What are the rules for 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo?

The formats for regular Stud and Stud Hi/Lo are very similar, but the strategies for the Hi/Lo game are very different. The basic premise for 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo is that there are two winning hands for each game. The strongest (highest) hand and the weakest (lowest) hand split the pot.

The game itself is still played the same as conventional 7-Card Stud. Each player is dealt two face-down "hole" cards and a face-up "door" card. The dealer then deals to each player in turn three more face-up cards and one more face-down card. The highest and lowest hand split the pot.

For a hand to qualify as a low hand, it can't have any card higher than an eight. Because Aces count both as a high card and as a low card, the best possible low hand is A-2-3-4-5. In 7-Stud Hi/Lo, any hand that qualifies for the low is not affected by straights or flushes. This creates an interesting situation: You can qualify for both the highest and the lowest hand in a game and, if you win both, you take the whole pot.

Let’s say you've been dealt the A, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of spades. Your Straight Flush will (most likely) take the high hand, and because neither straights nor flushes count in the low-hand ranking, you've got the best possible low hand. Congratulations, you just "scooped the pot," taking 100%!

Now, to determine the highest hand we'll use the standard-hand rankings, which can be viewed on our Hand Rankings page. To determine the best low hand, the highest low card is used. If two players share the same high card, then the next lowest card is used and so on.

If there are no hands qualifying as a low hand (i.e., every hand holds a card higher than an eight), the highest hand will take the whole pot.

The rest of the gameplay is the same as regular 7-Card Stud.