Poker/Five card stud

Rules

• There can be a maximum of 10 players in a hand of five card stud.
• Each player is dealt one card face down (the hole card) and one card face up (an open card.) The two players to the dealer's left act as big blind and small blind, respectively. The big blind must place an ante equal to one betting division, while the small blind must place an ante equal to one-half of one betting division. Thus, in a $5/$10 game, the big blind must ante $5, and the small blind must ante $2.50.
  • In a game involving a bring-in bet, the player with the smallest initial open card (determined in descending order from Ace to Deuce, with the suits descending Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs) must place a bet equal to the big blind, in order to sweeten the pot.
• Once the antes have been placed, betting continues in a similar fashion to other poker games. The player to the left of the big blind acts first. Each player has three options: he or she may fold his hand, forfeiting any stakes they have placed in the pot and their chance to win the hand; call the previous bet, matching the largest single bet placed in the pot thus far; or they may raise the previous bet, exceeding the largest bet by one betting division.
  • Betting Example: Five players, Alex, Ben, Chris, Donna, and Ellen sit clockwise around a table playing $5/$10 five card stud. Alex is the dealer, Ben is the big blind, and Chris is the small blind. (For the sake of our example, there is no bring-in bet.) Donna may fold her hand, call the big blind by placing $5 in the pot, or raise the pot by placing $10 in the pot. If Donna raises, Ellen must place $10 in the pot to call or $15 to raise. If Ellen also raises, Alex must place $15 in the pot to call, or $20 to raise. In limit games, each betting round is capped at 4 times the betting division for that round. Thus, in this first round, the maximum raise is $20.
• Once betting for the first round has ended, with all players either calling or folding, a second open card is dealt, and a new betting round begins.
• Again, when betting for the second round has ended, a third open card is dealt. In the third betting round, the opening bet is doubled - in our $5/$10 game, a player must place $10 in the pot initially, and all raises will be in increments of $10 (with $40 being the maximum raise.)
• Finally, the fourth open card is dealt, and the hands are complete. A fourth betting round occurs (again with a doubled opening bet), and finally the hands are revealed, with the best hand taking the pot.