7 Card Stud Hi-Lo Starting Hands

In Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo the high hand winner splits the pot with the player with the best qualifying low hand.  While there is always a high hand winner, there may not be a qualifying low hand at the end of any given deal (for a hand to qualify for low, it must contain five cards with denominations no higher than an eight). 

Any five of your seven cards may be played for a high hand, and any five can be played for a low (Aces can be used as both a high and low card).  Straights and flushes do not count in a low hand, so the best possible low is A, 2, 3, 4 and 5, regardless of their suit.  High hands rank the same as in all normal poker games.

When considering what hands to play, the most important thing to keep in mind in split pot games is the big profit difference between winning half the pot and “scooping” it all (winning both high and low hands). 

Scooping the pot usually builds a healthy addition to your stack of chips, while winning half of the pot often results in a player being barely ahead of where they were before they started playing the hand (depending on how many other callers played and lost the hand). The thought that winning two split pots is equal to winning one full pot is not true from a profit point of view, because you will have largely funded your own half of the pot when splitting.

The best starting hands in Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo are those that have a good chance of winning it all, such as:

• Three low cards to a straight flush – such as (7d, 5d) 3d.
• Three low cards to a straight – such as (4s, 2c) 6h.
• Three low cards to a flush – such as (2c, 4c) 6c.
• A low card with an ace – such as (8, 4) A.
• A low pair with an ace – such as (6, 6) A.

Other good starting hands include good high hand starters such as:

• Any trips – such as (7, 7) 7.
• A high pair (aces to jacks).
• A pair of nines or tens with an ace.

Three unpaired low cards are a good start for a low hand and should generally be played.  One  exception would be when holding an eight (the ‘worst’ of the low cards) and facing an opponent who is raising what appears to be a better low draw, in which case you may opt to fold before fourth street is dealt. 

Two or more unpaired high cards are usually an easy fold, because you won’t have an opportunity to draw out a low hand, and have nothing more that high hopes for catching a pair or better for high.  In fact, any unpaired High-Low combinations should usually be folded based on the same premise.

In a nutshell, you should generally only play starting hands that stand a chance of winning one side of the pot when they are very strong (and there is more than one other caller on the table).  Hands that are capable of scooping the pot should almost always be called to fourth street to see how they develop.