Mastering 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo Split
7-Stud 8 or Better, otherwise known as 7-Stud Hi-Lo, is a great game but can be difficult to get good at. This fact contributes to making it an even better game to specialize in. Good players have a tremendous edge over poor players at Stud Hi-Lo, and poor players are very easy to find. In fact it is extremely rare for any game going at any limit not to contain at least one or two poor players. Of course, those poor guys aren’t even aware that there are targets on their backs. If you aren’t spotting them regularly within a short time of joining a table, your game needs work.
The most common misnomer about proper strategy for Stud/8 is to "play for low." Blindly following that advice will assure you a pair of gills and a set of fins. While the better players do usually apparently have a low hand developing when they are in a pot, it’s nowhere near as simple as this.
The mantra of the more advanced players is "to play for the scoop." While a much more respectable slogan, that too is far from a complete strategy. There are plenty of times when you want to be jamming the pot while almost certain to only get half, usually when chopping up a fish for dinner with the player that is a big favorite for the other half.
The best advice I can give in this post is to think in three dimensional probabilities. This means that you always must be thinking about both the high and low, what you opponent’s likely holdings are, and how your chances add up in both directions - resulting in an overall percentage estimate. Anticipate what scare cards will do to the situation on both your and your opponent’s boards. When the percentages seem to be adding up nicely on your side and scare cards on your opponent’s board won’t be very scary but could be on yours, bet and raise aggressively.
Many hands will be played heads up. Always understand when a bare ace might be the current best hand for high, but bail out early against your opponent’s scariest boards. For example on fourth street if your opponent has 64 of the same suit and you have AA94 with one ace showing, there is nothing wrong with folding right there. You have very little invested and can get into a real bad spot in this situation. (With AA84 and three suits or AA73 rainbow you’d be inclined to play.)
High starting hands as low as JJx can profitably be played against a lone opponent with a low card, but be prepared to bail when they catch scary on fourth or fifth (either a suited low card or an ace). Stay away from low hands that do not include an ace or a straight or flush draw - for example 248 rainbow. Any 8 should be abandoned if there are better apparent low draws in the hand.
You want opponents who draw to weak lows, overplay high hands, and stay in the hand too long when opponent’s boards get scary. It is highly recommended to read Todd Brunsen’s chapter in Supersystem 2 a half dozen times or so if you want to become a top player.
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