Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo

Also known as "seven eight" or "stud eight or better", eight or better is the most common form of high-low split stud poker. Played as seven-card stud, but the pot is split between the player with the highest hand and the player with the lowest hand. To qualify for low, a player must be able to play an 8-7-6-5-4 or lower.

The objective of winning players is not winning every individual hand, but rather making mathematically correct decisions regarding when and how much to bet, raise, call or fold. By making such decisions, winning poker players maximize long-term winnings by maximizing the wins and minimizing losses on each round of betting.

7 Card Stud Hi-Lo Showdown Rules

Stud Hi-Lo is a "split pot" game, meaning that at showdown, the pot is divided in half, one half being awarded to the winning best hand, the other half being awarded to the best qualifying "low hand."

The High

The high hand in a 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo game is identical to the winning hand of a standard 7 Card Stud game. Half the pot is awarded to the player who holds this hand.

The Low

Low hands must qualify to be eligible for winning the low half of the pot.

• The cards a player uses for her best high hand have no effect on the low. A player can use any five cards from her hand, regardless of the cards used in her high hand.
• A qualifying low hand is defined as: five unpaired cards, all with ranks at or below eight.
• Aces are considered low for the low hand.
• Flushes and straights do not count for the low, meaning the best low possible is A-2-3-4-5.
• Low hands are counted from the top down, meaning the hand is only as good as its highest card. For example:
  
  
• 2♣ 3♥ 5♦ 6♦ 7♦ is lower than A♣ 2♠ 3♦ 4♣ 8♥
  
  
• Any hand with a pair, or a card higher than eight, does not qualify, even if the rank of the pair is below eight.
• Suits do not count toward a low; any players sharing the exact same low must equally split the low half of the pot. (Winning half of the low pot and nothing from the high pot is known as being quartered.)

A hand example:

Hand 1: A♥ 2♠ K♥ K♠ 3♣ 4♥ 5♦

Hand 2: A♠ 3♠ Q♥ Q♦ Q♠ 3♥

High Winner: Hand 2 wins with a full house, queens over threes: Q♥ Q♦ Q♠ 3♠ 3♥.

Low Winner: Hand 1 wins with a five-four low: 5♦ 4♥ 3♣ 2♠ A♥ (Hand 2 doesn't have a qualifying low).

General Rules

• If there is an extra odd chip that cannot be split in half, this chip is always added to the pot awarded to the winning high hand.
• If there is no qualifying low hand, the entire pot is awarded to player with the winning high hand.
• Players can win one or both halves of the pot with the same or different cards from their hand.
• A player does not have to announce what half of the pot they're playing for at the beginning of the hand. This is only required in other variations of poker, known as "declare" games.