Five-Card Stud

It’s seven-card stud, except there are only five cards and one of them is hidden

Imagine seven-card stud with the first two hidden cards and the last hidden card removed. You get one card face down and four face up across four betting rounds. Your whole hand is those five cards. No choosing the best five of seven, no extra street. It’s the ancestor of all the stud games, and it plays like it: very few secrets, and most hands end when somebody bets and gets no calls.

30-second cheat sheet

• Ante, then one card down (the hole card) and one up. Bet. Then three more cards face up, betting after each: four betting rounds.
• The lowest door card (ace high, suits break ties: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) posts the bring-in. After that, the best high hand showing acts first.
• Best five-card high hand wins. Standard ranking. Four-card straights and flushes don’t exist, and a pair on board is a big deal.
• Limit, pot-limit and no-limit are all played, since there are only four rounds.
• Rarity: not in the WSOP 2026 live-action rules and not a mixed-game night staple. Treat it as a history lesson.

Full rules

The deal

Everyone antes. Each player gets one card face down (the hole card) and one face up (the door card). The player showing the lowest door card, ace high, posts the bring-in and may complete to a full small bet. This is the standard structure from BARGE, Upswing and Wikipedia.

There’s also a no-bring-in version where the player showing the highest card opens and may check. Wikipedia describes it. This page uses the bring-in version.

Streets

Each of the next three cards is dealt face up, with betting after each. The player showing the best high hand acts first, and pairs and trips on the board count. With four visible cards there are no straights or flushes to worry about on board, just pairs, two pair and trips.

In limit the first two rounds use the small bet and the last two use the big bet (BARGE). Upswing says a pair showing on the second round lets players use the big bet, and gives a raise cap of the bet plus three raises. BARGE doesn’t mention either.

Showdown

The last player to bet or raise shows first; your hole card is the only thing anyone hasn’t already seen. All five of your cards are your hand. Standard high ranking, so a pair of kings beats ace-high, and four to a straight is worth nothing. Ties split and odd chips go to the highest card by suit.

Rooms disagree

• Where’s the rulebook? There isn’t a casino rulebook for it. WSOP 2026, TDA and Robert’s Rules don’t cover it. The sources are Wikipedia, Upswing and BARGE.
• Big bet on a pair: Upswing allows it on round 2, BARGE doesn’t.
• Raise cap: Upswing says three raises, others give none.
• Structure: Limit is typical, but no-limit and pot-limit are fine.

Worked examples

Pair beats nothing

A pair on the board beats an ace-high hand

Alice

• Pair of Kings✓ wins

Bob

• Ace high

Alice scoops the whole pot.

Alice has a pair of kings, three cards face up and one hidden. Bob has ace-high. The pair wins, and in real play Alice’s bets would have chased Bob out long before showdown.

Kicker

Same pair, the kicker decides

Carol

• Pair of Queens✓ wins

Dan

• Pair of Queens

Carol scoops the whole pot.

Both have a pair of queens, so it goes to the highest of the other three cards: Carol’s ace beats Dan’s king.

Four to a straight

Four to a straight is worth nothing

Eve

• King high

Frank

• Pair of Nines✓ wins

Frank scoops the whole pot.

Eve has a four-card straight with a king. That’s king-high and nothing else. Frank’s pair of nines wins.

How you’ll embarrass yourself

• Playing it like seven-card stud. Four streets, one hole card, nothing else.
• Forgetting that the board tells everything. Nearly all of your hand is face up, so a bet is a very loud sentence.
• Getting the bring-in backwards. Low card brings it in (ace is high), and then the best high hand acts first.
• Counting the ace as low for the bring-in. It’s high.

Lore and reputation

Wikipedia calls this the earliest form of stud, “originating during the American Civil War” and “much played among soldiers on both sides”. Seven-card stud later became more common. Five-card stud was a WSOP preliminary event from 1971 to 1974, and Bill Boyd won all four, which are his only bracelets. It was dropped from 1975 on. Wikipedia says that it was “occasionally still offered in the 1990s” and is mostly home games and small casinos, plus some online rooms.

If you’re sitting down at a casino mixed night and someone calls five-card stud, that’s unusual. It’s here because it’s the root of Mexican stud and the rest of the family.