When the betting is over, players who have not folded reveal their hands in the showdown, and the player with the high hand wins the pot. The most popular form of stud poker in the United States is seven-card stud. It is best played by two to eight persons. Each player is dealt two cards face down, called the hole cards, and one card face up. The players then bet.
Players continue to bet as each new round is dealt.
In the showdown each player selects the best five cards of the seven held. Poker hands are listed here in descending order of value. Poker, originally a card game for unprincipled gamblers only, is now played for amusement or stakes at home or exclusively for stakes in gambling establishments. Most poker games require a standard 52-card deck. The object of all poker games is to have a better five-card hand than any other player or to win by bluffing the other players into believing that one has a better hand and thus causing them to fold, or drop out, from that particular hand.