One card is dealt face-down to each player, followed by one card face-up to each player. A betting round ensues, opened by the player with the highest card showing. Another card is dealt face-up to each player, followed by another betting round opened by the player with the best hand showing. This continues until each player has one card face-down, four cards face-up, and there have been four betting rounds. Best hand wins.
You may find it rare to play a game of Five Card Stud without an interesting stipulation of some sort, to “spice things up” a little, although most online poker sites which offer stud games tend to stick to basic 5 card and 7-card stud games.
Roll Your Own:
Two cards are initially dealt to each player face-down. On the count of three, each player decides which of the two cards they will show face-up. Following the betting round, another card is dealt face-down to each player, and on the count of three, each player again decides which of the two cards face-down they will turn face-up. This continues until each player has one card down and four up. Yet another variation of this is that the card that each player has face-down at the end of the hand is the wild card in each player’s hand
Typical Five Card Stud is dealt one card down, four up. This format can be changed to two down, three up (making three betting rounds), or three down, two up (making two betting rounds). Another popular variation is to deal the first card face-down, the next three cards face-up, and the fifth and final card face-down.
