5 Card Stud Tournaments

It's been more than three decades that people have stopped including five card stud in the major Poker tournaments. However, the record states that in few occasions in 1990s this game was played in some of the big poker tournaments in the European and the North American countries.

Five card stud was the most important event in the WSOP, i.e., World Series of Poker. Bill Boyd who had won a huge amount of $80,000 from these series in the early 70s is considered as the master of this game. However, gradually people started to lose interest in this game. Some more intense poker games such as 7 card stud, Texas hold 'em and Ohama hold'em came into the picture. Since then, this game was not seen in any of the WOSPs.

This classic form of poker is actually absent from all the major competitions and the casinos. These days the five card stud tournaments are limited to the online poker playing forums and and sometimes in the social gatherings.

This game is quite famous among many households all over the world and it is a fast moving game unlike the seven card version. At the start of the game, five cards are distributed to each player and the first betting round takes place. After the betting the players have an option of discarding some of their cards and can get new cards from the dealer. It completely depends on the player as to how many card he or she wants to exchange but technically it is good not to exchange more than three cards.

After that a few more betting rounds take place and finally a showdown happens in which the player with the strongest hand wins the pot. In the case of a tie, the player sitting to the left of the dealer gets the chance to act first. Sometimes the dealer distributes the pot between the winners equally. However, most of the times no further calls are made and the game comes to an end before the showdown. When the pot is completed, the players are left with only one option and that is to call the game off, also termed as folding.

Though five card stud is the easiest form of poker and takes little time to learn, the game involves much patience and awareness and today also it is played with much love and affection. People who are not much interested in serious gambling still play the game. Many online versions are available which are regularly played by amateur players.