Written by Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo is obviously a derivation of Seven Card Stud and you can read about 
that here. It’s also known in various quarters as Seven Card Stud 8s or better and it differs from the more basic version in a couple of very interesting ways. As with the mixed skills game of H.O.R.S.E. and also Razz (part of H.O.R.S.E.), this is not a game for the feeble minded or the uninitiated.
In Hi-Lo each player is, like Seven Card Stud, given a hand of seven cards if they haven’t folded before the showdown. From this hand they are trying to make the best high hand or the best low hand. This is a task that required some feats of concentration and hence why it is regarded as something of a specialists game.
In practice this is how a game would work:
The dealer rotates amongst the players and following the ante being placed (usually a fairly small percentage of the bring in) all players are dealt two cards face down and one face up. The player with the lowest ranked face up card must then start the first round of betting with the bring in. Play now continues as with regular Seven Card Stud rules with fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh street. This assumes that there is more then one person remaining following the betting in each round.
Following the seventh street we then of course have the showdown, in which the remaining players unveil their cards. Because there are two possibilities to win in Hi-Lo, there are generally more players at the showdown. When the winners are revealed the pot may well be split between the player who has the highest ranked hand and the player who has the lowest ranked hand.
In Hi-Lo it is also possible for the same player to win the whole pot by simultaneously having the best hand and the lowest hand. In almost all cases the player will have a combination of the lowest cards added to perhaps a straight or a flush.
