We had a bit of a dispute in a home game last night about this situation.  Game is 5-stud, high/low, no qualifiers.  One player has  two aces showing; one has two sixes showing.  Our house rule has always been that in this situation the aces can be played as “13′s” for high and as “1′s” for low, thus the aces could scoop.  The victim was a newer player in the game and insisted that it was an oddball rule.  The rest of us see it as clear-cut.  What do you think?

Answer 1:

Unless you’re playing seven duece rules, an ace is always a potential scoop card or a potential scoop pair in 5 card stud hi/lo and 5 card draw hi/lo. Because of that scoop potential, which still exists even if it pairs, Ace is a critical card in those games and you pretty much just shouldn’t play without one.

Answer 2:

It’s not that odd ball of a game. Sklanksy talks about it in TOP with replace on the end. Aces usually go both ways in hi-lo games. That said, it is a strange enough concept (particularly to those who haven’t play hi-lo before) so that you should inform a newcomer about it, because you can surely see why he might be ticked off. If you’re playing a “low card in the hold wild” game, it’s also nice to let the guy know if aces can be used for low.

Answer 3:

In home games, the rules can be whatever you decide them to be. Just make sure all new players are made aware of all your rules. (When new situations come up, we usually let the dealer decide what to do during the hand and then vote for future reference when the hand is over.) In my game you can’t go both with only five cards. (You have to win both if you go both.)