Poker Questions

Generally a high/low split splits the pot evenly. It is usually 5 or 7 card stud. You make the decision to go for the low hand (best low hand is A, 2, 3, 4, 6 of varying suits) or high hand and play your hand accordingly. Whenever we played, we did not allow one person to have both the low and high hand (unless everyone else folded). You had to play the Ace low or high and if you had a flush, it was a flush not a low hand. So two things to clarify, can you play both high and low in the same hand and is it optional to have the ace high or low. Also, if it is 7 cards, can you play 5 low and a different 5 high or are you stuck playing just 5 cards.

 

The low hand that can't be beat is A, 2, 3, 4, 6 of different suits. In other words your hand is "6 high" since the 6 is your highest card. In the example you gave you have a "Q high" hand which is a crummy hand for both high and low. More than likely someone will have a lower hand than that. If all the cards are the same suit, then you have a "Queen high" flush which is a very good hand (only beaten by a higher flush, full house, 4 of a kind, straight flush/royal flush).

The highest card in your hand determines how good a straight or flush you may have. For example, if you have a flush hand 8,9,10,J, K of clubs, you would LOSE to a 2, 3, 4, 6, A of hearts since the Ace in this hand is higher than the King in yours, regardless of the other cards.

Any hand can be played as either high or low and the quality of your cards and your bluffing ability will determine how you play it.

Example: You are playing 7 card stud. The first two cards are dealt face down, then 4 face up, then one face down. Everyone at the table can see 4 of your cards. Imagine that 3 of the face up cards are aces and the other is a 4. Your face down cards are 2,3 and 6. You have a choice to make in a high low game. Do you want to go with a hand of A, A, A, 6, 4 and try to win high or do you want to go with A, 2, 3, 4, 6 and definitely win low? My play would be to make everyone think I was going high and then, once all bets are placed, declare low. I would therefore hope to force anyone going high to fold (knowing I have 3 aces and thinking I probably have a full house). I then declare low and take the whole pot since all of the players playing a high hand have folded.

 

cheese puffs don't mix with cards.

which reminds me, name this commercial

"These cards are marked.
They're a mess...a chocolate mess."

 

ok. I learned a lot there. I'm just confused on when a high/low split occurs. I've never heard of that before. Is that declared before you play. Kinda like if you are calling wild cards. Or is it something you do while you are playing.

 

M&M's

 

incorrect information.....official poker rules (vegas and such) the best possible low hand is actually the low straight A2345(known as "the wheel"), and can be played both low and high. flushes can play low as well. i guess it is possible that your home game has different rules but i would doubt it.

allowing straights and flushes to play low adds to the fun, enabling people to scoop an entire pot if they have a good low straight, or something like that.

p.s.- got room for one more at the table?

 

Split pot called typically before cards are dealt. But you don't have to declare your hand's intentions until the end. Some have you declare whether you're going high, or low (or both in some games, depending on house rules) with one round of betting remaining. That can be brutal, but fun brutal.

 

Yeah, in my (low) life, the house (host) usually calls "54" or "64" at the beginning of the night for the lowest possible hand.

For me, 54 is fun in a dirty sort of way, like wild cards. I know Vegas loves "the wheel," but I still like to look down my idiotic nose at it. I almost always call "64" when I host. I also call no games with more than one wild card. Like "baseball." There's a game for chumps. Blech.

 

additionally, high/low can be played in 1 of 3 ways.

1. your cards speak for themselves. after the hand, all people that haven't folded show their hands. whoever has the best high and best low each get half of the pot. if it's the same person, obviously he gets the whole pot.

2. declare. in home games, after the final betting round, some play where you declare. for example, hold one chip in your hand if you want to play a high hand, none in your hand if you want to go low, or 2 chips for both. on the count of three, everybody would open their hand to reveal which way they declared.

3. 8 or better to qualify for low. in 7-stud for example, you would need 5 different cards in your hand to be an 8, or under for you to have a low. if nobody has this, the high hand wins the whole pot.


i know that was a brief explanation...didn't go into much detail. tell me if there is anything that you still don't understand.

 

Side note:

The earliest authentic references to playing-cards in Europe date from 1377, but, despite their long history, it is only in recent decades that clues about their origins have begun to be understood. Cards must have been invented in China, where paper was invented. Even today some of the packs used in China have suits of coins and strings of coins - which Mah Jong players know as circles and bamboos (i.e. sticks). Cards entered Europe from the Islamic empire, where cups and swords were added as suit-symbols, as well as (non-figurative) court cards. It was in Europe that these were replaced by representations of courtly human beings: kings and their attendants - knights (on horseback) and foot-servants. To this day, packs of Italian playing-cards do not have queens - nor do packs in Spain, Germany and Switzerland (among others). There is evidence that Islamic cards also entered Spain, but it now seems likely that the modern cards which we call Spanish originated in France, ousting the early Arab-influenced designs.

 

mmmmmmmm....Red Stripe....mmmmmmmm....

 

You're a little Jamacian woman aren't you?

 

I've played a high/low variation where you add your low hand, rather than compare high card. Face cards are each worth 10 and Aces would be worth 11.

That is, if you have 2, 3, 4, 6, J it would add up to 25. A hand of 2, 3, 4, 5, K would be a 24. Therefore the 24 wins.

Has anyone heard of this variation, or was this just some crazy house rules.

 

This reminds me of people that do 80 mph on the freeway and complain about those doing 90 mph. I prefer no wilds when I'm with people that play no wilds. When with people that play with wilds, baseball is my game of choice because it waters down the strength of a wild card.

 

Anyone that drive slower than you is a moron, anyone who drives faster is crazy.