Stud Poker generally involves a combination of "Hold Cards" (cards dealt face down to each player), and "Up Cards" (cards dealt to each player face up, for all to see).

Betting includes an ante to play, and is opened by rank at the beginning of each round. Minimum bets may increase per round, as Dealer declares prior to starting.

"No Peek" Baseball

This favorite is the least like stud, but is popular because of its unique style. Here, everyone is dealt all 7 cards face down. No one is allowed to "peek" at their cards (duh).

The first player left of the dealer flips one card. His card, being the only exposed card, is the high hand. He opens betting. As with Baseball, a 3 or 9 costs a fee to be wild, a 4 buys another card (no peeking).

Now the next player to the left will expose his cards, one at a time, until his hand is higher than the first player. Then, as new leader he will then open a new round of betting. Play continues around the table, with players exposing their cards, one at a time, until their hand can beat the current leader. The highest hand after all cards are exposed wins.

Let's use a new example. Phil's won enough. I will also only cover part of the hand. You'll be able to figure the rest out.

1. Sam : 7♠ (Sam starts the betting with a 7 high)

2. Gus : 5♦ 4♥ 5♥ (Gus paid for his extra card for the 4, and bets his pair of 5's)

3. Dealer : 9♠ J♣ (Dealer paid his wild and bets his pair)

4. Sam (continues): 7♠ 3♣ 10♠ J♠ (Jack-wild(3) ties the Dealer pair, but the 10 kicker leads)

5. Gus (continues): 5♦ 4♥ 5♥ A♥ Q♦ A♣ (Two pair leads, but with only 1 card left and 1 extra thanks to the 4, Gus checks)

I'll stop here. What you can see is that there are a lot of rounds to play. In fact, if there are 5 players at your table and you play first, you could find yourself calling 4 bets after only seeing 1 of your own cards.

In the above example, Gus is leading, but only has two cards left to make a stronger hand. The dealer still has 5 cards left and after seeing Sam take 5 cards to tie his hand, he might feel pretty strong about his cards. Of course, the dealer's next turn could expose all 5 remaining cards to beat the leading two pair. And if it takes all 7 cards and his best hand is a straight, he might even check/fold to the next bet. And if the dealer pulls a second wild card to take the lead with 4 cards left, Gus and Sam might both fold.

Why Play?

No Peek is fun because you are playing your hand based on the strength of what you haven't seen, and based on how much your opponents have unexposed.

The game is anyone's. If the first two players both expose wild cards, everyone else may fold without seeing a single card of their own. I've seen players expose all 7 cards in a row just to beat the lead hand. Bad luck, and yet they probably saved money not having to call any bets.

Because of blind folds, straights and flushes may win pots. Of course, there will also be hands that make 5 of a kind, sometimes with unseen cards remaining.

Note: This game has a lot of betting, so set your minimum bets quite low.

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