stud8 vs stud hi/lo

[RayGarlington]

In stud hi/lo, how do you declare a low hand, or do you get to make 2 hands like in stud 8? Is there always a low hand?

[Nick_Foxx]

we always used to play it with simultaneous declare using chips... none for low, one for high, and 2 for both

i've also played it with sequential declare with the last guy to bet/raise declaring first

we usually had the declare prior to the final betting round, but i've also played it with the declare AFTER the 5th betting round

mike

[Andy B]

It is more common to have the declaration after the last betting round. For a long time in my old home game, after the seventh card we had a betting round, the simultaneous declaration, and then another betting round.

Simultaneous declaration is more common than consecutive, and I think it's a much better game. If you want to play cards-speak, as they used to in casinos, be my guest.

You can use different hands for high and low, as in stud/8. I have played with a group that plays that you have to use the same cards for both hands, and if a player can't scoop using the same five cards, then his hand is high-only. As far as I know, they're the only group in the free world that plays that way, and have told them so. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[RayGarlington]

Does this mean that in order to scoop the pot, you must declare hi&low AND win both? I assume that the penalty for declaring hi&low and losing either hand would mean you don't win anything; otherwise, it seems you would always just declare high&low (perhaps this the cards speak version?).

[Andy B]

Yes, if you declare both ways, you must win both ways--otherwise, you get shut out. There is the matter of what to do in case of ties. Some will play that ties are OK, and I think that's fairest. On the other hand, a lot of people don't care what I think is "fair." In my old home game, if you declared both, you had to win both ways outright in order to win anything. The lone exception was if two players declared both ways and, say, one had high, one had low, and no one beat them. In this case, the pot would be divided as if cards-speak. This actually never came up, but we did discuss it a lot because there was a hand where one guy had an Eight-high flush, the other guy had an Eight-high straight, and both declared both. The guy with the Eight-high flush, scooped, obviously, but that hand did spark a lot of discussion.

What is important is not how you handle such declarations, but that you have rules in place so that you don't have knife fights when there is a disagreement about how a pot should be divided.

Cards-speak means that you just turn your cards face-up and the best hand wins. To clarify your earlier question, when it's cards-speak, there is always a low. In a declaration game, everyone may declare the same direction, so the pot may be scooped by a one-way hand.

[RayGarlington]

Thanks Nick & Andy.

Those 'greedy' guys declaring hi&low really make it complicated. It leaves a lot to be sorted out, and it seems difficult even if there is no alcohol involved.

maybe 'cards speak' was formulated after a brawl...

[Nick_Foxx]

yeah we played it if you declared both, you had to win both ways with ties counting as a loss

the first hi/lo "cards speak" game i actually played was omaha/8 believe it or not... this was like 7 yrs ago, needless to say i got smoked

mike