posted 01-16-2002 04:41 PM            

On page 26, the author is talking about a Poker game that took place on a riverboat. They were playing 5-card stud and he is describing how he lost to a pair of nines, while he himself was holding a straight. Here’s the rest of it:

"Using the ship’s copy of Hoyle, which she had insisted from the start was to rule the play, she showed all of us at the table the clearly written rule that "straights are not played in stud poker unless it is agreed to recognize them at the start of the game." Some "Hoyle" books of today still carry this rule, and the reason is obvious: straights in five-card stud will generally be the result of accident, and often of poor playing."

Wow… straights don’t count, because you get them by accident? I can actually believe that an old Hoyle book may have had an inaccurate rule, especially about Poker, since the game was born after Edmund Hoyle’s death. But in the book, the author seems to imply that straights are "result of accident". What is that all about? Any randomly dealt hand can be considered "result of accident", couldn’t it?

Following the same logic, should straight flushes count just as flushes? Therefore they would be degraded to the rank of flushes? I don’t buy it.

I checked all my Poker books; even went to a few Barns & Noble shops and checked all the Hoyle books as well as other Poker books with 5-card stud rules. Nothing. I can’t Find one single trace of this rule.

Has anyone here ever heard of this rule?

posted 01-17-2002 09:53 AM            

I wouldn't doubt there once was a rule like the one described in the book. It would follow the same pattern as a pin wheel straight in some parts of the country does not count for a low hand in hi-lo.

Interesting information cardshark, Thanks for the post. I will keep in mind if I ever get into a five card stud game, especially one on a river boat.