Casino Poker Strategy: Five Card Stud

Sometimes billed as Cyber Stud Poker this game does typically play with offered odds that translate to a relatively high house edge of 5.22%. This figure of course also assumes ‘perfect play', so if you don't play with some strategy designed to get you close to that ideal the house edge will be even less favourable when compared to other games!

Because of the huge numbers of permutations of hands that the player and dealer can compete with, the absolute optimal strategy to deploy when playing this Poker at an online casino is very, very complex and probably beyond all but the most fastidious player. Life's too short for this kind of thing if you just want some fun! The very good news is that there is a far simpler strategy that all players can realistically memorise that is still highly effective, producing results that are strikingly close to ‘perfect play'.

Three scenarios must be considered after you've received your cards and know the value of the dealer's ‘open' card.

1. If you're hand value cannot match or beat the dealer's minimum qualifying hand (Ace and King), FOLD your hand.
2. If you hold a Pair or better. RAISE.
3. If you're best hand matches the dealer's minimum qualifying hand of Ace and King, only RAISE if:
   1. The dealer's open card shows an Ace of King and your hand also includes a Queen or a Jack.
   2. The dealer's open card is any value between 2 and Queen (inclusive) and that value matches one of your other three cards.
   3. The value of the dealer's open card isn't matched by any card in your hand, but your other three cards includes a Queen and one other card that outranks the dealer's.

This strategy isn't difficult to commit to memory and will allow you to play this style of casino Poker at very close to the optimum odds available at the table.