- Poker Limit Stud Hi Lo Odds
- Poker Limit Stud Hi Lo Player
- Limit Stud Hi-lo
- Poker Limit Stud Hi Lo 8 Or Better
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Stud Hi-Lo is one of the most popular games at various poker sites, US as well as international, thanks to its split pot structure. Awarding half the pot to a low hand and half to a high hand means this game is extremely action packed. In fact, if you’re of a somewhat nervous disposition, then Stud Hi-Lo probably isn’t the poker variant for you. However, if you’re slightly skittish and have a dual personality, then this game will be perfect.Limit Seven Card High Low Qualify Poker Rules - 2 to 8 Players. Highest hand splits the pot with the lowest qualifying hand. To qualify for the low half of the pot, the low hand must be 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, or lower. Lowest upcard is a forced starting bet. Ace plays both high and low. Three raise limit. Omaha Hi/Lo, or Omaha Eight (played with an ‘eight or better’ qualifier for low), is offered in limit, pot limit and no limit action. » Read more 5 Card Omaha and 5 Card Omaha Hi/Lo. 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.
Fixed Limit Stud is a version of the game where the big and small bets are set, fixed amounts (hence the name). If you are playing a $1/$2 Fixed Limit Stud game, the small bet would be $1 while the big bet would be double that amount, or $2. The fixed aspect of this game relates to more than just the initial big and small bets too. Stud Indicator supports Limit and NL/PL Stud Hi, Hi/Lo, and RAZZ games. Displays accurate winning poker odds for your own hand and for each of your opponents. Easy to use Head-Up Display (HUD). Tracks player stats and categorizes playing styles (Loose/Tight, Steal%, Aggressive/Passive, Solid/Overplay). Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better (Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo), a version of Poker for between 2-8 players, is today among the most popular variations of Poker. The game has gained popularity, both in the US and abroad, due to its true Poker feel and highly challenging game play. A hand of Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo consists of up to five Betting Rounds.
Operating along the same lines as Stud poker, but with a subtle twist, Stud Hi-Lo is gradually becoming the preferred format for some of the top online poker pros in America. Before we go any further, however, we feel it’s important to point out that Stud Hi-Lo isn’t for the fainthearted. Although the mechanics of the game are fairly simple once you’d got to grips with them, the amount of concentration it takes to understand its dynamics aren’t necessarily suitable for beginners.
When you first ante-up at a poker table you’ll want to spend as little time as possible mastering the basics so that you can focus on improving your overall strategy.
During your first few sessions of Stud Hi-Lo poker you’ll probably find that you’ll struggle to keep up with the action. Thus, when you do decide to make the jump into one of these games, you should already have a developed poker strategy. Because of this, we recommend playing some Texas Hold’em or Stud Hi at one of our suggested top USA poker sites before you delve into the matrix of this split pot variant.
Fate of black jack randall. Five Things You Need to Know about Stud Hi-Lo:
- Stud Hi-Lo poker uses a split pot format. Half the pot is award to the winning low hand and half the pot is given to the winning high hand.
- If there is no qualifying low hand (an eight low minimum) then the best high hand scoops the pot.
- Stud Hi-Lo doesn’t involve community cards.
- In the event of the deck running out of cards, a single community card can be dealt.
- We recommend honing your skills at the Stud table before indulging in a few sessions of Stud Hi-Lo at a top USA poker sites.
The Basics of Stud Hi-Lo Poker
Stud Hi-Lo is a limit poker game and when it comes to betting, it’s virtually identical to Stud Hi. In contrast, this variant is almost a complete opposite to popular poker games in the United States such as Texas Hold’em. The first major difference is that the forced bets are known as antes and they don’t follow the same pattern as the “small blind” and “big blind” that you find in games such as Hold’em.
To stimulate action, Stud Hi-Lo games start with each player at the table putting in an ante which is equivalent to the minimum table stakes, e.g. a $2/$4 game will usually have a $0.30 ante. After this, players are dealt their first three cards (two face down and one face up) and the player with the lowest up card is forced to pay the “bring in”. The size of the bring-in can be the size of the ante or the full size of the table’s lowest stake, e.g. in a $1/$2 game the bring-in can be $1.
Once this round of betting has been completed, the remaining players are dealt a fourth card face up and the player with the highest value card is the person who leads the betting. *Note, unlike seven card stud, there is no double-sized opening bet allowed if a player makes a pair on Fourth Street.
This pattern continues as a fifth and sixth card are dealt and only changes on the river (the seventh card), when the card is placed facedown on the table. The first player to bet in this final round is the one with the highest value cards on display. After Seventh Street has been dealt the remaining players must expose their card, unless one player forces everyone else to fold.
The Rules of Stud Hi-Lo Poker
In Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo, the low hand is played with an eight or better qualifier. This means that a low hand must contain an eight-low. If there is no qualifying low hand, the high hand wins the entire pot.
As with Omaha Hi-Lo, Stud Hi-Lo across all poker sites in the US uses the Ace to Five hand ranking system. This means that straights and flushes do not count against a hand and Aces are always low. Moreover, the highest card in your five-card hand will determine the strength of your low hand. For example, 8, 6, 4, 2, A will be known as an “eight low” and would lost to 7, 6, 4, 2, A (a seven low). To give you a better idea of how low hands look, here are ten of the top Stud Hi-Lo hands ranging from weakest to strongest:
*Note: a low hand is always ranked from its highest card downwards. *
If there is more than one remaining player when the final betting round is complete the last bettor or raiser shows his or her cards first. If there was no bet on the final round, the player in the earliest seat shows his or her cards first.
The player with the best five-card hand for the high wins half the pot, and the player with the best hand for low wins the other half of the pot. In the event that no hand qualifies for low, the best hand for high wins the entire pot. In the event of two or more players have the same high or low hands, the pot halves will be split accordingly.
Additional Stud Hi-Lo Rules:
- In the case of ties during the bring-in, the first person to act is decided by card suit. Suits are ranked in alphabetical order: clubs (lowest), diamonds, hearts and spades (highest).
- If the player with the lowest card showing on Third Street is all-in for the ante and they are consequently unable to make the required bring-in bet, the bring-in moves clockwise to the next player at the table.
- Stud games are played with eight players and because it’s possible to run out of cards before Seventh Street is dealt (because there’s only 52 cards in the deck), a single community card can be dealt face up to help determine a winning hand.
Biggest Winners in Stud Hi-Lo History
The biggest winners in Stud Hi-Lo history usually emerge from the WSOP that is held in the United States, so let’s take you through some of the most famous champions from recent years and show you the level it’s possible to reach when you play this game at our recommend US poker sites:
- Frank Kassela – 2010 $10,000 WSOP Stud Hi-Lo Champion – $447,446
- Eric Rodawig – 2011 $10,000 WSOP Stud Hi-Lo Champion – $442,183
- Adam Friedman – 2012 $5,000 WSOP Stud Hi-Lo Champion – $269,037
- Mike Matusow – 2013 $5,000 WSOP Stud Hi-Lo Champion – $266,503
- George Danzer – 2014 $10,000 WSOP Stud Hi-Lo Champion – $352,696
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If you came up during the “Poker Boom” era, sparked in 2003 by (one of the most successful gamblers in history) Chris Moneymaker’s momentous victory at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, you probably haven’t had much exposure to Seven-Card Stud.
The wall-to-wall coverage of WSOP and World Poker Tour (WPT) back in the boom days meant that millions of poker fans worldwide learned no limit Texas holdem first. For many poker enthusiasts, in fact, Texas holdem is the only game they’ve ever played in the casino setting.
But it wasn’t always this way…
Before the boom, most poker players considered Seven-Card Stud to be their game of choice. The antique game, and its various offshoots like the split-pot variant Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better, was the de facto poker product in casinos and card rooms from coast to coast through the late 1990s.
Just in case you’re unfamiliar with the basic gameplay and structure of Seven-Card Stud, here’s a quick tutorial to get you brought up to speed.
How to Play Seven-Card Stud
There will be two to eight players at the table, with everyone paying a nominal ante amount based on the game’s table stakes. Each player is dealt three cards to begin the hand.
Two of those cards are dealt face down, while the third is face up for the table to see. From there, whomever shows the lowest ranking card must place a forced bet known as the “bring-in.”
The antes and the bring-in bet serve the same purpose as the blinds in a game like Texas holdem, putting chips in the pot and giving players something to fight for. After the bring-in bet is made, the next player to the left acts by folding, calling the bring-in amount, or raising it up.
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Seven-Card Stud is a limit betting game, so this raise can only bring the current wager to the “small bet” size.
In a cash game using $5/$10 limits and a $2 bring-in, for example, a raiser could increase the bet to the $5 small bet amount.
Once the table has acted around on “third street,” named for the amount of cards held at this point, the dealer will deliver all remaining players a fourth card face up. Betting on fourth street sticks with the small bet unit, but all subsequent streets increase the stakes by using the “big bet” sizing.
Players alternate taking face up cards and betting on fifth and sixth street, before taking their seventh and final card face down. After one last round of betting, the remaining players turn over their three hole cards. Whoever has the highest-ranked (in standard high-hand Seven-Card Stud) five-card poker hand takes the pot.
As you might imagine, removing shared community cards from the equation makes Seven-Card Stud a test of memorization. As a hand plays out, you’ll instantly get to see one card from each of your opponents’ hand.
Even if they wind up folding out, this knowledge can be used later to help deduce remaining opponents’ holdings or calculate your current drawing odds based on card elimination.
Seven-Card Stud in Las Vegas
Back in the 1990s, Sin City card rooms spread Seven-Card Stud by default, as interest in other variants like Texas holdem or Pot Limit Omaha was sparse to say the least. That script has definitely been flipped over the last two decades, leading to Seven-Card Stud’s current status as a niche game largely ignored by the recreational poker-playing masses.
The biggest cash games in town all use a mix or a rotation of variants, which typically runs between eight and 12 games. The mixed game economy has ensured that Seven-Card Stud remains alive and well. But, believe it or not, you can still visit the city of Las Vegas and enjoy straight up Seven-Card Stud like the good old days.
Below, you’ll find a full tour of five poker rooms in Las Vegas where you can still play Seven-Card Stud in style.
1 – Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa
Kicking off the list is Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa, a gorgeous venue located in the upscale suburb of Summerlin. To reach Red Rock Resort, you’ll need to drive about 25 minutes northwest of the Strip, but the wait will definitely be worth it for Seven-Card Stud fans.
As this handy guide from the PokerAtlas poker room database shows, Red Rock Resort is home to the lowest-stakes Seven-Card Stud games in all of Sin City with $4/$8 and $2/$10 games running a few times per week.
These tables play the Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better offshoot though, so be sure to familiarize yourself with that game’s key twist. As the name suggests, the Hi-Lo Eight or Better version of Seven-Card Stud uses a split pot system in which a qualifying low hand can earn half of the pot. You’ll need to hold a string of five cards that are all ranked at eight or lower, something like 2-3-5-6-7 or 3-5-6-7-8, to form a qualifying low hand.
The goal in an Eight or Better hand is usually to “scoop” the pot, or win both the high and the low portions at the same time. Picture yourself holding the A-2-3-4-5 “wheel” straight to claim the high portion, with the same five card combo forming the best low hand at 5-high to get an idea of how scooping works in this extremely interesting Seven-Card Stud variant.
Red Rock Resort’s poker room isn’t the biggest in Las Vegas, but does boast 20 tables. And, on busy days, two of them should have Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better running at extremely reasonable stakes.
The $4/$8 table uses a $40 minimum buy-in with no maximum limit, while the $2/$10 tables opts for a $100 minimum and no maximum. In the $4/$8 game, the ante stands at just $0.25 and the bring-in is for $1. As for the $2/$10 game, expect to ante $1 and bring-in for $2.
These stakes are perfect for recreational players looking to test the proverbial waters before moving up the ladder.
2 – Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall
Another “off-Strip” casino located far from the wilds of Las Vegas Boulevard, the Sam’s Town Hotel and Gambling Hall is a beloved casino for locals who appreciate value.
You’ll hit the Boulder Highway to get here, and when you do, the cozy 11-table poker room at Sam’s Town will have a sweet $2/$10 game featuring traditional high-hand Seven-Card Stud.
The minimum buy-in here is $50, but given the $10 big bet sizing and no maximum on buy-ins, most Seven-Card Stud players at Sam’s Town Casino roll with a $100 buy-in that gives them 10 big bets to work with.
Both the ante bet and the bring-in for this game are just $1 too, making even a minimum $50 buy-in plenty to get your feet wet.
3 – Bellagio Hotel and Casino
While the poker industry’s heaviest hitters like Doyle Brunson, Daniel Cates, and Jean-Robert Bellande duke it out in “Bobby’s Room” in the Bellagio, home to the largest stakes mixed cash games in Las Vegas at $2,000/$4,000 blinds, you can attempt to live vicariously through them.
Bellagio’s world-class poker room, as a regular host of the prestigious WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic with 37 tables, offers the most diverse array of Seven-Card Stud tables anywhere in Las Vegas.
The “smallest” stakes game here is $20/$40, however, so you’ll need to bring a bigger bankroll than would suffice at Red Rock Resort or Sam’s Town. Even so, the minimum entry point is a $200 buy-in (with no maximum), so these stakes certainly don’t box out recreational players by any means.
In the $20/$40 high-hand Seven-Card Stud game at the Bellagio, players ante for $3 and pay a $5 bring-in. These tables also charge a $5 house rake every 30 minutes.
On busy weekend nights, the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas also spreads a $30/$60 game of Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Eight or Better. Here, the minimum buy-in is $500 with no maximum, antes cost $5 apiece, and the bring-in runs $10. The house rake on the $30/$60 Eight or Better table is $7.
And to cap things off, you’ll also find a $50/$100 high-hand game that runs occasionally at any point in the week. At these higher stakes, the players prefer to add blind bets a la Texas holdem, so look for $5 and $15 small and big blinds, respectively. The ante and bring-in follow the same $5/$15 structure, putting plenty of chips in play right off the bat.
4 – Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino
For six weeks every summer, the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino becomes a smorgasbord of Seven-Card Stud tournaments and cash games thanks to the annual WSOP.
Plan your trip for between late May and mid-July to get in on the WSOP fun, which featured no less than 11 gold bracelet events based around Seven-Card Stud and its related variants a few months back.
The lowest entry point in terms of buy-in are the $1,500 high-hand Seven-Card Stud tournament, and its $1,500 Hi-Lo Eight or Better counterpart. As you might expect, elite pros dominate the smaller fields in these niche events, with veteran Eli Elezra winning the $1,500 high-hand tournament this summer for a $93,766 score.
You’ll also find a few $1,500 buy-in tournaments which feature Seven-Card Stud as one component of a mix. The eight-game mix is exactly what it sounds like, while the popular Dealer’s Choice event allows the dealer to call the game ahead of every new hand.
And of course, the centerpiece of the WSOP’s Seven-Card Stud schedule is the $10,000 buy-in World Championship which Hennigan claimed this year. That’s a hefty buy-in for most players, but you can try to parlay $500 or $1,000 into a seat through the satellite tournament qualification system.
5 – WSOP.com Online Poker Room
Although not technically a poker room in the traditional sense, WSOP.com offers online play on a fully regulated and legal platform.
Poker Limit Stud Hi Lo Odds
You can play from anywhere in Las Vegas, or Nevada for that matter, provided you’re of age and have a steady internet connection.
Seven-Card Stud cash games on WSOP.com, in both high-hand and Hi-Lo Eight or Better versions, begin with $0.05/$0.10 limits and run up to $10/$20.
You’ll also find the occasional tournament running, including online satellites that feed into the live WSOP every summer.
Why Seven-Card Stud Remains Beloved by Poker Pros
Unfortunately for fans of Seven-Card Stud, the game’s lack of community cards and limit betting structure doesn’t make it a great fit for televised coverage.
With an entire generation caught up in the two-card tango of Texas holdem, defined by bold “all-in” bluffs and bad beats when the community cards come up just right, Seven-Card Stud has waned in popularity over the last decade or so.
It’s a shame, because Seven-Card Stud is among the most complex and challenging forms of poker ever devised.
The lack of community cards turns Seven-Card Stud into a contest of wills, one based on memorization skills, logical reasoning, the ability to back up a solid read with a well-timed bluff.
For this reason, well-rounded poker players who pride themselves on knowing all of the variants in a good eight-game mix down cold consider Seven-Card Stud to be the proving ground which separates elite pros.
Veteran pro Johnny “World” Hennigan captured his sixth career WSOP gold bracelet in the prestigious $10,000 Seven-Card Stud World Championship event. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that excelling in every old-school poker player’s favorite game made the win a little more special.
Poker Limit Stud Hi Lo Player
“I’ve won tournaments for much bigger prize money, but winning this tournament in particular had a lot of value to me. I grew up playing stud, and a lot of people say I’m the best at that game, and I’ve always been really good at that game. It’s kind of a feather in my cap.”
Limit Stud Hi-lo
Conclusion
Clearly, Seven-Card Stud is a beautiful poker game that has withstood the test of time. It might not provide those memorable all-in moments and “Aces cracked” bad beats generated by Texas holdem, but true poker aficionados appreciate Seven-Card Stud for the skillful play required to excel.
Poker Limit Stud Hi Lo 8 Or Better
Luck doesn’t play as large of a role in a game lacking community cards, and the limit betting structure actually produces much more action on any given hand. If you haven’t experienced Seven-Card Stud in the live arena, make sure to visit one of the poker rooms listed here during your next trip to Las Vegas.