Make Your Odds Better at 7-Card Hi Lo

The thing that can make your odds better at poker, no matter in which form you play it, is strategy. If you are master of strategy, you will be a player that other people don’t want to share a table with.

To be a master of poker strategies means not only know when to make the right moves, but also to know when others will make their moves. In 7-card Hi-lo, almost all the cards on the table lie face up in front of you. People think this makes easier for player to make a decision, but in fact, it makes the whole thing much trickier.

Now, there are only two faces down cards in the hand of each player which can turn the tables of the game. As in the other forms of poker, hi-low means that the player with the hand of the highest value doesn’t get to take the entire pot alone.

He may have to share it with the player with the hand of the lowest value. So, this makes the whole affair even more complex and even more interesting at the same time. So, let’s see what kind of strategies player can use to win:

1. Know where the cards are: As most of the cards are dealt face up, if you keep a count of cards which have been dealt and which should remain in the deck, you will have an advantage over the players who don’t.

   If you have an idea of the cards that other payers may have, you can make you decisions about betting or folding more easily. It is important to make right decision or else you will not able to survive till the end. The lowest pair in the game is of 2’s and the highest is of Ace’s and king’s. So, try to keep a track of these especially.

2. Think more if you have low cards: When you are thinking to win on the basis of low cards, it becomes trickier to make decisions. The thing is the card should not only be low, they should be the lowest. You can’t have any cards which is higher than eight.

   Usually, it is a bad idea to try to go for the low hand. A lot of time this means you are going to help pump up the pot for the person with the high hand. Ideally, you would want to try for the low hand if you have a developing straight or flush that might not come.

   You can’t have a pair of low cards less than 8. You must have 5 different cards less than 8 that doesn’t make up a straight (not that a straight would be bad). If you don’t see such a situation developing for you in the game, but it does as the game progresses, it will make you lose more than you should have. So, make the right decisions for betting on the low hand as the conditions on this side are tighter.

3. Know what the others are up to: As I mentioned in the start, if you have to win in this game, you have know all that is happening on the table.

   The cards which have been dealt the cards which have not been dealt, the bets being made and the strategies of your opponents are among the things which you must have an idea of in order to make the right decisions in the game.

   Once you know these things, you will know whether you have to bet, fold or check in each of the betting rounds. If not, then you will be confused and eventually make the wrong decision.

7-card stud hi-low poker is a fast-paced game, but should be played with a calm mind. Decisions matter a lot in this game and to make them right, one has to be strong on the strategic side.