Home game · Stud
No Peek High-Low is No Peek with a share of the pot for the best low hand. Each player gets seven face-down cards they may not look at, and in turn flips cards until they beat the best hand showing. Once a player survives on a low hand, later players may flip to beat either the best high or the best low, and the pot is split between them, usually 75% to high and 25% to low.
No Peek High-Low was invented by George Johnson and contributed to pagat.com by his son Brian. It is a high-low version of No Peek.
The game uses a standard 52-card deck with no wild cards. High hands rank by the standard hand rankings. Low hands use ace-to-five ranking.
The pot is split between the best high hand and the best low hand. It is recommended that high takes 75% and low 25%. The dealer shall announce the split before the deal.
Antes and betting limits are set by the house or the dealer.
Each player is dealt seven cards face down. No player may look at their own cards.
The dealer then turns the next card of the deck face up. This is the hand the first player must beat.
Starting with the player to the dealer's left and going clockwise, each active player in turn flips their cards face up, one at a time, until the cards they are showing beat the best high hand showing, or until all seven are face up.
Each player's turn is followed by a round of betting, begun by the player with the best high hand showing.
Partial hands are compared as in No Peek: any extra card beats a missing card, and straights and flushes count only with five cards.
A player who has flipped all seven cards without beating the best high hand then checks whether they have the best low hand showing:
3.4(a) If they do not, they must fold in the betting round that follows.
3.4(b) If they do, they stay in, and the game moves to phase two.
In phase two, play continues clockwise. At their turn, each active player flips cards until they have either the best high hand or the best low hand showing, or until all seven are face up. A player who exposes all seven cards and holds neither the best high nor the best low must fold.
A betting round follows each turn, as in phase one.
Play ends when every player has either folded or exposed all seven cards. The best high hand and the best low hand then split the pot in the announced proportion.
The source does not say how a partial low hand compares with a complete one during phase two. The dealer shall rule on this before the deal if needed.
A 75/25 split
At the end of play, Player A shows a straight, the best high hand. Player B shows K♣8♥6♦4♠3♣2♥J♦. B's best low is 8-6-4-3-2, and no other player has a better low.
The pot is 80. Player A takes 60 (75%) and Player B takes 20 (25%).
Between the best high hand and the best low hand. The recommended split is 75% to high and 25% to low, but the dealer should announce it before the deal.
Ace-to-five. Aces are low, and straights and flushes do not count against a low hand, so the best low is 5-4-3-2-A.
No. All seven cards stay face down and unseen until you flip them during your turn.
Where any doubt remains in the application of this document, Rob is right.
Hand rankings, high to low: royal flush · straight flush · four of a kind · full house · flush · straight · three of a kind · two pair · one pair · high card. Suits never break ties.
No Peek High-Low Rules · OPR-698 · officialpokerrules.com/no-peek-high-low/