Tips & Strategy

• Hi-low can be trickly since you have to alter your way of thinking about things. In a sense, you want to develop hands that have the potential to be both low and high. Thus, having an ace is a big advantage since it can be used as both a high and a low card.
• Anything below an 8 is considered strong for developing a low hand. As the game progress, survey the table to see how many low cards are dead and assess your chances of improving your low hand.
• An ideal hand in the opening round of Hi-low is a three-card straight with all the cards being 8 or lower. This allows a player to pursue a low straight with the luxury of falling back on a low hand and vice versa. Keep in mind this factor makes straights much more common in Hi-low than in regular stud. Likewise, having three low-suited cards is also an excellent online poker hads to be dealt, since it also gives you the opportunity for a flush and a low hand. Being able to pursue two different hands also keeps players in longer and betting tends to be higher.
• In Seven Card Hi-low, low pairs in the early rounds are also valuable because if you get more low cards, you can split the pair(s) and pursue the low hand. You also have the potential to build off the pairs for a high hand (two pairs, three of a kind, or a full house.)

• Conventional wisdom says that having a high pair other than Aces is a somewhat lackluster hand to be dealt in the opening round of Seven Card Hi-low, even if the pair improves to a three of a kind, there is a chance it will lose.
• If you are confident that you have won either the high or the low hand, you should start raising and betting aggressively in the later rounds. For instance, if you sense you are the only one going for a high hand, start raising. The players with the low hand will continue to call in the hopes of making their hands.
• Like regular seven card stud, it is important in Hi-low to examine your opponents’ cards. Most of the time you can decipher whether or not someone is going for high or low, though surprises can occur. While surveying exposed cards, look at the highest card showing. Can you beat it as a low?