7 Card Stud Hi-Lo Rules

The object of 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo (also called 7 Card Stud 8 or Better) is to make either the best 5 card low hand or the best 5 card high hand. The player with the best high hand wins half the pot and the player with the best low hand wins the other half of the pot. Sometimes one player wins both halves of the pot and this is called “scooping” the pot.

Low Hands

Hands that have 5 cards all ranked 8 or lower qualify as low hands. Straights and flushes do not count against you but pairs do. Aces can count as either low or hi so the best possible low hand is A-2-3-4-5. The worst qualifying low hand is 4-5-6-7-8.

Remember – straights don’t count against you when making the low hand. Because of that, it’s possible to qualify for both the low hand and high hand and win the entire pot instead of just half.

Rules of 7 Card Stud Hi – Low

7 Card Stud Hi/Lo is played in the same fashion as regular 7 Card Stud. The only difference between the two games is the addition of low hands in the Hi/Lo version of the game.

Ante

Every hand of 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo begins with the ante. The ante is a forced bet that each player must make at the beginning of the hand. The purpose of the ante is to generate action by starting each pot with a little money in it.

The ante is typically equal to 10% the size of the small bet in fixed limit 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. So in a $5/$10 game, the ante would be $0.50.

3rd Street

Each player is dealt three cards. One card is dealt face up and the other two are dealt face down.

The player with the lowest card showing must pay the “bring-in” which is equal to half the small bet. After that, a round of betting begins to the player to the left of the player who just posted the bring-in.

4th Street

Each player now receives one card face up.

There is another betting round except this time the betting begins with the player who has the best showing hand.

5th Street

One card is dealt face up to each player.

There is another betting similar to the previous betting round except now all bets are placed in multiples of the high limit. In a $5/$10 game, all bet would now be in multiples of $10.

6th Street

Another card is dealt face up to each player.

There is another round of betting identical to the previous round of betting.

7th Street

Each player receives one final card, face down.

There is one last round of betting, identical to the previous round of betting.

Showdown

The players still in the pot may now show their cards. The player with the highest poker hand wins the “hi” half of the pot and the player with the best qualifying low hand wins the “lo” half of the pot.

If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins the entire pot.

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