Have you ever played stud live? It sometimes takes 30 seconds for the dealer to figure out who brings in.

I realize that but my point is that the dealer has to figure out the ranks of the two hands either way, but is it that hard to figure out that A > A?

And anyway this only happens once or twice a session so does it really hurt to take a few more seconds to do it in an equitable way?

The fact that it comes up only once every several hours is a good reason to do it in the more expedient way, i.e., left of dealer.

I prefer sitting in the 1 seat in stud games because it gives me an extra couple of seconds to internalize my hole cards before the up-cards come off. It also makes it easier to discreetly help inexperienced stud dealers when the need arises.

andy i believe you have a bigger edge by not looking at your hole cards untill the action gets close to or to you..
this way you get to see who on your left is anxious to play and who isnt.
and the few who are observant will not get any benefit off you from your gaining interest when going to possibly play.

I'm always willing to reconsider my approach. I used a card protector for years but now keep my right hand over my cards at more or less all times (I'm left-handed), partly because of your advice. I usually wait at least until it's the guy to my right's turn to act in NLHE, but there aren't any folded cards to remember there. In stud, I do look at all the up-cards whether I intend to play or not, and I like to imagine that I don't give a lot away when I do look at my cards early. I don't think that looking at my cards before the other guys have even gotten theirs does anything to prevent me from gauging whether they like their hands.

The last few posts are interesting. I like Seat 1 for the reasons Andy sets out. I also have crappy vision and get the upcards more quickly there.

I like the one seat because if you sit further away, you risk not being able to see what card you would have gotten had you not folded!

I'm also a big fan of "if" poker.