The five key points about Stud Hi-Lo:
To be considered Low, a hand must be made up of five cards of different values and be a value of 8 or below. Straights and flushes are not taken into account when making a Low hand.
The best Low is therefore:
Ace-2-3-4-5, no matter what the suit of the cards. Additionally, this hand also makes a straight. This makes it an extremely strong hand.
The second best possible Low hand is:
Ace-2-3-4-6
The third best possible Low hand is:
Ace-2-3-5-6
And so on.
If no player makes a low hand then the high hand wins the entire pot.
The hierarchy for High hands in Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo is similar to that of Texas Hold’em, from high card (weakest hand type that don’t even include a pair) up to the royal flush (10-Jack-Queen-King-Ace of the same suit) via three of a kind, straight, four of a kind, etc.
5 cards of the same suit (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds or Clubs), and in a row. For example 4-5-6-7-8 of Hearts.
A straight flush A-K-Q-J-10 is called a Royal Flush.
This is clearly a very rare hand!
In your 5 cards, four cards of equal value. Four Aces is the strongest while four Twos is the weakest.
3 cards of one value with 2 cards of another value, or three-of-a-kind with a pair. A full house is ranked first according to the value of the three-of-a-kind. Example: K-K-K-3-3 beats Q-Q-Q-As-As.
5 cards of the same suit (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds or Clubs), but not in a row. We separate two flushes according to the highest card, and in the case of a tie, the next highest and so on.
Example: A-J-8-5-3 of Diamonds beats A-9-8-5-3 of Spades.
In poker, there is no different in value between the suits, but be careful, hearts and diamonds are not considered the same suit, and it’s the same for spades and clubs!
5 cards in a row, but not of the same value.
Example: 6-7-8-9-10. Straights are ranked according to the highest card. An Ace can be the highest card (A-K-Q-J-10) but also the weakest (A-2-3-4-5).
3 cards of the same value.
K-K-7-7-2. If 2 players each hold 2 pairs, they are separated by the strongest pair. Therefore, A-A-6-6 beats Q-Q-J-J.
Two cards of the same value. A pair of Aces is the strongest while the weakest is a pair of 2s.
If no player manages to make one of the hands above, not even a pair, the winner is the person who holds the highest single card.
Before beginning a Stud Hi-Lo hand, every player must pay a forced bet, known as an “Ante”. The ante amount varies depending on the game. It is the amount that must be paid in order to be dealt cards.
Each player receives three cards: two hidden and one face up. The player with the lowest face up card must act first, and place a bet called the “Bring in” or, if the player wishes, a full “small bet”.
Should two or more players hold the same value low card, they are separated according to the suit. The suits are ranked in this order: clubs (lowest), diamonds, hearts, spades (highest). The lowest suit wins in this case: if the 2 of hearts and the 2 of clubs are face up at the start of the hand, it’s the 2 of clubs which will go first. (We should note that the suit hierarchy is only used in this exact situation and does not come into play at showdown. If, for example, one player shows Ace-10-8-5-2 of clubs and a second player shows Ace-10-8-5-2 of diamonds, their hands are considered identical and the pot is split.)
After the player showing the lowest card has paid the bring in or small bet, the round continues clockwise around the table: each player can either fold, call, or raise.
For each betting round, the number of raises is limited to 3 and progresses in small bets (for example, in a €2/€4 hand, they are made in €2 amounts).
If the bet or raise of a player is not equalled by another opponent, then the hand ends immediately and the player to bet last wins the pot. This rule applies throughout the hand.
Each player receives another face up card, called “Fourth Street”. The first player to act is the one with the strongest face up cards. Should it be a tie, once again the suit is used to determine the winner (see the paragraph above). The strongest suit takes precedence.
The first player to act may check (bet nothing) or bet (a small bet). If the following players decide to bet, the action goes back to the players who have checked. They will then have the choice to call, fold, or raise if the maximum number of raises has not yet been reached. If all the players check during a round of betting, we go straight to the next round.
Action moves clockwise around the table. Once all the bets and raises have been called, the next round will begin.
Each player receives another face up card, called “Fifth Street”. Once again, the first player to act is the one showing the strongest cards. Should it be a tie, the same rules as Fourth Street apply.
Action moves clockwise around the table, according to the rules previously explained.
Starting on Fifth Street and for the rest of the hand, all the bets progress in big bets, generally double the size of a small bet (Example: in a €2/€4 game, a big bet is €4).
Each player receives another face up card, called “Sixth Street”. Again, the first player to act is the one showing the strongest cards. Should it be a tie, the same rules as before apply.
Action moves clockwise around the table, according to the rules previously explained.
Each player receives a seventh and final card, this time face down (and therefore only known to the player in question). The first player to act is the one showing the strongest cards. Should it be a tie, the same rules as before apply.
Action moves clockwise around the table, according to the rules previously explained.
Once all bets have been called in the final round of betting, the last player to have raised must show their cards first. If there was no bet on the last round of betting, the player who checked first must show their cards first. The hands are always then revealed in turn clockwise around the table.
The winner of the High wins half of the pot. The winner of the wins the other half of the pot.
The same player can win both the High and Low hands. If there is no Low hand, the best High hand wins the entire pot.
Should one or more players hold the same High and/or Low hands, the pot will be split accordingly. For example, one player holds the best High hand while two other players hold the best Low hand: the first player wins half of the pot while the two others share the other half of the pot equally, therefore receiving a quarter of the pot each.
Example:
- If a player checks, the next player can: check, make a small bet or big bet.
- If a player makes a small bet, the next player can: fold, call, raise a small bet, or raise a big bet.
- If a player makes a big bet, the next player can: fold, call, or raise a big bet. In these particular cases, the maximum number of raises remains three.