While most of our readers are familiar with the big-bet games in poker like No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha, today's Event 4: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better will be played in a limit format and one some people may not be acquainted with.
Seven Card Stud is the most popular version of stud poker and generally played anywhere between two and eight players at a time. Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better is a split-pot variant of that game and the one that's featured in today's 5:00 PM event, an event won by Chris Viox in 2011, and an event won by Phil Ivey back in 2002.
If a player stays in until the end of a hand, he or she will receive a total of seven cards. To start, each player is dealt two cards face down followed by a third card face up. Each player would then receive three more cards face up followed by the seventh and final card face down. There is a betting round after each street and often an ante before anyone receives any cards.
To become more familiar with the action, the betting rounds and all things Seven Card Stud, head over to the PokerNewsPoker Rules: Seven Card Stud page and check things out. Once you're ready to test your skills on the felt, you can **play poker online by checking out one of our many PokerNews offers.
The tournament clock currently says there are 450 players registered for this event, but expect that number to go up as the evening wears on. For now, the cards are in the air and action is underway in Event 4: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better.
Chad HollowayChris Viox after winning this event in 2011
The third day of the 2012 World Series of Poker features the first 5 p.m. event of the summer, Event #4 $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better. It also marks the first stud variation of the summer, which tend to draw a balanced mix of amateurs and pros.
Last year, this very event drew 606 players and created a $818,110 prize pool, $200,459 of which was reserved for the winner. It was a long four-day affair, but in the end it was Chris “PiMaster” Viox who claimed his first bracelets.
Viox’s journey wasn’t easy. He had to go through the likes of Cory Zeidman, Tyson Marks and Gerard Rechnitzer at the final table before facing off against poker legend Mike Sexton in heads-up play. The Poker Hall of Famer was a fan favorite and highly experience in Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo; in fact, his only bracelet came in the variation back in 1989. Nonetheless, Viox kept his cool, overcame the pro-Sexton crowd and left his opponent with a $123,925 consolation prize.
Past Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo Champions
Year
Player
Entrants
Earnings
2011
Chris “PiMaster” Viox
606
$200,459
2010
David Warga
644
$208,682
2009
David Halpern
467
$159,390
2008
Ryan Hughes
543
$183,368
2007*
Ryan Hughes
340
$176,358
2007**
Tom Schneider
668
$147,713
2006**
Pat Poels
788
$172,091
2005**
Steve Hohn
595
$156,985
2005*
Denis Ethier
279
$160,685
*Buy-in was $2,000
**Buy-in was $1,000
Action is set to kick off at 5 p.m. PST, so be sure to check back then as we bring you the latest and greatest from Event #4 $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better.
