shipitfish | 5 Card Stud Online (Reply)

I bought into Bodog because I heard the games were particularly good. I'm not sure on that, but I did find that they have, of all things, 5 Card Stud. It's strange to play this game for "real money" (not penny-ante), even if it is just $2/$4.

The game is profitable, as people play it and actually draw, which is basically never positive EV in this game. Ace high is the best hand half the time; and King high is often good. If you don't have at least Queen high, you usually fold. And, you can easily tell by the upcards if you are in the lead. The odds that someone has a pair are quite low, and they usually slow-play and make it obvious.

It's a simplistic game that's easy to figure out. Perhaps as pot-limit it might be different, but in a limit scenario, I don't see much complexity. And, as such, you need serious fish to beat the rake.

But, that's just a simple analysis after a couple of hundred hands which yielded me only three big bets.