Stud Game - Split Pot · 8 Players Max
Chicago, also known as High Chicago, is a seven-card stud variant where the pot is split between the highest hand and the highest spade in the hole (face down). This creates an additional strategic element where players compete for both the best poker hand and the best hidden spade.
Step through a live deal — see how the split pot works between the highest hand and the highest spade in the hole.
Important: Only spades that are face DOWN count toward winning the spade half of the pot. Face-up spades do NOT count, even if they are high cards like the 
.
As in Seven-Card Stud, there are no blinds. Each player posts a small ante before the deal. After the first three cards, the player showing the lowest upcard must open with the forced bring-in bet (suit order — clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, lowest to highest — breaks ties). That player may post just the bring-in or complete it to a full bet; going around the table, any player may fold, call, complete to a full bet (if no one has yet), or raise.
Identical to Seven-Card Stud:
There are five betting rounds:
On third street, the player with the lowest upcard posts the bring-in and opens the action. From fourth street on, each betting round is begun by the player with the highest hand showing (based on visible cards).
After the final betting round, all active players must declare their intentions:
Critical Rule: You must have at least one spade face DOWN to be eligible to win the spade half of the pot. Without a face-down spade, you cannot declare spade and win, even if all other players are going for high hand only.
If you declare "both" (highest hand and highest spade), you must win both halves — the highest hand AND the highest face-down spade — to win anything at all. If it turns out you won only one, you forfeit that half too and take nothing; it passes to the next-best player who declared for it. This "win both or win nothing" rule (often called the "pig") is what makes declaring "both" a genuine gamble rather than a free extra chance.
Scenario 1: If the is dealt face UP to any player, then the 
in the hole (face down) is guaranteed to win the spade half of the pot, assuming its owner declared spade.
Scenario 2: You have 
face down and 
face down. All visible spades are lower than . You have a strong chance to win the spade half, and if you also have the highest hand, you can declare "both" and scoop the pot!
Declaration can be done in one of two ways:
The declaration method looks like a footnote, but for the sequential version it is the strategic heart of the whole game. Declaration happens after the final bet, so it changes no wagering — it only decides how an already-finished pot is split. Under simultaneous declaration (chips hidden in the fist), no information passes between players, so it plays almost exactly like "cards speak": the best hand takes the high half, the best face-down spade takes the spade half, and declaring "both" is simply the pig gamble.
Sequential declaration is different because you can see what every player before you declared. If you are last to act and everyone ahead of you has declared high, the spade half is now uncontested — you can declare spade and claim it with any face-down spade at all, even a low one, because no one else is competing for it. A near-worthless 
in the hole can win real money this way. The whole sub-game lives on the spade axis: the high side is mostly face-up and easy to read, while nobody knows who holds the best hidden spade until the declarations travel around the table.
The flip side is the danger of declaring too early. The player holding the top face-down spade who declares high — chasing the scoop, or misreading the table — can hand the spade half to someone with a far weaker spade who declared into the gap. Under "cards speak" the best hidden spade always wins that half; under sequential declaration, it does not have to. That gap between "best cards win" and "best-declared cards win" is the entire game the declaration adds.