Stud poker is a poker variation. Before beginning this article make sure you are familiar with the Basic poker hand ranking.

In stud poker the players are dealt a mix of facing up and facing down cards and it contains multiple betting rounds.

Usually, stud poker games are non positional. This means that the player who places the first bet changes from round to round. The person who bets first is the one who has the best face-up cards. Hole cards are the face-down cards.

The most popular stud poker variation is seven-card-stud.

• Spread limit and fixed limit are used for stud poker with more betting rounds, like seven-card-stud.
• No limit and pot limit are used in variations with fewer betting rounds like five-card-stud and Mississippi stud.
• Later betting rounds usually have higher limits than earlier ones.
• For example, in 7-card-stud the first two rounds require 5$ bets and the following betting rounds 10$. It is not uncommon that the last betting round 20$ bets are allowed.
• It is also common that the larger bet is allowed on the second round if a player has an open pair – the face-up cards make a pair.

In stud poker betting rounds are usually named after the number of cards players hold when the betting round begins.

For example,when the players hold 3 cards, the bet is called “third card” or “third street”. The final round is called “river” or “end”.