The History of 5 Card Stud Poker Articles | Poker

By: Richard Bleuze

The game was reportedly played in New Orleans around the late 1820’s, with a deck of 20 cards and players who bet on the value of their hands.  However, is seems likely that the name "poker" descended from the French poque.  Remember, however, that the French did have control of New Orleans in the early 19th century. 

Poker at the time was played with a 20-card pack (A-K-Q-J-10) evenly dealt amongst four players. There was no draw, and bets were made on a narrow range of combinations: one pair, two pair, triplets, and ‘full’ - so called because it is the only combination in which all five cards are active - and four of a kind.  Unlike classic poker, in which the top hand (royal flush) can be tied in another suit, the original top hand consisting of four Aces, or four Kings and an Ace, was absolutely unbeatable.  The spread of the game after this seems to have been facilitated by the practice of gambling on Mississippi riverboats.

Once the game was played on the Mississippi riverboats, the deck was expanded to the present day 52 cards and the flush was introduced.  Additional cards were soon introduced  to allow more players.  The gameof poker was expanded and developed further during the Civil War, with many of the variants of the game being introduced then, including the poker game of Five Card Stud. The game of poker was initially played with only one round of betting with all five cards dealt face down and no draw cards.  This is very similar to today’s Five Card Stud game.

During the years, professional gamblers started to add variations and rule changes to the game of poker in order to increase the profitability of the game.  The most common variations being wild cards and bluffing.   The draw was added around 1850, allowing yet another round of betting. Many of the features of modern poker, such as the draw and some versions of different hands, as well as the straight and the flush originated in the earlier forms of the British game Brag or Bragg. Today's British game of Brag, however, greatly differs from modern day poker.  

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