How to Play Stud Hi-Lo

The rules in six ideas

This is Seven-Card Stud, dealt identically, with a second way to win bolted on. Everything about the deal, the bring-in and the acting order is unchanged — the whole game is in what happens at showdown.

1. The pot splits two ways. Best high hand takes half. Best low hand takes the other half. Two different players usually, and the chips go in opposite directions.

2. The low has to qualify. This is the rule the game is named for. A low needs five unpaired cards, all eight or lower — that's the qualifier, and it's why you'll see the game written "eight or better".

3. No qualifying low means no low half. If nobody gets there, the best high hand takes the entire pot. This is why half of Stud Hi-Lo isn't really a split-pot game at all.

4. Aces are the best card in the deck, twice over. An ace is the top card for high and the bottom card for low, at the same time, in the same hand. Nothing else in poker does that.

5. Straights and flushes don't count against your low. The low is read on ranks alone, so 5-4-3-2-A is the best possible low and a straight for high — one hand, both halves.

6. Winning both halves is a scoop. It's worth double a split, and it's what the good players are actually playing for. A hand that can only ever win one half is worth far less than it looks.

Try it — which hand wins?

How the betting works

Identical to Seven-Card Stud, because it is Seven-Card Stud. Everyone antes, the lowest door card is forced in for the bring-in with ties split by the lowest suit — clubs first — and from fourth street on the highest board acts first. Two fixed bet sizes: small on third and fourth streets, double from the fifth card on, raises capped. The split pot changes nothing about how the money goes in; it only changes where it goes at the end.

Frequently asked questions

Terms to know