The 7 card stud is a theoretically demanding poker game.  The best poker hands when you play stud poker is normally the high hand, however, the high low split is becoming very popular. When you play stud poker high low variant you will have to have a proper understanding of the hand rankings.

 

•    An Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten in the same suit that make a royal flush is the top ranking winning hand.  The probability for this to show up when you play stud poker is very low; however, in cases where there is going to be more than one royal flush then the pot is split, again this is very, very rare.
•    A straight in sequence usually of the same suit called the straight flush comes next in ranking when you play stud poker and in cases where there is a tie, the numbers in the flush are considered to break the tie.
•    Four of a kind is the next in ranking when you play stud poker.  A four of a kind is a good hand but if there is a better straight or royal or straight flush with someone else when you play stud poker then you might have to fold your hand.  Watch if there are better flush or straight flush with your opponents before you start betting like crazy.
•    Three of a kind and a pair, called the full house are the next good ranking hand when you play stud poker game.  If there is going to be a tie in such hands, which can be a common happening, the player that has the high ranking in the trips is considered for the winning. There can be similar pairs in ranking there can never be trips of the same rank in a tie when you play stud poker or any other game!
•    When all the above combinations are not there when you play stud poker the nest thing that you can try is a simple flush where the suits are same, but there rankings are different and not in sequence. As usual, the player with the high hand wins in the event of a tie.
•    If all the above are not there, the two pairs or one pair hands are considered and the ties are broken per hand ranking of the individual cards in the hand.

The above said ranking is for high variant when you play stud poker and the high and eight or better games have some more set of qualifiers!