Everybody knows about Texas hold 'em and five card draw.  But more and more people are becoming familiar with seven card stud hi-lo. In fact, in the casinos, it has enjoyed an increased amount of popularity.  What is it? it is pretty much like seven card stud, only with a few unique twists.

Don't worry — seven card stud hi-lo is actually not very complicated to learn.  The main concept to understand is that unlike in regular seven card stud, when hi-lo is played, the pot can go two ways — to the highest hand and to the lowest hand.  Of course, there is a caveat.

The lowest hand doesn't just mean having no pairs and a 6 for a high card. Actually, to be a low hand it must not contain any pairs and the highest card in the hand can only be an 8. This means that both flushes and straights qualify.  Actually, the best low hand that you can receive is Ace-2-3-4-5. It is a straight, but since it contains no pairs and no cards are over 8, it qualifies as a low hand.

This is how some people are able to win both the high hand and the low hand when playing seven card stud hi-lo. This is possible because the straight beats anything else on the table, but also qualifies as the lowest hand. It's a bit tricky, but it should be easy to pick up after playing a few hands.

Besides that, the other roles for seven card stud are pretty much the same.  Each player first receives three cards, with only one of them turned face up.  The person whose face card shows the lowest card begins, and the betting continues until it has reached all players.  After the betting is finished, then the remaining four cards are placed face up, one after the next.  After each card is looked over, another round of betting is had.  The bet always starts with the person who shows the best hand on the table.

Once all the cards have been dealt and the betting is finished, you must use a combination of cards to form the best five card poker hand possible — or in the case of this game, if you can't make the best then consider making the worst!

If nobody has a qualified low hand, then the entire pot will go to the winner with the high hand.