Five Card Stud Rules

The object of the game is to win the pot, either by holding the best five-card hand at showdown or by making a bet that no other player calls.

The game is played with a standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Hands are ranked according to the standard poker hand rankings. Suits have no rank when comparing hands.

Each player receives exactly five cards and has no choice about which to use. A player's hand is all five of their cards.

Between two and ten players may take part. As in all stud games, there is no dealer button; the order of action is decided by the cards showing.

Before the deal, every player posts an ante. Antes are dead money and do not count toward a player's bet.

Bring-in method (usual in cardrooms). After the first two cards are dealt, the player with the lowest upcard must make a forced opening bet, the bring-in. Aces count high. The player may instead complete to the full small bet.

2.2(a) Ties for the lowest upcard are broken by suit, ranked from lowest: clubs ♣, diamonds ♦, hearts ♥, spades ♠. The player with the lowest suit brings in.

High-card method (traditional). Where no bring-in is used, the player with the highest upcard acts first on the first round and may check or bet. Ties are broken by the player nearest the dealer's left. This is how the game was played for most of its history and how it is still usually played at home.

Suits matter only for deciding the bring-in and awarding an odd chip (4.4). They are never used to rank hands, to decide who acts first on later rounds, or to decide who wins a pot.

The dealer deals each player one card face down (the hole card) and one card face up, one at a time, clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer's left. The first betting round follows.

The dealer then burns a card and deals each active player one card face up. This is repeated until each player has four upcards, with a betting round after each.

The last card is dealt face up. A player's only concealed card throughout the hand is their hole card.

From the second betting round onwards, the player with the highest-ranking poker hand showing acts first and may check or bet. If two boards are equal, the player nearest the dealer's left acts first.

In fixed-limit play, bets and raises are in increments of the small bet on the first two rounds and of the big bet on the last two rounds. A typical structure is ante 25, bring-in 50, small bet 200 and big bet 400.

Open pair. In venues that use the rule, if any player shows a pair on the second betting round, any player may bet or raise either the small bet or the big bet on that round.

The number of raises per round is capped as the venue specifies. Five Card Stud is also played pot-limit and no-limit; see betting structures.

A player who folds must turn their upcards face down.

If the deck cannot supply a final card to every active player, the dealer deals a single common card face up in the centre of the table, which every active player uses as their fifth card. This can only arise when ten players all stay to the last card.

If more than one player remains after the final betting round, each player turns over their hole card and the best five-card hand wins.

If there was a bet on the final round, the last player to bet or raise shows first. If there was no bet, the player with the highest hand showing shows first.

The cards speak. Hands are read from the cards shown, whatever a player declares.

Hands of the same rank are compared card by card. If two hands are identical in rank, the pot is split equally. When a pot cannot be split evenly, the odd chip goes to the player with the highest card by suit among the tied hands.

A player who is all in may win only as much from each opponent as they put in themselves. Further bets form a side pot.

If the dealer exposes a player's hole card during the deal, procedures vary. Most venues deal that player's next card face down in its place, so the player still holds one concealed card; some declare a misdeal instead.

A misdeal is declared if a player is dealt the wrong number of cards on the first round or the deck is found to be incomplete, provided substantial action has not yet taken place.

If a card that should be dealt face up is dealt face down, it is turned face up.

A hand is dead if it is folded, if it contains the wrong number of cards at showdown, or if it touches the discards and cannot be clearly identified. Players are responsible for protecting their hole card.