The Variations Of Five Card Stud Poker Explained « Virgin Poker

The Variations Of Five Card Stud Poker Explained

Posted in Uncategorized by virginpoker on May 29, 2009

The very first form of stud poker to have been played, five card stud poker is a fantastic card game, quick to learn and easy to play, it is suitable for all ability levels. However, due to the popularity of seven card stud and now Texas Hold Em, it can be difficult to find a standard game of five card stud in a regular casino.

For various reasons, many people have introduced variations of five card stud. Some casinos offer the variations as a way to entice more players to play the game, whilst others look for a twist on a classic poker game and some simply want to increase the difficulty of the game completely, as in a standard five card stud game, players receive one hole card and four face up cards, making it very easy for even amateur players to succeed.

One of the more popular variations of five card stud poker is the Hi Low version. A popular variant of many other poker games and other casino games in general, Hi Low games provide a joint share of the total pot, one half for the highest value card hand on the table and one for the lowest value card hand. Most casinos have set rules about what is counted as a low hand, however generally, most offer the rule of Ace to five, meaning a hand must be within these cards to be counted as a low hand, although some offer Ace to six and occasionally Ace to seven.

Also known as Canadian Stud, Soko is a variant of five card stud poker that was developed in Finland and is still played regularly to this day. There are only subtle differences between Soko and standard five card stud, which are usually the additions of two extra hands in terms of ranking and hand value. As it is unlikely for a player to have a five card flush or straight in traditional five card stud, Soko allows for four card straights and flushes to be accepted. However, they are not ranked similarly, a four card straight is the next highest in value after a pair, whilst a four card flush is ranked above a four card straight and between a two pair.

Mexican Stud or Stud Loco differs quite substantially in the way play is executed from the standard five card stud poker game and is known as a roll your own poker game. Each player starts out with two hole cards, but after the count of three, they have to all turn face-up one card. After each round of betting, which is the same as regular five card stud, each player receives a card and again has to decide which card to turn face up on the count of three. Once all betting has been completed, the table will be the same as a standard five card stud game, with four cards face up and one card face down. Often played with a stripped deck, the Mexican Stud version of the game is one that is often played with friends and can provide fantastic amusement for hours.