Five Card Stud
Five-card stud is the earliest form of the card game, stud poker, originating during the American Civil War, but is less commonly played today than many other more popular poker games - clear from its absence from the World Series of Poker. It is still a popular game in parts of the world, especially in Finland where a specific variant of five-card stud called Sökö (also known as Canadian stud or Scandinavian stud) is played. The word sökö is also used for checking in Finland (”I check” = “minä sökötän”).
Deal
Five-card stud is dealt with one card face down and one card face up, starting with the player seated to the left of the dealer. When played with a bring in the player with the lowest face up card places the bring in bet, if there is no bring in then the player with the highest ranking face card places the first bet.
When the first round of betting is done there is another card dealt to each player face up, betting after this deal is done by the player with the best up card hand. The third card is dealt face up and betting is done by the best up card hand as well as the fifth card and betting round.
Third Street
This is the second card that is dealt face up and starts to form what will be a good hand or a bad hand. It also is a deciding factor which player will begin the betting for this round as the best up hand card starts the betting round.
Forth Street
This is the third card that is dealt face up and when added with the face down card equals for cards dealt. The three cards that are facing up and begin to tell the hand the player is holding also determines that the best face up hand begins the betting round.
River
The river is the fifth and final card that is dealt, and the betting begins in the same manor, however this is when players can also raise as all the cards have been dealt and the hands are complete.
The Showdown
The player who bets with a raise will be the first to show their hand by flipping the hole card or the face down card that makes the hand unknown to other players in the game.
