 |  Net Online Casinos - 5 Card Stud Strategy
NUMBER ONE STRATEGY - Develop a "Poker Face". You show no emotion what's so ever. If you get good cards don't smile or fidget around in your chair. Likewise if you get bad cards don't frown or look disappointed. If people can read your face they know when they have you beat or when you have a high hand.
In 5-card stud, the players all ante, and then the dealer gives everyone two cards, one face down, and one face up. There is a round of betting, and as with 7-card stud, the rules vary as to whether the low or high card on board starts the betting. I believe the better rule is to force the low card to bet; it stimulates action and makes for a more interesting game.
After this betting round, each player receives his third card face up, and the high hand starts the betting action. Once the betting is complete, each player receives his fourth card face up, there is another betting round, and then each player receives his fifth and final card face up.
An Important Difference in Hand Values
Because the players receive only five cards, the hand values in 5-card stud vary dramatically from games like hold 'em or 7-card stud, where the players each get seven cards and then can choose their best five. It is far easier to make a strong hand when you can pick five out of seven cards, rather than just getting five. Even in draw poker, where the players never have more than five cards at one time, they start with five and have the option of replacing several. So the average winning hands are also much higher in draw than in 5-stud.
The rules are still the same-that is, a flush still beats a straight, and so on-but even in a game where nine players stay in the game until the very end, a hand like a pair of Aces stands an excellent chance to win the pot. In hold 'em, 7-stud, or 5-card draw, the average winning hand is much better. The main problem with 5-card stud is that there is too much information available to the players. With only one hidden card, it is very easy to see what an opponent's best possible hand might be. Further, unless the ante is very high, there is little reason to try to chase down an opponent from behind.
For example, if your first two cards are an Eight in the hole and a Jack exposed, and someone with a King exposed bets, where is the incentive to call? It's already very clear that you are trailing in the hand, even if the player betting has a bad card like a Two in the hole. If the player holding the King has ANOTHER King in the hole, you are trailing so badly that it is extremely unlikely that you will catch up.
As a result, unless your game is a low stakes, highly social game where the participants play mainly to enjoy each other's company, 5-card stud tends to be boring. The player with the highest card bets, and unless someone has a pair or a higher card in the hole, everyone folds. At least, they should fold! Staring at a King, a player holding a hand like the Jack and Ten of hearts is a big underdog. With only three more cards to come, the odds against making either a straight or a flush-the two hands that 10-J suited seem to promise-are very, very bad. Without the action that these "drawing hands" create, 5-stud thus becomes a game of high cards and pairs, and it's usually just too obvious to everyone that they are a big underdog. 5-stud is a fine game for the movies for the same reason as 5-card draw: the audience can easily understand what's happening.
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