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The Rules for General Variations on Stud Poker Games.

Stud Poker

Other Stud Poker Games

General Stud Poker Variations

Some poker rule variations can be applied to almost any stud poker game, and combinations of these variations can be used to create ad-hoc games. These include roll your own, rollouts, blind stud, and twist rounds.

Any poker game can also be changed by adding one or more jokers to the deck to act as wild cards, or by designating certain other cards as wild. Some specific common variations include low hole card wild, in which each player's lowest-ranking down card (and all other cards of that same rank) are wild in that player's hand only, and follow the queen, in which each time a Q is dealt face up to anyone, the next face up card (and all others of that rank) become wild. The usual practice in follow the queen is that if a second Q appears among the up cards, the previous wild card loses its status to the new wild card following the second Q.

One can also vary any stud poker game by dealing extra down cards and requiring either that one or more hole cards be discarded at some point in the game or adding a restriction on how many of those hole cards may be played in the final hand.

For example, five-card stud poker can be modified by dealing each player an extra down card at the start of the poker game, and adding the restriction that each player may only use one of his two down cards in his final hand. This game is called Crocodile Stud Poker. Likewise, seven-card stud poker can be modified by dealing each player three down cards instead of two on the first round, but adding the restriction that a player may use no more than two of those cards in his final hand (called Buffalo Stud Poker; if the extra hole card must be discarded after the first betting round, then it is Australian Stud Poker).

If playing one of these stud poker games without the requirement to discard the extra hole card at some time during play, it is recommended as a practical matter to ensure compliance that each player physically discards one hole card immediately before showdown, before revealing the "live" hole cards (so that there can be no confusion about which cards were down).

Variations can be made by eliminating betting rounds or dealing more than one up card at a time for one or more betting rounds. For example, Mississippi Stud poker is basically seven-card stud poker with the second betting round removed, and the last card dealt face up instead of face down. Further, adding an extra hole card as above makes it Murrumbidgee Stud poker.

Poker games that mix stud-like rounds with community cards are discussed on the community card poker page.

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