7 card stud HI-LOW is another popular game in some online gaming casinos. This gaming is slowly extending its boundaries to the virtual gaming world and the numbers of players are only increasing.
In 7 Card Stud Hi Low Poker, Most of the rules of the game are like regular 7 Card Stud, the exception lies in the fact that the high hand and the low hand splits the pot in this game. A player with five cards which are all lower than eight will qualify for the Low Pot. The player can use any combination of the cards to make the hand, and can go for either Hi or Low. Any five of players’ seven cards can be played for high and any five can be played for low.
Remember: Players do not have to indicate whether they are playing for the high or low hand and to qualify for the low hand, no card in a players hand must be bigger than an eight. Players will have seven cards during the course of the poker hand, but only the best five card hand possible for each player is used to determine the winner.
Few more things to remember: Aces are played both high and low; Straights and Flushes do not affect the value of a low hand. The game is played with three cards being dealt first. If you stay till the end of the game, you will finish up with seven cards total, four face up and three face down. Let’s take a look at the game structure:
All players ante
Order of the game play:
Each player is dealt three cards, two face down and one face-up.
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The lowest card starts the betting with a “bring in”. The first betting round proceeds with the lower betting limit.
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The dealer gives each remaining player a 2nd card face up
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The second betting round proceeds with the lower betting limit. However, if any player has two cards face up that make a pair, then any player may make a bet equal to the higher betting limit. From this point, the higher limit is in effect for the entire round.
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The dealer gives each remaining player a 3rd card face up
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The 3rd betting round commences with the higher betting limit
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The dealer gives each remaining player a 4th card face up
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The 4th betting round proceeds with the higher betting limit
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The dealer gives each remaining player a 3rd card face down
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The 5th and the final betting round proceeds with the higher betting limit
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The Showdown
At Showdown, the high hand and the low hand split the pot, if a low hand qualifies; each player may use any five cards from his/her hand to make a high hand and any five cards to make a low one. It is also possible to win both high hand and low hand, even with the same five cards. For instance, you could have 4-5-6-7-8. This would qualify for the highest low hand and could be the highest high hand, if all players have lower cards than yours. When a player wins both, this is called ‘scooping the pot’.
