Rules of Poker · Chapter 51 · 2026 edition
Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo, also called Stud/8 or Stud Eight-or-Better, is Seven-Card Stud with the pot split between the best high hand and the best low hand, as long as somebody has a low of eight or better. It is the E (for "eight or better") in HORSE (Mixed games).
Everything in 7-Card Stud applies unless this chapter says otherwise: the deck and the deal, antes, the bring-in and completing, and the deck running out. High-low splits in general and the 8-or-better qualifier are in Pots, and how low hands rank is in Hand rankings.
The examples use a $10/$20 game with a $1 ante and a $3 bring-in.
The deck, the eight-player limit, antes and bet sizes are as in Seven-Card Stud (50.1, 50.2, 50.5). What changes is how the pot is won, and with it one betting rule (51.5).
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rule 1.
Two down and one up, three more up, the last one down (50.3), with five betting rounds. When the deck runs out, the last card is a common card (50.4), and it counts in both the high and the low hand of every player.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rule 1, and Section 8, rule 15; pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "High-Low".
On third street the lowest door card brings it in, exactly as in Seven-Card Stud (50.6), with ties by suit (50.7). Although the ace plays low in a low hand, it counts as a high card for the bring-in: a player showing an ace never brings it in while anyone shows a deuce.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rule 4.
From fourth street on, the player showing the best high hand starts the betting, not the best low. If two players show equal high hands, the first of them clockwise from the dealer acts first. If the high hand showing is all-in, the action goes on clockwise as though that player had checked.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rule 4.
In Stud Hi-Lo a pair showing on fourth street does not make the big bet available: the small bet is used on third and fourth street and the big bet from fifth street, whatever is showing. This is Robert's Rules' rule and the common card-room practice. pagat.com notes that some home games let a showing pair unlock the big bet in Hi-Lo too, as in Seven-Card Stud (50.14). In a game that allows it, a player showing a pair of 9s on fourth street could bet $20 instead of $10.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rule 6; pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "High-Low".
You make your best high hand from any five of your seven cards and your best low hand from any five, which may be the same five, some of them, or different ones. The ace is both the highest and the lowest card. Example: holding A-2-4-6-7-K-K, your high hand is a pair of kings and your low is 7-6-4-2-A.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rules 2 and 3.
To win the low half, your low hand must be five cards of different ranks, all eight or lower. Lows are ranked ace-to-five (Hand rankings): straights and flushes don't count against a low, so 5-4-3-2-A is the best low and also a straight for high. A hand like 9-5-4-3-2 doesn't qualify, and neither does any hand with fewer than five different low ranks.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," introduction and rule 5; pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "High-Low," eight or better.
At showdown the pot is split in two: half to the best high hand, half to the best qualifying low. If nobody has a qualifying low, the best high hand takes the whole pot. One player may win both halves, which is a scoop. Each side pot is split the same way among the players eligible for it (Pots).
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," introduction, and Section 3, "Ties," rule 5(d); pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "High-Low".
In card-room Stud Hi-Lo there is no declaring. The cards speak (Showdown): each player gets the best high and the best low their seven cards make, even if they announced something else, and players may not agree among themselves to split the pot some other way.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rule 7; pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "High-Low".
When the pot doesn't divide evenly between the high half and the low half, the odd chip goes to the high half. A $45 pot pays $23 to the high hand and $22 to the low. The TDA and Robert's Rules agree on this.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rule 8; TDA 2026 Rules (Version 1.1), Rule 21-C.
When two or more players tie for one half and that half doesn't divide evenly, the rulebooks part ways for the low half. Robert's Rules gives the odd chip of a split high half to the highest card by suit and of a split low half to the lowest card by suit. The TDA's 2026 rules give it to the highest card by suit in the tied hands whether the half is high or low, looking only at the five cards each player plays. Example: two players split the low half with 8-6-4-2-A; one holds the ace of clubs, the other the ace of spades. By Robert's Rules the odd chip goes to the ace of clubs; by the TDA, to whichever of the two hands holds the highest card by suit.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rule 9; TDA 2026 Rules (Version 1.1), Rule 21-B.
A player holding 5-4-3-2-A has a straight for high and the best possible low at the same time. Players sometimes give up the high half thinking the wheel is "only" a low. Because the cards speak (51.9), it is counted for both halves, and if the straight is also the best high hand it scoops. Example: one player shows down a wheel, another three queens; the wheel wins both halves and scoops the pot.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rules 2, 3 and 5.
If two players have exactly the same high hand and the same low hand, they split the pot as evenly as possible, and the player holding the highest card by suit gets the odd chip. Under Robert's Rules every card counts for this, not only the five that make each hand.
Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 10, "Seven-Card Stud High-Low," rule 8.
Many home games play Stud Hi-Lo with a declaration instead of cards speak; pagat.com describes the eight-or-better qualifier as a feature of formal games, so a declare game may not use one. After the last bet each player declares high, low, or both: in turn, or all at once by holding chips in a closed fist (none for low, one for high, two for both, in pagat.com's description). The best high among the high declarers and the best low among the low declarers split the pot. A player who declares both ways must win both, outright, or they win nothing. These are house rules; agree the method and the qualifier before the deal.
Source: pagat.com, Seven Card Stud, "High-Low," declaration.
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