Show Hands in Playboy Casino (Play8oy): How the Five-Card Stud Table Works

Show Hands in the Playboy Casino (also written Play8oy) lobby is a card table, not a slot. The game is Show Hand (梭哈), the five-card stud poker popular in Hong Kong films and Chinese card rooms. You play against an opponent at a green felt table, and the whole game turns on when you bet, when you fold, and when you dare to push everything in.

Choosing a hall

The first screen asks you to "Please select a hall". There were two: Table Limit 2000-5000 and Table Limit 5000-10000. These are the betting limits in points, and they are steep next to the 18-100 per spin of most slots in this app. Pick the lower hall unless your balance is comfortably larger than the upper limit.

After choosing, you take a seat and see "Please wait for a new round..." while the table fills. Your seat box shows your ID and the amount you brought in (5000 in our capture), with an Exit button on the right. Once the round starts, the table limit and a round number appear at the top, and your opponent's avatar sits beside a Fold button.

How Show Hand is played

The standard rules, which this table follows as far as the screens show:

1. Each player gets one card face down and one face up.
2. The player showing the higher up-card acts first, and in later rounds the best-looking open hand leads. You can check, bet, call, raise or fold.
3. Another face-up card is dealt, followed by another betting round, until each player has five cards (one hidden, four open).
4. On your turn you can declare show hand: an all-in bet (some tables only allow it from a later card onwards). The opponent must call it or fold.
5. If both players are still in after the last round, the hidden cards are shown and the best poker hand takes the pot.

Hands rank as in normal poker, from high card and one pair up to straight flush. Many Show Hand tables use a short deck (8 to Ace), and in that version a flush beats a full house. Check the i page to see which deck and ranking this table uses before you play for real stakes.

Playing it sensibly

Because four of your five cards are visible, Show Hand is about reading the open cards. Fold early when your opponent's up-cards already beat anything you can make; the cost of folding on the first round is small. Save "show hand" for hands you are confident in, since it can end your session in one go at these limits.

For the other table and round-based games in this app, see the Playboy Casino overview. You need a Play8oy game ID to take a seat.