Stud 8 (Stud Hi-Lo) rules

• The pot of Stud is split in half between the high and an 8-or-better low.
• If nobody can make a low, the high hand takes the whole pot.

Base: Stud

Differences from Stud:

• Half the pot goes to the high, half to an 8-or-better low. With no low, the high takes it all
• The A is high for the high hand and 1 for the low
• High and low may use different five cards out of your seven
• An open pair on 4th street does not allow a big bet
• An odd chip goes to the high

The bring-in (lowest door card), Complete, and the order from 4th street on (the strongest high board first) are the same as Stud.

Example. Cards in ( ) are down cards. Pot 200.

• X’s seven cards: (A♠ 2♦) 3♣ 5♥ 9♠ K♦ (7♣)
• Y’s seven cards: (K♠ K♥) Q♦ Q♣ 4♥ J♦ (8♠)

1. Compare the highs. X has ace-high with no pair (A-K-9-7-5); Y has two pair, kings and queens. Y wins high
2. Make the lows: pick five cards of different ranks, all 8 or lower
   • X: A, 2, 3, 5, 7 → 7-5-3-2-A
   • Y: only two cards of 8 or lower, 4 and 8 → no low
   • X wins low
3. The 200 splits in half: Y (high) and X (low) take 100 each

Sources

• Poker TDA Rules (2024 version: Rules 47 and 48; short all-in raises and the number of raises)
• Robert Ciaffone, “Robert’s Rules of Poker” (the half-bet rule in limit)
• PokerNews and Wikipedia rules pages for each game