubling down. A game that has no-hole-card doesn’t necessarily mean the player will lose additional bets as well as original bets. In some Australian casinos for example, a player beaten by a dealer blackjack may keep all split and double bets and lose only the original bet, thus the game plays the same as it would if there were a hole card.

Each blackjack variation has its own set of rules, strategies and odds. It is advised to take a look at the rules of the specific variation before playing. Many countries have legal acts and laws, which determine how a casino game of Blackjack must be played. Over 100 variations exist.