Mississippi Stud Strategy: The Complete Guide
Clear decisions for your starting cards, 3rd Street, 4th Street and 5th Street.
The Short Version
- Raise 3x with made hands and the strongest draws.
- Raise 1x with playable medium hands.
- Fold weak hands with no live path to a payout.
1.Start with the point system
Every decision below is built on these three bands.
Count only rank value. Suits matter separately, for flush draws.
2.3rd Street: Your First Two Cards
Decided before any community card appears. Folding here costs only the ante, which makes it the cheapest decision in the game. For every one of the 1,326 starting hands individually, see hole card strategy.
A pair is already a strong base for two pair, trips, a full house or four of a kind.
One high card, or two middle cards, carries enough rank value to continue without committing the maximum.
Being suited or connected does not rescue a zero-point hand.
3.4th Street: Three Cards
The first community card is now face up. Reassess before you bet again.
Raise 3x
Any pair of 6s or better takes the maximum, as does three to a royal or a strong straight-flush draw.
Raise 1x
Never fold three suited cards. Take 1x with a low pair, three or more points, or a live straight draw.
Fold
One point, no pair, no flush draw and no straight draw. There is nothing left to improve.
4.5th Street: Four Cards
You now have four cards visible and one community card still to come.
Raise 3x
Also raise 3x with any made hand, or an open-ended straight whose high card is an 8 or better.
Raise 1x
A losing pair still improves to trips or better. Also take 1x with any other straight draw, or four points.
Fold
Fold when no remaining river card can create enough value to cover another bet.
5.One complete hand
Three modest raises, four units at risk, and a draw that stayed alive.
1.Start
Two high cards, four points.
2.3rd Street
Five points and a straight draw forming.
3.4th Street
Six points, draw still live.
4.5th Street
The queen completes 9-10-J-Q-K.
5.Result
Paid on all four units out, not just the ante.
Scroll to see the full hand
6.Bankroll rules
Sit down with at least fifty base bets.
Keep the ante the same size all session.
Decide your loss limit before you play.
7.Common mistakes
- 01Raising 3x with weak hands
- 02Folding three suited cards on 4th Street
- 03Treating suited low cards as automatically playable
- 04Chasing losses by increasing the ante
Daniel Carter is a poker strategist and writer with more than 10 years of experience in poker strategy and education.
Strategy on this site follows Michael Shackleford’s published basic strategy, verified independently against our own exhaustive enumeration of all 155,937,600 possible deals. Corrections are welcome. The figures here are meant to be checkable.
Last reviewed August 2026