Poker Game Stages

Due to the nature of the game, there are a number of different time points that indicate a defined place in play and shape exactly how those at the table act and react in these high-stakes situations. So, do you know your streets from your rivers? Or your antes from your blinds?

Covered here are all the poker game stages and what you would expect to see, the bets that will be played, and what they ultimately mean when playing a number of the variants on offer at the casino.

Game Stages in Three Card Poker

If you’re new to the game, you might not be fully aware of what three card variants are. A lot of people’s minds will first go to the common five card or higher variants of poker that they see in pop culture. The difference is that three card poker isn’t played amongst a group. Instead, it’s a direct comparison of a player’s three cards against the dealer’s three, and because of that, the game stages are much simpler.

In this variant, you will begin with your betting. This will either be the ante, where you bet on your hand against the dealer’s, or the pairs plus bet, where the dealer’s hand doesn’t come into play, and you believe your cards will be a pair or higher. After this, the hand is dealt, the cards are turned over and compared, and the bet is either paid out as a win or taken by the house for a loss.

Game Stages in 5 Card Stud

In this second type of variation, you might start to see exactly the kind of stages you expected when first thinking about how poker games are played out. This is because the stud games, with the exception of Caribbean stud, are played against others. This means that there are many more stages in poker games of this type due to the number of cards dealt and the nature of playing the long game against your opponents.

Here, as with any kind of poker, you begin with the ante betting stage. This is where players place their first bets, which will begin to form the pot that can be won at the end of the game. Following on from this, every player will be dealt one card face down, known as their hole card, as well as their door card face up. At this point, the player with the lowest value card puts a bring-in bet into the pot. Each card dealt face up will be known as second, third, fourth street, and fifth street.

In these ‘street’ stages, players have the voice to raise or fold as they begin to see their hand taking shape and from the third onwards, the highest-value visible hands begin the betting for those rounds. Once every player has received their full hand and finished betting or folding, beginning with the player who started the fourth street betting, they all turn over their hole cards and display the full hand. This is where a winner will be crowned and paid out based on the ranking of the hand.

Game Stages in 7 Card Stud

As you can probably guess by the similarity in the names, this version of poker is much the same as the one prior. Due to this, you will find that the stages largely mirror each other and don’t differ to any great length. Obviously, it begins with the ante bets, but there is now something of a switch-up compared to five-card stud.

When the first cards are dealt, there are three dealt out to players on this occasion. They will be given two hole cards face down and one door card face up. Again, though, the lowest value cards decide the player to start the betting rounds, known as the bring-in, and betting continues clockwise from this first player after this third street.

After the door card, there are another three up-cards that are dealt out, again following the street process of the fourth, fifth, and sixth street. This is another period where the rules and the stages begin to diverge from the five card variant. The final card that is dealt to the players is known as the river and is again face down. Finally, there is the showdown, where players will use their dealt cards to make the best five card hand possible. Now, the winner will be confirmed and paid out.

What Are the Differences Between the Game Stages?

You may have noticed that there are a lot of similarities between the stages in stud poker. Ultimately, each step of the game is defined as a new round of betting and an extra card that makes the players’ potential hands clearer. Because of this, the main difference will be the bullishness or reluctance of the players involved, as you will start to see some drop out and others raise or check (not place a bet), if possible.

However, in other variants, you will find more stages, such as the flop, the turn, and the river. These function similarly to the streets of stud poker in that it is the points at which the cards continue to be dealt, but the flop sees three cards dealt, unlike its stud poker counterparts.