Stud Poker

If you've read the blackjack pages then you'd see there that we are talking about a house edge of maybe 0.5%.  For Stud Poker the odds are over 5% and that's if you play well.

That's not to say that you cant have a lot of fun with Stud Poker, or even win (in the short term at least) so lets take a look at the game.

  How to Play

Initially you need to bet an "ante" lets say of $1.  Once you've placed your ante both you and the dealer are dealt 5 cards.  You can see all of your cards, but only one of the dealers.

You then have to decide whether to play, and hence make a second bet equal to twice* your ante or fold and basically lose your ante.  What you decide to do is the main skill element of the game and is based on the 5 cards you have and the one visible dealer card.

* at some casinos you only need to bet 1x your ante to play

If you do decide to play then the dealer will reveal his cards.  If the dealers hand "qualifies", that is, that it is a hand of Ace, King high or better, then your hand and the dealers hand are compared.  If your hand is worse than the dealers then you lose on both the ante and the supplementary bet.  If your hand is better than the dealers then your ante wins (at even money) and your "play" bet is paid out at odds based on the odds table below.  This means that if you have a good hand, you can make a serious payout.

However, if the dealer does not qualify then you are only paid out on your ante (at evens) and your "play" bet does not come in to play and is just left on the table.    However if the dealer doesn't qualify and you haven't folded then you are ALWAYS paid on your ante even if your hand is even worse.  In this way you could gamble on the dealer not qualifying

This can be significant as for example if you are dealt a royal flush you would obviously choose to play as you are pretty much certain to beat the dealers hand.  However you would need to pray that the dealers hand "qualifies" (is Ace, King or better) otherwise you'd only win 1x your ante.  Hence to win big you need both a great hand and the dealer not to have a really bad hand.

The other part of the game you might want to play is the progressive jackpot side bet.  This is a separate bet that pays out based ONLY on your hand.  Hence if the dealer doesn't qualify or has a better hand than you, then you will still be paid out.  The downside of the jackpot bet is that it only pays anything if you get a really good hand, so most of the time it is a losing bet, and the odds it pays for the really great hands are generally not really that good in comparison to the odds of you getting that hand.  Of course with a progressive jackpot, the payout is potentially limitless for the top hand (a royal flush) but unless it is verging on 800,000 (chance are in most cases it will be 1/10th o

  Screen shot

  Strategy

Strategy for Stud poker is relatively simple.

don't bet on the progressive jackpot (sorry to spoil the fun!)

always play if you have a pair or better

If you have Ace,King then the best strategy is very complicated.  As a simple rule folding if you dont have a pair is not too far of the best option (and is certainly better than always playing if you have AK).  If you have less than AK then you should always fold