Poker Variant: High/Low Stud.
Bidding in High/Low Stud is a little different than in conventional poker. Rather than having one player bet/raise and requiring everyone else to match it or sit out, In High/Low, players are trying to lead the betting pool for the right to decide the winning criteria.
After the initial ante, on their turn, players may bet any amount they like or pass. Once a player has passed they are out for that betting round. The round ends once all players have passed. When a player places a bet they can place that bet in front of themselves, or in front of any other player to add to that player's bid. The player with the highest combined bid is considered to be "leading the bid."
Game Structure:
- Initial Ante (With Big/small blinds)
- Each player is dealt 5 random cards
- First betting round begins
- Starting with the player who is currently leading the bid, and rotating clockwise, each player publicly discards as many cards face-up as they like, and are dealt new cards face down.
- Second betting round begins
- Starting with the player who is currently leading the bid, and rotating clockwise, each player publicly discards as many cards face-up as they like, and are dealt new cards face down.
- Final Bidding round
- Whoever leads the bid gets to decide "High" or "Low."
- All players reveal their hands.
- If the leader picked "high", the player with the highest value hand wins the pot.
- If the leader picked "low", the player with the lowest value hand wins the pot.
The goal of the game is to watch the bidding processes and the public discards to get information on who's going for what kind of hand, and how they want the game to turn out... ending in a climactic confrontation over how the game will score.