Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo is a technically demanding poker game where the best traditional ‘high’ poker hand and the best Ace to Five lowball hand split the pot at showdown. In Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo poker, players are dealt 7 cards throughout the course of the hand, but only the best five-card hand possible for each player is used to determine the winner. Note that Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo is played with an "eight or better" qualifier, which means that a low hand must be, at worst, an eight low to be eligible to win the low portion of the pot. (Low hands in Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo are determined in the same way they're determined in Omaha Hi/Lo and Razz).
Rules for Playing Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo
Before a game of Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo begins play, all players ante a nominal amount (the exact amount depends on the game, and is displayed in the table’s title bar). Each player is dealt two hidden hole cards and one exposed card. The player with the lowest exposed card is the "bring-in", and is forced to make another nominal bet or a full small bet (again, the exact size of the bring-in depends on the game). Action continues clockwise around the table until betting is complete for the round.
Note: For the purposes of determining the bring-in in Seven Card Stud, ties in card rank are broken by suit, with the order from highest to lowest being spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. The lowest suit brings in, so if the deuce of hearts and deuce of clubs are visible at the beginning of the hand, then the deuce of clubs would have the bring-in.
Each poker player now receives an exposed card, called "Fourth Street". The first player to act is the individual whose exposed cards have the highest poker value. By rule, this player may either check or bet. Unlike in Seven Card Stud, there is no double-sized bet if a player makes a pair on Fourth Street – all bets are in the lower increment ($2 in a $2/$4 game).
Each player now receives another exposed card, called "Fifth Street". Again by rule, the first player to act is the individual whose exposed poker hand has the highest poker value.
Rule Note: Starting on Fifth Street and for the rest of the hand, all bets are in big bet increments ($4 in a $2/$4 game).
Each poker player now receives another exposed card, called "Sixth Street". Again, the first player to act is the individual whose exposed cards have the highest poker value.
Each player now receives a seventh and final card, which is dealt face-down and known only to the player to whom the card is dealt. The first player to act is the individual whose exposed cards have the highest poker value.
If there is more than one remaining player when the final betting round is complete in Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, the last bettor or raiser shows his or her cards. If there was no bet on the final round, the player in the earliest seat shows his or her cards first (Seat 1, then Seat 2, and so on).
Showdown - Determining the Hi and Lo Winners
The player with the best five-card hand for the high ("Hi") wins half the pot, and the player with the best hand for low ("Lo") wins the other half of the pot. In the event that no hand qualifies for low, the best hand for high wins the entire pot. Remember that in Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, there is an "eight or better" requirement to win the low, so a player must have an unpaired five-card hand that consists of all cards less than or equal to an 8. If no player can meet this requirement, no low qualifies. After the pot is awarded to the high and low hands, a new game of Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo poker is ready to be played again.
If you are familiar with stud poker, then you should be able to pick up Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo fairly quickly. If you are unfamiliar with stud poker or Seven Card Stud, we recommend you try that poker game out first to get a feel for how the game is played.
Finally, if you like to play other Hi/Lo variants, we recommend you check out Omaha Hi/Lo, which is a very popular poker game as well. Both games are a nice change of pace from the amazingly popular Texas Holdem game.
