7 Card Stud High Low, or any High Low variation, gives players the opportunity to take at least half of the pot based on their best of 2 kinds of hands. Here we will overview exactly how such hands should be played, so that poker players can learn how to take home not half, but the entire pot!
The first and most important thing to remember when playing 7 Card Stud High Low is that it is not profitable for a player to win only half the pot – usually half will only cover what was spent to get there in the first place. Based on this understanding, players must always aim at winning BOTH the high and low hands, and play according to equally valuable cards for both hands.
In addition to this, a player should never pursue a hand that is not strong enough to take at least one of the pot halves. It is important to get out of the game early in such a situation, unless the player is as certain as humanly possible that he/she will win at least one half.
As such, the following starting hands are those that we recommend pursuing in order to win both pot halves:
- 2 lows and 1 high to a flush
- high pair face cards
- a pair of Aces and a high card
- a pair of Aces and a low card
- a low pair and an Ace
- a low pair and 2 to a low straight
- a pair of 9’s or 10’s and an Ace
- 3 low to a flush
- 3 low to a straight
- 3 low to a straight flush
- a 3 low and an Ace
- a 3 card high straight flush
- trips