Six-Card Stud
Seven-Card Stud minus the final face-up street — two down cards, three up cards, and one final down card — a faster, tighter stud variant.
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Six-Card Stud follows the same basic structure as Seven-Card Stud but drops one street: each player receives two down cards and one up card to start (third street), then up-cards on fourth and fifth street only (not sixth), followed directly by a final down card and betting round (playing the role seventh street plays in standard stud).
Betting proceeds after each street exactly as in Seven-Card Stud, just with one fewer round overall.
Showdown: each player makes their best five-card hand from their six cards (rather than seven), using standard poker hand rankings.
Strategy notes: With one fewer card to work with, hand values run slightly lower on average than in standard Seven-Card Stud, and the game moves noticeably faster — often used as a quicker "warm-up" or late-night variant when a table wants standard stud's feel without its full length.
Common house rules
Confirm which street is dropped
Standard convention drops sixth street (going from two up-cards straight to the final down card), but some tables instead shorten the game by dropping fifth street — confirm before dealing.
Bring-in and betting limits unchanged
Aside from having one fewer street, Six-Card Stud uses the same bring-in and betting structure as standard Seven-Card Stud — no other rules change.
A fast warm-up game
Many tables use Six-Card Stud specifically as a quick opener or closer for a session, since it takes noticeably less time per hand than full Seven-Card Stud.
Related games
Based on shared category, origin, and rules that reference each other.
Seven-Card Stud
The classic stud game and the backbone of home poker for decades: seven cards dealt to each player, three down and four up, with the best five-card hand winning.
▶ Play nowAuction
A Seven-Card Stud variant where the wild card for the hand isn't fixed in advance — players bid chips into a side pot for the right to name it, right after third street.
Learn the rules →Baseball
A high-variance Seven-Card Stud variant themed after the sport: 3s are always wild, and any player dealt a 4 face up may buy an extra card.
Learn the rules →Black Mariah
An intense Chicago variant, also called Follow the Bitch: the queen of spades is wild, and the lowest spade in the hole (not the highest) wins half the pot.
Learn the rules →