5-Card Stud poker was at one time the favorite of all the poker games. Up until the Civil War 5 Card Stud was the game that poker players sat down to play. The game moved up the Mississippi River from New Orleans and then west in the saloons of the old west. During the Civil war the game became popular with soldiers on both sides of the conflict and a version of poker has remained popular ever since that time.
5-Card Stud is a relatively simple game to play as each player is dealt 5 cards one at a time. The first one is dealt face down and then another face up. There are variations of how the betting starts at this point, but the usual way is for the lowest card showing to start the betting. A round of betting follows the face up card. Those players that make the call are then dealt another face up card. A second round of betting follows and those that call are dealt another face up card. At this point each player has four cards. Any player with a high value pair has a very strong hand. A player with high cards still has a draw. Those players that call are then dealt a final face up card. The betting is completed and the cards are turned face up. The best high poker hand wins the hand and rakes in the pot. If a player wants to see the way the game was played in the old days rent the movie Cincinnati Kid and watch the play.
It isn't as easy to bluff players when playing 5 card as it is somewhat straightforward to figure out what each player has as his or her best hand. The setback in 5 card is because there are so few hands that a player may have in their five cards. The shortage of variations has caused many of the other poker games to being more and more popular amongst card players. Five card stud remains a popular card game variant which can make a refreshing change from your regular games.