Seven-card stud eight-or-better, which we'll call 7-stud/8 for simplicity's sake, is a game that's rapidly growing in popularity as a cash game and a tournament staple. Because players are trying to make low hands as well as high ones, there's more action in 7-stud/8 than in traditional seven-card stud games. Although the structure of the game is identical in terms of the use of antes instead of blinds, the number of betting rounds, and the low card bringing it in with a forced token bet, the game's strategy is very different, and so are hand values. Certain hands with which you'd usually raise in seven-card stud are frequently candidates for the muck in this game.

The rule of thumb in high-low split games, where there can be two winners or one player can scoop the pot by making the best high hand as well as the best low one, is to play low hands, because they frequently back in to high hands, too. High hands seldom morph into low ones.

Since the objective of split-pot games is to scoop the pot, playing two-way hands that have a chance of making a high hand along with a low one is how you'll make most of your money. Choosing the right cards to play and learning the kinds of bling-bling flashy hands that look good but really ought to be folded can put a beginning 7-stud/8 player on the right track in a hurry. Players who don't conceptualize a set of starting standards for 7-stud/8 find themselves at a big disadvantage, because they invariably find themselves interpolating a starting strategy from seven-card stud, and that causes all sorts of problems.

Before exploring specific hands, it's important to realize that in 7-stud/8, just as in seven-card stud, you are playing a game in which the value of your hand is dependent upon the availability of live cards. If you start with three low straight cards, but many of the cards you need are already exposed in hands belonging to your opponents, the chance of completing your straight is significantly reduced. If your cards aren't live, you'll have a much harder time catching them, and that will only add to your frustration and cost you money.

With that firmly in mind, you should have an idea of what some of the better starting hands are. If you hope to start with two-way hands, you can't do much better than 3-4-5. Not only do you have three low cards, but you've got straight potential as well as a chance to make a very good low hand, and any ace, deuce, 6, or 7 on the next card will significantly improve your hand. If you're fortunate enough to start with the 3h-4h-5h, you have a hand that can improve to a flush as well as a straight or a low hand. Even if you catch a card like the Jh, you've improved. Now you have four to a flush, and although the jack does nothing to increase your chances of making a low hand, you're not dead, either. That fourth heart keeps you in the hunt, and if the next card is, for example, the 7c, you've got a draw to a low hand to go along with your flush draw — and two chances to get there.

Suppose you catch the Ah on sixth street. What could be better? You've made an ace-high heart flush and a 7-5 for low, and you can raise with impunity. If you've got two or three opponents who look like they're going low, you will probably take the high side, and you may scoop the entire pot. If your opponents all appear to be going high, you will win the low end and still stand a good chance of scooping.

While you don't have the absolute nuts in either direction, you should feel very confident with a hand like this. In fact, with two or more opponents, your half of the pot will be quite healthy, particularly if you've been able to continue raising your opponents — all of whom are contesting the other end of the pot. If you scoop the pot, you'll be stacking chips for the next two hands. When you've got a lock on one end of the pot and are freerolling toward the other, you can really win some money whenever you're lucky enough to scoop.

Big hands, however, are not always big moneymakers, and this is where the strategic concepts in 7-stud/8 begin to diverge from playing strategies for seven-card stud. Here's an example: Suppose you're dealt rolled-up kings, and catch the fourth king on the next card against one opponent who is obviously drawing for low. You can bet and raise every chance you get, yet when all the shouting's done, you'll each come away splitting the pot, and your miniscule profit will be measured in terms of antes and the forced bring-in bet. In a full game with betting limits of $20-$40, you'll chop $24 in antes, minus the $3 house drop, plus a $5 bring in. That's a profit of $13 — not much of a return when you've raised endlessly with four of a kind, is it?

But if you make a two-way hand that figures to have a lock on at least one side, you can — and should — jam the pot by betting and raising at every opportunity. You'll scoop if you get lucky, and whenever there are multiple opponents, each dollar you bet generates a profit even when you split the pot.

The flip side of this is also true. You must avoid situations in which you are the one being sliced and diced. You can't duck this entirely. Sometimes you will find yourself against two or three opponents, all of whom are going high while you are going low. There's no guarantee you'll make that low, however, and you may wind up calling all the way to the river only to fold your hand. All 7-stud/8 players can tell you stories about the occasions when they started out with four cards to a 6 or 7 low, only to catch three high cards (7-stud/8 players refer to useless high cards as bricks or bananas) in succession and have to throw their hand away on the river because they failed to make even as little as a pair for high and they made no low hand at all. Since you need a low hand of five unpaired cards with ranks of 8 or lower, you can begin with a high-quality draw, catch a fourth low card on the next round, yet fail to catch that fifth low card you so desperately need. There's nothing you can do about it, either, because 7-stud/8 is a game in which you're forced to gamble with good low draws.

On the other hand, you can avoid situations in which your draw to one side of the pot is not the best one. You'll frequently see players drawing to an 8 low against opponents who are drawing to a low that's obviously better. When both players make their hand, the 8 suffers for that indiscretion, and wins only when the better draw fails to connect.

It doesn’t take more than a time or two playing seven-card stud eight-or-better (7-stud/8) to realize that an ace is a very powerful card. In fact, aces are more potent in high-low split games than in traditional forms of poker, where the high hand wins the entire pot. And when an ace is among your 7-stud/8 starting cards, it’s as strong as strong can be. When you think about it, an ace isn’t just one powerful card, it’s more like two of them — one in each direction, high as well as low — and you can’t ask for much more than that.

"The best 7-stud/8 hands are generally low holdings that can back into high hands, too." Everyone’s heard that mantra; it’s the first thing learned when a friend offers a few words of advice to the beginning 7-stud/8 player. While that’s true as far as it goes, it’s just the tip of the strategic iceberg. Because an ace is the biggest high card as well as the smallest low one, starting hands containing an ace along with two other low cards offer far more options to a skillful player than most other low holdings.

Consider the difference between a starting hand like 5-4-2 and 5-4-A. While both are excellent starting hands, there are some obvious differences between them. Although either holding at this juncture stands the same chance of making a wheel, the hand without the ace is essentially a low draw that might back into a high hand if all goes well and the proud holder is fortunate enough to catch two perfect cards. On the other hand, it might not make a low at all. Even if the holder catches another low card on fourth street, he can still strike out by catching three bananas (which is what many 7-stud/8 players call cards with a rank of 9 or higher), or by catching two bananas and pairing one of his other cards.

Since the best course of action with most drawing hands is to complete them as inexpensively as possible, you’ll generally find those players with high hands raising early, to make it costly for their opponents with a low draw to stick around in hope of capturing half of the pot. Once it becomes obvious that at least one of their opponents has completed a low hand and thus holds claim to half the pot, the high hands generally slow down, with the exception of very big hands like a full house or quads, which are virtually sure to capture their end of the pot.

But what about the player who starts out with a hand like 5-4-A? While he almost surely holds the best low draw, it’s still a draw, and a low hand cannot be completed until fifth street at the earliest. But it’s shortsighted to focus solely on the low aspects of this hand, and one mustn’t overlook the possibility that our hero might also have the best high hand. In fact, if no one has a pair, a hand like 5-4-A will probably be the best playable high hand on the first betting round, since hands like A-K-4 are usually not going to play. After all, someone holding that kind of hand is faced with playing six of his cards against seven of his opponent’s — and most players realize that’s a prescription for failure.

But our hero, who’s holding 5-4-A, has the equivalent of three low cards and a high one, too. Since he might have the best high hand along with the best low draw right now, he does not have to play cautiously. He can raise. After all, if he is successful in winnowing the field down to one or two opponents, he might wind up with the only low hand, and if he is able to pair his ace, he can easily wind up with the best high hand, too.

If his ace pairs on fourth street, he is in an enviable position. Even without completing his low, he will usually win by pairing any one of his other cards. After all, aces up is a strong hand in this game, particularly when confronting a lesser two pair that was once a low draw until its holder also paired twice.

There are some major strategic implications here. A low hand with no ace is a drawing hand — no more, no less. While it can back into a high hand by catching two perfect cards to form a straight, that’s just not going to happen very often. On the other hand, a wheel draw with an ace might be the best high hand on third street as well as the best low draw, and the holder ought to try limiting the field in order to play heads up. In a heads-up situation, a low draw with an ace is probably favored in both directions, depending on the opponent’s holding. If our hero’s opponent realizes this and folds, so much the better.

There’s always the chance of catching a bunch of bananas and seeing what appeared to be a noteworthy hand turn to detritus, and instead of reeling in a tidy sum, the holder will have to watch forlornly as he loses out to a hand that was a real underdog. But that’s poker. It doesn’t come with any guarantees, and 7-stud/8 is a game replete with situations in which a player must draw. When those draws don’t materialise, it’s frustrating, costly, and can put one quickly on tilt. But that’s no reason to deviate from playing properly. And one of the keys to proper play is to realize just how powerful a holding a low draw with an ace really is.