• Stud High Low
• Stud Hi Lo Hand Rankings
• Stud High Low
• Stud His Ground
• Stud. Hist. Phil. Biol. & Biomed. Sci

When I was starting out in 1992, seven-card stud eight-or-better — a.k.a. stud hi-low — was being touted as the game of the future, and it was spread in many poker rooms. No longer. It’s still spread occasionally in some of the bigger card rooms like the Commerce and the Bike, but it’s relatively rare, usually only turning up as the “E” in mixed games like H.O.R.S.E. or H.O.S.E.

With the 2016 World Series of Poker upon us, however, interest in all sorts of non-hold'em games including eight-or-better tends to pick once more. Here are eight poker tips that will help you gain an edge in seven-card stud hi-low.

Online Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo is a poker variant in which the pot is split between the holder of the highest hand and the holder of the lowest hand if that low hand is topped by no worse than an 8. If that restriction is not met, the entire pot goes to the holder of the highest hand. The Bills' Cole Beasley and the Browns' Rashard Higgins might not be stars, but they played like studs in 2020. Nick Shook uses Next Gen Stats to identify one unsung hero on each AFC team.

1. Play two-way hands

Some poker books claim that eight-or-better is really like playing two games at once — high and low. Some recommend that you can play starting hands that might win either high or low. That’s awful advice. Go for two-way hands. You want to play to scoop the pot, not win just half. Excellent starting cards that can help you scoop hands include three low cards that are suited, three low cards including an ace, and three low straight cards like , , and .

2. Don't chase with only a high hand

In stud high-only, you’ll often find yourself chasing with a lower pair-higher kicker hand or with a flush or straight draw. Don’t do this in eight-or-better. If you believe you’re the second-best pair on third street, fold. Don’t draw to high flushes or high straights. There are exceptions, of course (e.g., if the door cards indicate no one is going for low).

3. Respect a raising ace

Don’t guess that the player with an ace showing is going for the low when you have kings — and call. Similarly, even your smoothest 6- or 7-low may be behind. Unless you have experience with the raiser and know that he’s likely to misrepresent his hand, or you have a monster yourself, fold in these spots and look for a better hand down the road.

4. Avoid heads-up play when you have only a low

Even your best low hands don’t fare well against a premium pair. They also become increasingly tough to play, even if you catch good. For example, even starting with against a pair of kings, you’re a dog, winning only 40% of the time. Then even if you catch good — with an , for example — you’re still only about even money on the pot. The exception is if you have an ace as part of your low hand, which really turns your hand into a possible high hand as well.

5. Raise with your exposed ace, even if you’re going for low

With a pair of aces, of course you’d raise. But don’t be timid with your exposed ace and two other babes — raise then as well. Scare away the high hands that might be ahead of you, hoping to go up against one or two lows instead. You may scoop by hitting another ace, or even take the high with just one naked ace in the end while winning the low. You also may win half the pot even if your low is beaten.

6. Know where your money will come from if you don’t scoop, and consider your raises accordingly

There will be situations in eight-or-better when there are three of you in the pot. Two of you may each have half the pot locked up by fifth or sixth street, but you’ll have only a one-way hand. Unlike the high-only variation of stud, you might well be better off keeping in the third player rather than raising that player out, since you’ll be dividing up his money on the river.

7. Freerolling is golden

You want to raise mercilessly when you have half the pot locked up and may scoop if you hit, or if your opponent misses. If, for example, you’ve made your low on fifth street, raise your lone opponent if he makes the mistake of betting with only a possible high hand, even if you know he has a monster. Why not? Two perfect cards for you might beat him.

8. If you’re drawing, or unsure where you stand, it often makes sense to fold to aggression on sixth street and the river

High-only players are often in the habit of calling on both sixth street and the river once they have called fifth street, realizing that the size of the pot they might win is huge compared to the size of the bets they must call to see if they can make their draws or to keep their opponents honest. This is often a terrible decision in eight-or-better. With three or more players in, players in the lead often raise and reraise, making it extremely expensive for the odd man out. It’s often not just one more bet to see the next street, but four more bets. Similarly, with a likely split pot, the money you’ll win if you hit is half of what it would be in a high-only game.

This article is meant to give you a few pointers for stud hi-low, not a complete strategy. For that, I recommend two books — Super System 2 (specifically the chapter by Todd Brunson), and Ray Zee’s book on the game, High-Low Split Poker for Advanced Players.

Ashley Adams has been playing poker for 50 years and writing about it since 2000. He is the author of hundreds of articles and two books, Winning 7-Card Stud (Kensington 2003) and Winning No-Limit Hold’em (Lighthouse 2012). He is also the host of poker radio show House of Cards. See www.houseofcardsradio.com for broadcast times, stations, and podcasts.

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Starting Hand Categories for:

Seven-Card Stud and Seven-Card Stud High-Low Eight or Better (Stud-Eight) Poker

The following terminology is useful for discussing starting hands in Seven-Card Stud High-Low poker. The table below defines 12 types of starting hands along with a description and an example of each.

The twelve types of starting hands can be sorted into five broad categories that describe how they play. The categories of hands are: premium, big-possibility, one-way, situational and trap. The reasons for sorting the hands this way and the probabilities for each group are given.

Premium Starting Hands

The premium hands can often scoop pots without improvement. All total these starting cards are just 1% of all hands dealt. They should be played aggressively.

Trips. [Number of hands = 13, Number of combinations =52, Frequency = 0.24%, Odds = 424:1] Any rank is a powerful holding, however, low cards have the advantage of still allowing a low hand to form. Rolled trip Kings will never qualify for low. Another advantage of low rolled trips is that they are a powerful high hand that often looks like a low. In those cases the hand will generate lots of action from a player who believes incorrectly that he or she has a better high.

Aces with a low kicker. [Number of hands = 14, Number of combinations =168, Frequency = 0.76 %, Odds = 131:1] The lower the kicker the better this hand plays. Often the Aces will hold up for high unimproved or pick up a second pair to make Aces up to best two smaller pair. At the same time the hand can back into low to either scoop or save half the pot if the Aces do not hold up for high.

Stud High Low

Big-possibility Starting Hands

The hands in this group win the monster pots in Stud-Eight. However these hands need to improve because they are worth nothing on their own. The hands in this group can be played aggressively early on. These are rare holdings but don’t fall in love with them. If there is no improvement and a lot of action on later streets the hand should be mucked.

Low connected-suited. [Number of hands = 6, Number of combinations =24, Frequency = 0.11%, Odds = 920:1] This is one of the most powerful hands in Stud-Eight because it can scoop the entire pot in so many different ways while generating lots of action from players betting on both halves of the pot.

Low suited. [Number of hands = 50, Number of combinations =200, Frequency = 0.90%, Odds = 110:1] If an Ace is included the hand has added value. This is a good hand for jamming other players. Sometimes the hand will complete a flush for high, sometimes miss the flush but hold up for low and occasionally make high and low. Either way you can bet aggressively if this hand improves to a high or low on Fifth Street and make the others pay for your draw to the other half of the pot.

Low connected. [Number of hands = 24, Number of combinations =360, Frequency = 1.36%, Odds = 60:1] Does not have the flush possibility but low straights often scoop. A good hand for freerolling if two low cards are picked up that don’t connect. A player with a made low and an inside straight draw can jam two high hands and be assured of winning half the pot, while at the same time retaining an outside chance of a scoop.

One-way Starting Hands

These starting cards typically compete for one half of the pot and are good for cases where everyone is competing for the same half of the pot. There are hands in Stud-Eight where all the players are competing for either the high half or low half of the pot. In those circumstances playing a “one-way” hand that figures to be best against the competition but can also back into the other half of the pot is a viable strategy.

Aces with a high kicker. [Number of hands = 10, Number of combinations =120, Frequency = 0.54%, Odds = 183:1] This hand usually competes for high only and it is best played against other players vying for high when it can scoop. It does poorly against multiple low draws because in that situation its only potential is for half the pot and the low draws can freeroll on later streets placing a made hand as strong as Aces-up in an uncomfortable position. This hand is most powerful when the Aces are wired because it will generate action from smaller pairs thinking that they have the best high.

Ace with two other wheel cards. [Number of hands = 20, Number of combinations =300, Frequency = 1.36%, Odds = 73:1] This hand usually competes for low only but it does have high possibilities. How well it plays often depends on where the Ace is. In most cases you want the Ace exposed so that you can threaten people with a potential pair of Aces or a potential low. That way if you pick up bricks you might win uncontested if your opponents also pick up bricks. If your opponents are weak on Fifth Street, betting an exposed A, 2, J has more fold equity than an exposed 2, 3, J.

Situational Starting Hands

Many Stud-Eight players automatically play the hands in this group. However, the viability of these hands depends highly on the situation. You should be very careful about when and how you play these hands.

High pairs 99, 10-10, JJ, QQ and KK. [Number of hands = 120, Number of combinations =1440, Frequency = 6.54%, Odds = 14:1] How well you play pairs will determine much of your profit in Stud-Eight. Automatically playing any pair as many players do will lead to disaster. As a general rule 99 and 10-10 should not be played. Paired face cards are only playable if they are the high hand on the board. You do not want to hold JJ in between a player with KK and another player with a low. The most likely outcome is that your two opponents will be dividing up your money.

Low pairs with a low kicker. [Number of hands = 98, Number of combinations =1176, Frequency = 5.32%, Odds = 18:1] These are starting hands that many Stud-Eight players will automatically play. However, as attractive these hands look, they come with a lot of problems. It is a poor start for a low hand because it has only two cards that count towards low and a poor start for a high hand because the pair is ranked so low. In other words, it is a mediocre holding to compete for either half of the pot, which means that often it will come away with nothing. Of the hands in this category, a low pair with a live Ace kicker is the most valuable because it has an outside chance of making Aces up. These hands are good for stealing antes and good for defending bring-ins against a steal. They play best heads-up against weak low draws. However, against players you know have strong holdings or against a large field these hands should not be played.

Three suited cards, one or more not low. [Number of hands = 230, Number of combinations = 920, Frequency = 4.16%, Odds = 23:1] If the suit is completely live and it is up against other high hands these starting cards have some possibilities. If the cards are connected and suited the holding is more valuable and the hand is almost playable against low draws. However, for unconnected cards, completing a flush is rare and in situations where a flush only claims half the pot you rarely have the pot odds necessary to play. As a general rule three-flushes with high cards play much worse in Stud-Eight than in Seven-Card Stud and should usually be avoided.

Trap Starting Hands

These are attractive looking hands that play poorly and should usually be mucked. Playing hands like these for half the pot is rarely worth the investment.

Low pair with a high kicker. Hands such as 3, 3, J or 5, 5, K, have little value and in most cases should be mucked. The exceptions would be stealing antes or defending against a steal.

Stud Hi Lo Hand Rankings

Stud High Low

Three low cards (unconnected and unsuited). [Number of hands = 180, Number of combinations =2700, Frequency = 12.22%, Odds = 7.2:1] The “Razz” hands should be saved for Razz. These kinds of hands are only good for half the pot and in most cases the best you can hope for is to get your money back minus the rake. Many Stud-Eight players automatically call with these hands and stay to the end if they pick up a low draw on Fourth Street. The problem is that often if they hit low it is second best low. Just as you want to avoid playing the second best high hand, it is even more important to avoid playing the second best low hand. The high hand scoops if no one qualifies for low but a busted low is worth nothing.

Stud His Ground

Stud. Hist. Phil. Biol. & Biomed. Sci

Final note: Three connected cards, one or more not low such as 8, 9, 10 or 9, 10, J play poorly in Stud-Eight and should be mucked.