Poker 5 Hand Rules

Poker rules are easier than you may think, and there’s no better time to learn how to play poker than now, as this popular American game is played by many people today. The basic rules of poker are the same, and use the same 5-card poker hand ranking cha. Ace-to-five lowball gets its name because the best hand at that form is 5-4-3-2-A. Deuce-to-seven lowball gets its name because the best hand at that form is 7-5-4-3-2 (not of the same suit).

Five Card Stud is one of the classic old poker games that is preferred by poker veterans. This game is often found at home poker games as opposed to casinos or online poker sites. Five card stud has a lot of tradition, and was the influence for many of the present day poker games such as Texas Hold'em and Omaha poker. This article will look at the history of five card stud, the full rules of the game, and the present day presence of the 5 card stud poker game.

Objective of Five Card Stud

Five Card Stud players have one goal in mind: to win the money in the middle of the table. There are two ways to do this - either by betting enough to scare everyone else out of the hand, or by having the best five card poker hand at the showdown. To become a winning player you should always maximize your betting when you have a good hand, and minimize your losses when you have a bad hand. Read on to learn the full rules of the game.

Structure of Five Card Stud

Five Card Stud is typically played at a table with a maximum of nine players. The game starts with each player making a forced bet, called the 'ante'. This ensures that each pot has money in it. Most Five Card Draw games are played in a Fixed Limit structure, but some online poker sites also offer Pot Limit and No Limit games as well.

Tables are identified based on their betting stakes. For example, a $5/$10 Fixed Limit game would have a small bet of $5 (used on the first two rounds of betting) and a big bet of $10 (used on the last two rounds of betting). We'll explain all of this in greater depth later in the article.

Poker 5 Hand Rules Card Game

Five Card Stud Rules

Ok, now we'll get into the rules, how everything is laid out, and how you actually play 5 Card Stud.

Shuffle Up and Deal

The game starts with each player posting an Ante, which is a small forced bet that is usually 1/5th-1/10th of the small bet at the table. For example, a $5/$10 fixed limit game would have an ante between $0.50 and $1. After all antes are posted, the dealer deals each player one face down card and one face up card. You deal clockwise around the table, starting with the player directly to the left of the dealer.

The Bring In

After the deal, whoever has the lowest face up card has to bet the 'bring-in', which is a forced bet made by that player. If two players have the same low face up card, the bring-in is decided by suit rankings (diamonds are best, then clubs, then hearts, then spades).

First Betting Round

After the bring-in, betting proceeds clockwise around the table. Each player has the option of calling the bring-in, completing the bet (basically a raise), or folding.

In Fixed Limit games, it's important to note that each round can only have three raises after the initial bet. The final raise is called the 'cap', and after that no other players can make a raise.

Second Betting Round

After the first betting round is completed, each player who is still in the hand receives another face up card. Whoever has the best hand showing (out of the two up cards) is the first player to act, and can either bet or check. Play proceeds around the table clockwise until everyone has either called the highest bet or folded.

Third Betting Round

The next card is dealt to each remaining player face up, and there is another betting round starting with the player with the best hand out of their three up cards. Once again, the betting round ends once every player has either folded or called the highest bet.

Fourth Betting Round

After this round, another card is dealt out face up, so every player now has one down card and four up cards. There is another betting round, and if at least two players are still in the hand there is a showdown, with the best hand winning the pot.

Showdown

If the hand goes all the way to a showdown, the players both flip up their hands, and the best five card poker hand wins. If you've never played poker before, here are the hand rankings:

Fixed Limit vs. Pot Limit

Although Fixed Limit and Pot Limit have the same game structure, the betting structure is quite different. In Fixed Limit, there is a rigid betting structure that determines when and how much you can bet. In Pot Limit, the betting is only capped at the pot size, and there aren't really any other restrictions.

Fixed Limit Five Card Draw poker allows a maximum of four bets in each round - a bet, a raise, a re-raise and a cap. After the cap (the third raise in a betting round), no more betting is allowed. In Pot Limit games, there can be an unlimited number of bets and raises.

Poker 5 Hand Rules How To Play

Where to Play 5 Card Stud?

Not many sites offer Five Card Stud, but we took the time to find all of the best 5 card stud sites. That page lists each site and their advantages, but if you'd like to quickly sign up to the best 5 card stud site, check out TitanPoker.com. They aren't USA friendly, so if you'd like to find a USA friendly site with 5 card stud, head to the link above.

If your a USA player, check this page for a list of US friendly poker rooms with Five Card Stud

History of 5 Card Stud

Five Card stud was the earliest form of the stud poker game, and actually originated during the Civil War in America. It was popular among soldiers who would use the game to pass time at their war camps. Since then, it has diminished in popularity, but saw a resurgence in the 1970's during the early World Series of Poker tournaments that were held that decade.

Five card stud was a side event during the 1971-1974 WSOP events, and all four of those 5 Stud tournaments were won by Bill Boyd (he won a total of $80,000 for his efforts in those tournaments). After the 1974 WSOP, 5 card stud was dropped due to a lack of popularity, and it hasn't made an appearance in any WSOP tournaments since.

Besides the WSOP, 5 card stud made an appearance in the poker movie, The Cincinnati Kid, and was the game of choice for the showdown between the 'the Kid' and 'the Man'. Since then, Five Card Stud has slightly fallen off, and is only found at a few online poker sites, and very few live casinos.

Five Card Stud Variations

Besides normal five card stud, there are a few variations that are different poker games but based on the same format. Here they are:

Canadian Stud

Canadian Stud is played exactly the same as five card stud, but with the introduction of two new hand rankings. First of all, four card straights count as a poker hand. They're ranked higher than a pair, but less than two pair. Also, four card flushes are another poker hand. These are ranked better than a four card straight, but less than two pair.

Two Down/Three Up

This game is the same as normal stud, but instead of having four down cards and one up card, you have two down cards and three up cards. The first two cards each player is dealt are face down, and the next three are dealt face up.

Other Poker Games:

Ace to Five is the oldest form of lowball poker and is available in many formats. Today the most popular format is 7 Card Razz, which is a 7 Card Stud game that awards the pot to the lowest hand based on Ace to Five lowball rankings. In the past, Ace to Five lowball was much more popular in the Draw poker format. In fact, A-5 Lowball was offered at the first World Series of Poker in 1973, and then for 21 consecutive years from 1976 to 1996. It returned again from 2000-2002, was absent from the WSOP in 2003, and then made its final appearance in 2004. Today, Ace to Five lowball ranking is used in Hi/Lo split games and in Razz, while Draw Poker games mostly use Deuce to Seven lowball rules.

The goal of Ace to Five lowball is to make the lowest hand. In this lowball variant straights, as are flushes, are ignored as part of the ranking system. Therefore, the best possible hand is A-2-3-4-5 and the second best hand is A-2-3-4-6. To illustrate hand rankings further, we have listed below the top ten Ace to Five lowball hands.

Top Ten A-5 Lowball Hands

#1 (A-2-3-4-5)
#2 (A-2-3-4-6)
#3 (A-2-3-5-6)
#4 (A-2-4-5-6)
#5 (A–3-4-5-6)
#6 (2-3-4-5-6)
#7 (A-2-3-4-7)
#8 (A-2-3-5-7)
#9 (A-2-4-5-7)
#10 (A-3-4-5-7)

Poker 5 Hand Rules Hand

In ranking an Ace to Five lowball hand, the most important factor is the highest of the player’s five cards. For example, 56789 is a nine low and would beat A-2-3-4-T which is a ten low, because even though four of the cards in the 56789 were higher than four of the cards in the A-2-3-4-T, it is the highest of these cards that determines who has the best hand. When the highest cards in each hand are the same, the second card is used as the kicker. The player with the second highest card that is lower would win the pot. If this card is the also same, the third highest card would be examined, so on and so forth until someone has a lower card.

When sitting in a lowball poker game, it is important to know if the game is being played in Ace to Five format or not. If you fail to check, the game might not be A-5 but rather A-6 (rare) which is a game where Aces are still low but straights and flushes actually count as straights and flushes, which most commonly will be 2-7 Lowball. Deuce to Seven is played much differently that Ace to Five, as Aces are ALWAYS high, therefore if you’re drawing to an Ace when mistaking 2-7 lowball for A-5 lowball, you’ll be left in very bad shape.

In live games where players commonly call out their hands at showdown, it is courtesy to call out two cards. For example, a player will turn over his hand and say “8-6 low”, so that if an opponent has an 8-7 low they’ll quickly see they are beat. Another term sometimes used when discussing Ace to Five lowball strategy is rough and smooth. For example, 8-7-6-4-3 would be called a rough-eight, meaning it is likely in trouble if their opponent also has an eight low, and 8-4-3-2-A would be referred to as a smooth low.

A-5 Lowball Online

Rules For 5 Hand Poker

Today A-5 Lowball is available online only in Razz format, while many sites spread this game the largest and therefore the site with the most traffic is PokerStars.com.

Poker 5 Hand Rules Dice Game

While technically A-5 Draw is offered at Carbon Poker, and other rooms operating on the same network, there is literally no traffic for any of their lowball games. Despite having a rich history of lowball WSOP bracelet winners, A-5 Draw Poker both in single and triple draw is for the most part a game of the past, having been replaced over the past five or six years with its former fierce competitor Deuce to Seven Lowball Draw which is another game offered at PokerStars.com.