Seven Card Stud Poker Hi Lo - Overview

Seven Card Stud Poker Hi Lo is very similar to regular Seven Card Stud Poker, but unlike a regular Seven Card Stud Poker hand, in Seven Card Stud Poker Hi Lo the pot is split in half between the high hand and low hand.

By introducing the incentive for the lowest hand your strategy changes a great deal from Seven Card Stud Poker, your starting hand now has different requirements and it's now important to look for hands that give you the chance to win the whole pot by winning both high and low.

Like Seven Card Stud Poker, the Seven Card Stud Poker Hi Lo version has no community cards, the game is normally played with antes and a structured betting pattern, normally Fixed Limit but the addition of the pot for the best low hand adds a new dimension to the game.

So if you're a fan of mixed poker games and you feel you have the intellect, the patience and the skill required you could be very successful playing Seven Card Stud Poker Hi Lo in online poker rooms.

When playing Seven Card Stud Poker, you are only fighting over one pot, but as mentioned above, in Seven Card Stud Poker Hi Lo the pot is split into two, half of the pot for the highest hand and half of the pot for the lowest hand.

As with a Seven Card Stud Poker hand you play only your own cards and no cards are shared. You start with two hidden hole cards and one card face up for all to see; there are then three more rounds of face up cards, with betting after each card, and a final hidden card, followed by a final betting round. Each player ends up with seven cards: four face up and three face down.

In Seven Card Stud Poker Hi Lo, you form a high hand and, if possible, a qualifying low hand, using any five of your seven cards. Both the high hand combination and the low hand combination can use the same set of cards, but they don't have to. As in Seven Card Stud Poker, aces play both high and low. You may use an ace as a high card for one hand, and as a low card for another.

The highest hand part of the pot plays as it would in Seven Card Stud Poker, with the player with the best Seven Card Stud Poker hand winning that part of the pot. The new twist to the the game is the low hand and to qualify for the lowest hand your 5 cards must be 8 or lower and contain no pairs. The low hand part of the pot is worked out by counting back from the highest card first. So if you hold the cards 7,5,4,3,2, you would beat your opponents low hand of 8,4,3,2,A even though your opponent has the lowest card (the ace), it is the 7 that is key. Straights and flushes aren't counted for the low hand, taking into account that aces can count as low, the best low hand is therefore A 2 3 4 5.

If during the game there is no hand that qualifies as a low hand then the player with the best high hand takes the whole pot.

Like Seven Card Stud Poker, Seven Card Stud Poker Hi Lo has 5 rounds of betting with a maximum of 8 players able to take part in a hand. The objective of the game is to finish with the best combination of Poker Hands that enable you to win both Hi and Lo Pots.

At the start of every Seven Card Stud Poker Hi Lo hand the button is placed in front of a player, and identifies who is the dealer for that hand. At the beginning of every game each player has to post an ante, which is an amount of cash determined either by the stakes at the cash table or by the level of the blinds in the tournament.

After these ante's or compulsory bets have been placed you are then dealt two cards face down and one one card face up, with the dealer starting dealing from his left.

The player with the lowest face-up card has to 'Bring in'. A 'Bring-in' is a forced bet, similar to the small and big blinds in Texas Hold Em and Omaha Poker, and is a bet that cannot be avoided. If two or more players have the same ranking of low card, then the player with the lowest suit will have to 'Bring-in'. The suits are ranked as follows: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs, with Clubs being the lowest.

The first round of betting then takes place starting clockwise from the 'Bring-in'. You must decide if you are in or out of the hand, and you do this by either matching or raising the bet that stands when the action reaches you.

The possible actions available to you are to Fold, to Call or to Raise.

As the action moves around the table, if you wish to remain in the hand you will have to at least call the 'Bring-in', or if a previous player has raised the bet then that bet will have to be called to remain in the hand.

If there has been no raise when the betting round returns to the 'Bring-in', that player will still have the option to raise if they want to.

Once all bets have been matched, the next card is dealt.

The next card is dealt face up, this card is known as Fourth Street. Another round of betting then starts with the player with the highest face-up cards being the first to bet. This player is not forced to bet however, unlike the 'Bring-in' in the first round of betting, and can choose to check, fold or bet.

Unlike Seven Card Stud Poker, the betting on fourth street stays at the lower limit regardless of whether there's a face up pair on the table.

The betting then continues clockwise until all bets are matched with the possible actions available to you being, to Check, to Call, to Raise or to Fold. You must at least match the standing bet to continue and once all bets are matched the next card is dealt.

A fifth face up card is then dealt to each of the remaining players and a further round of betting ensues.

Similar to Seven Card Stud Poker, the betting on fifth street starts at the higher limit, and remains at that limit through to the final round of betting.

Once again the player with the best face-up cards in terms of poker rankings will open the betting and once again, all players have the option to Check, to Call, to Raise or to Fold. When all of the bets have been matched, the next card is dealt.

The sixth and final face up card is then dealt to each of the remaining players and another round of betting ensues. Once again the player with the best face-up cards in terms of poker rankings will open the betting and once again, all players have the option to Check, to Call, to Raise or to Fold. When all of the bets have been matched, the final card is dealt.

The seventh and final card is then dealt face down to each of the remaining players and the last round of betting ensues. Once again the player with the best face-up cards in terms of poker rankings will open the betting and once again, all players have the option to Check, to Call, to Raise or to Fold. When all of the bets have been matched, it's time for the showdown.

If the betting is not matched on seventh street, and one player has bet or raised and no one has called, there is no showdown, and the whole pot goes to the player who has made the uncalled bet. This is also the case on any of the previous rounds of betting as well, and no more cards are dealt, because the hand is over.

If you do reach the showdown you now have to reveal your cards, you have to make the best five card poker hand from the seven cards that are available to you (4 face up cards, 3 face down cards).

The best high hand, made up of the highest five cards from the seven available, wins half the pot. The best low hand, as long as there is a hand made up of five different cards 8 or lower, comprised of the lowest five cards from among the seven available, also wins half the pot.

You don't need any particular combination of face up or face down cards, you just need 5 cards. If no hand qualifies for the low pot, then the entire pot goes to the player with the highest hand. If your set of seven cards makes up the best high hand and the best low hand, then you also win the entire pot.

The button moves to the next player and the fun starts again.

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