7 Card Stud Hi/Lo

Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo (also 7 Card Stud High Low, H/L/8)

Like Omaha Hi Lo, Seven Card Stud Hi / Lo follows the same structure as its parent game, however the pot is split equally between the Hi and Lo winning hands. That is providing the Lo hand qualifies. Furthermore a player can also have both the Hi and the Lo winning hands.

To begin the game, each player posts a small ante and then each player is dealt three cards. Two of them face down and the third face up.

The player with the highest face up card beings the betting with a forced bet. This is called 'The Bring In' and is used similar to the blinds on Omaha and Holdem - to force the action. Play then progresses in a clockwise fashion with players either calling, raising to the lower limit (completing the bet) of folding their hand. There is a limit of three raises in any betting round.

Another card is then dealt face up, and is followed by a subsequent betting round. Following this round, the exact same takes place again - another card followed by another round of betting started by the player whose up cards make the best hand. There are now five cards dealt. This takes place one more time until a total of six cards have been dealt to each player. Two face down, and four face up.

Next, another card is dealt; however this time it is face down. This is the final card and is followed by the final round of betting.

Finally comes the showdown. Any remaining players must show their cards and a winner is crowned and awarded the pot.

Lo Hands

To make a Lo hand you must be holding five distinct cards with no pairs and no card higher than an 8. As you must use two of your hole cards to make your hand, you must be holding two cards below and 8, and have three community cards below an 8 as well. Straights and flushes don't count, so the best low hand becomes A-2-3-4-5 of any suit. A Lo hand is ranked of the high card, so a hand with a high card of a 7 - say 7-6-5-4-3, would beat a hand of 8-4-3-2-A. If two players make a Lo hand with the same high card, the next card is taken into consideration and so forth. If they are holding equal hands, then the pot will be split. If no Lo hand has been made, the entire pot will go to the winner of the high hand. The big difference between straight Omaha Hi and Hi / Lo is that a player potential has two hands - a high and a low. A player can win both the high and lo halves of the pot if they are holding the best high and low hand with the same cards.

For more Seven Card Stud information, see Wikipedia.