Super Stud 8

It’s Stud Hi-Lo, except you start with five cards and the high card brings it in

You know the shape of seven-card stud hi-lo (stud 8): half the pot to the best high hand, half to the best low that’s 8-or-better, and nobody splits unless someone has a real low. Super Stud 8 is the same game with a bigger start. You get four cards face down and one face up, bet, and then discard two hidden cards before 4th street. After that it plays just like stud 8.

The practical effect is that everyone has a better starting hand, because you pick your best three out of five. Low hands and rolled-up trips both show up much more often. It’s also one of the few mixed games where the ace counts as low for the bring-in.

30-second cheat sheet

• Ante. Four cards down, one up. Bet on 3rd street.
• Discard two of your four hidden cards before 4th street is dealt. Miss it and your hand is dead. You can’t discard the up card.
• Then it’s stud 8: 4th, 5th, 6th street up, 7th down, betting after each. Five betting rounds, small bet on 3rd/4th, big on 5th-7th. Usually limit, up to seven players.
• Half the pot to the best five-card high hand. Half to the best 8-or-better low: five different ranks, all 8 or lower, ace low, straights and flushes don’t hurt. No qualifying low means high takes everything.
• The high card brings it in, not the low card. That’s the opposite of regular stud 8.
• It’s the one “Super” game that actually has fans.

Full rules

The deal and the bring-in

Everyone antes, then gets four cards face down and one face up. Unlike regular stud 8, the high card brings it in: whoever shows the highest door card makes the forced opening bet. Haney writes that the ace is counted as low for this purpose and ties are broken by suit, so the K♠ is the automatic bring-in. The WSOP rules say only “the high card”, so the ace-low part is Haney’s reading, not the rulebook’s. The player may either bring it in or complete it to a full small bet.

The discard

After the first betting round and before the first 4th-street card, every player must discard two of their four face-down cards. Not the up card. If you don’t, your hand is dead. Now you’re in the normal stud position: two down, one up.

4th through 7th street

Three more cards face up, one last card face down, betting after each. Small bet on 3rd and 4th, big bet on 5th through 7th. The best high hand showing acts first. Unlike regular high stud, a pair showing on 4th street does not let anyone use the big bet.

Showdown

You have seven cards. Use any five for your high hand and any five (it can be a different five) for your low. Half the pot goes to each:

• High: best standard five-card poker hand.
• Low: five unpaired cards, all 8 or lower, ace low. Straights and flushes don’t count against you, so A-2-3-4-5 is the best low and also happens to be a straight.
• If nobody has a qualifying low, the high hand wins everything. If one player has both best hands, they scoop. A tie on one half splits that half, so you can end up with a quarter.

Odd chips

The WSOP gives an odd chip in the whole pot to the high hand; within tied halves it goes to the highest card by suit.

Running out of cards

Same as Super Stud: the WSOP says reshuffle the stub, burns and muck before 6th/7th street and never deal a community card. CountingOuts says a community card on 7th is normal in the games he’s seen.

Rooms disagree

• Bring-in: WSOP (rule 250), Haney and CountingOuts all say the high card brings it in. BARGE disagrees and says the low card does, like regular stud 8. This page follows the WSOP.
• Ace for bring-in: Haney says the ace is low. The WSOP doesn’t say. [If rooms counted it high, A♠ would be the bring-in, but I found no source saying so.]
• Discard timing: after 3rd-street betting (WSOP, Las Vegas) vs while acting (some Atlantic City rooms).
• Out of cards: reshuffle vs community card.

Worked examples

Split

High to one hand, low to the other

Alice

• High:Ace high
• Low (8-or-better):7-6-4-2-A low✓ wins

Bob

• High:Two pair, Queens and Eights✓ wins
• Low (8-or-better):No qualifying low (8-or-better)

Alice takes half · Bob takes half

Bob has two pair, queens and eights, which wins high. He has no low. Alice has A-2-4-6-7, a lovely low but only an ace-high hand otherwise. Each takes half the pot.

Scoop

A wheel is both the best low and a straight

Carol

• High:Five-high straight✓ wins
• Low (8-or-better):5-4-3-2-A low✓ wins

Dan

• High:Two pair, Kings and Queens
• Low (8-or-better):No qualifying low (8-or-better)

Carol scoops the whole pot.

Carol’s A-2-3-4-5 is the best possible low, and it’s also a straight, which beats Dan’s two pair. In this game straights hurt nothing on the low side, so she gets both halves.

No low

Nobody has five low cards, so high takes it all

Eve

• High:Three Jacks✓ wins
• Low (8-or-better):No qualifying low (8-or-better)

Frank

• High:Pair of Aces
• Low (8-or-better):No qualifying low (8-or-better)

Eve scoops the whole pot.

Eve has trips. Neither player has five distinct cards 8 or lower, so nobody qualifies for the low half and the high hand takes the full pot.

How you’ll embarrass yourself

• Forgetting the discard. Dead hand.
• Expecting the low card to bring it in. In this game it’s the high card.
• Playing stud 8 hands. Badger says to play Super Stud 8 tighter than regular stud 8, because everyone started with five cards. His example is that 6♦4♥2♠, a hand many people play in regular stud 8, “is garbage most of the time”.
• Overvaluing a high pair. You’ll see rolled-up trips and big pairs more often than in regular stud. CountingOuts says about 1.3% of deals are rolled up vs 0.24% in regular stud.
• Forgetting your own discards. They’re dead cards you know about.

Lore and reputation

This one has real fans. Haney (Card Player, 2025) writes that “increasingly more Stud 8 is being played as ‘Super’”, rates it 10/10, and says some players skip regular stud 8 but wouldn’t miss a round of this. CountingOuts says that when mixes include draw games, the super-sized version of stud 8 is quickly becoming the game of choice, and the most common version in Las Vegas and Atlantic City is 4 down + 1 up with the high card bringing it in. The WSOP lists “Super Stud 8/O” in its sample mixes.

Haney also describes a home-game cousin, “Supreme Stud 8”, where each player chooses how many hole cards to keep (2, 3 or all 4). He’s never played it and it isn’t a room game.