7 Card Stud High-low Games

Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo, also called Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better (Seven-Card Stud 8/B), is an intricate game that has been growing in popularity in recent years - especially since it was part of the much talked about $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event in the 2006 World Series of Poker. It's also one of the famed high-stakes games played in Bobby's Room in Las Vegas, with $4,000-$8,000 blinds.

Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo may sound complicated, but it's actually quite easy to get the hang of. The main difference between high only games and hi-lo games is that in the latter, half the pot goes to the lowest hand, which by the way is A-2-3-4-5.

A low hand may contain a straight or a flush but no pairs, and the highest card allowed in the low part of the hand is, as the name Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better suggests, an eight. But don't forget that the other half of the pot goes the highest hand.

Scooping the pot is when the same player wins both the low and the high portion. One of the best possible hi-lo hands is the small ace-to-five straight flush.

The basic rules of Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo are pretty much the same as for Seven-Card Hi. Each player receives three cards, of which two are face down and one is face up. The hand with the lowest ranked card starts the betting, and when every player has acted, the remaining players get a fourth card face up.

The player with the best two-card, high hand starts the action. And so it goes until the seventh card, which is dealt face down. In the end, every player should have a total of seven cards, of which three should be face down and four face up.

As usual, the best five-card poker hand takes half the pot and the best low hand takes the other half, but if there is no low hand, then the player with the high hand takes the entire pot.

Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo can be found in many poker rooms, both as Fixed- and Pot-Limit. One suggestion might be that you try to look for rooms offering Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better Pot-Limit games, since many players are way too liberal with their starting hand requirements in Pot-Limit.

As a rule of thumb, in Pot-Limit you shouldn't play hands that are composed of two low and two high cards; it's much better to stick to only high hands or only low hands and be sure that the low hands contain an ace and a two. In other words, always draw to the "nuts" in Pot-Limit Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo.

Learn More About Seven Card Stud: Seven Card Stud Strategy, Seven Card Stud Rules
Other Stud Poker Games: Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi , Razz Poker