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The way I've played Anaconda,
everyone is dealt 7 cards face down- bet
3 cards past to your left-bet
2 cards past to your left -bet
1 card past your left -bet

winning hands are usually low quads, mid SFs or occasionally a big boat.

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this is how I play it too. Think the average winning hand is approximately queens or jacks full. We usually play high-lo. Without the nut low, you don't tend to be very confident for the low end, although sometimes when lots of people fold early and you have passed only high cards you can be a little more confident in a bad 6 or smooth 7.

My favourite invention (never seen it anywhere else) is a hi-lo game called Roll Em. Everyone is dealt 7 cards face down as per anaconda. You keep four of the cards and put three down in front of you. There is a round of betting and eveyone rolls one card in front of them. repeat until all three cards in front of you are exposed.

After the final round of betting you make a 5 card hand from the four cards you kept and the three rolled cards of anyone still in the game EXCEPT your own. If you declare hi-lo (very rare), you can use a different set of three cards for the high and the low.

There are a number of interesting catches in this game. If someone folds, then the cards in front of them that you may have been relying on fold with them. So your monster can easily get ruined by another player.

Average winning hand is quite similar to anaconda for the high but very board dependent for the low (if the lowest card anyone rolls is an 8, no-one can make better than an 8 low). Since you can't use your own cards, low cards kept are weakened if you have to roll a low card that others can use but you can't.