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Sunday 5 September 2010

 

 

Ace to Five Lowball 

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Ace to Five Lowball

 

The Game

Ace to Five Lowball triple draw is the most classic version of Lowball poker and even though not common online there is a few sites that offers the game, and more is sure to follow as players are looking to explore other forms of poker than Hold'em and Stud. Lowball games are typical in that they reward only the best low hand, making it the opposite of games such as Hold'em and Stud, where the highest hand wins, and different from standard Hi/Lo games that award both the Hi and Low winning hand.

 

Ace to Five Lowball is played as triple draw and is very similar to Five Card Draw but with the exception of just Triple Draw.

 

 

How to Play Ace to Five Lowball (triple draw)

Play works the same as 5 card draw but with players trying to make the best possible low hand, and there are three draws instead of one. Straights and flushes don't count so the best possible hand is A, 2, 3, 4, 5 regardless of suit.

 

The game is played with blinds, just like flop games and each player is dealt five cards face down, the players hole cards, and no community cards are used. The aim of the game is to build the strongest five card hand, beating your opponents. In brief the game is played accordingly to... ((1) Posting blinds, (2) Five cards are dealt to each player, (3) Betting round one, beginning with the player to left of the big blind, (4) First Draw, (5) Betting round two, beginning with the player to left of the button etc., (6) Second Draw, (7) Betting round three, (8) Third Draw, (9) Last Betting round, (10) The Showdown, determining the winner.

 

 

The Rules

Ace to Five Lowball begins with two players posting the big blind and small blind. The first player left of the dealer pays the small blind, the next person pays the big blind, which is double the small blind. Each player is then dealt five cards, face down. The first player after the big blind has the option to fold, call or raise. The game then continues clockwise around the table until the betting round is complete.

 

 

The Draw

An exciting part of the game and with the first round of betting being complete there is a draw, that is each player determines which, if any, cards he or she wishes to discard, and the player have the option to exchange any of its five cards, or none at all, "stand pat".

 

 

Second Betting Round

Once the draw/discard procedure is complete there is second round of betting, starting with the first player to the left of the dealer (button) that is still in the game.

 

 

Second Draw

Second betting round being completed and the second draw starts. This draw is exactly as the first draw. It starts with the first player to the left of the dealer, and each player has the option to draw 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cards, or to once again "stand pat". Once each player has received their cards the third betting round starts.

 

 

Third Betting Round

The third betting round is the same as the second betting round. It starts with the first player to the left of the dealer, and moving clockwise. Each player has the option to check, bet, raise, call, or fold. Naturally, if no bets you can't raise, and if another player has placed a bet one lose the option to check. When all players have either called the highest bet or folded, the final and last draw is up.

 

 

Third Draw

This draw is as before. Starting with the player to the left of the dealer, and each player can draw 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cards, or stand pat and draw none. Once all player has received their cards one move on to the final and fourth betting round.

 

 

Last Betting Round

The final betting round begins with the first player to the left of the dealer, and moves clockwise around the table. Each player can check, bet, call, raise, or fold, and with everyone either having called the highest bet, or folded, the betting round is over and next is the showdown.

 

 

Reshuffle Rule

As in Seven Card Stud it is possible for more cards to be needed than what are remaining in the deck, i.e. eight players times 5 cards each equals 40 cards. In this case, the cards remaining together with the cards discarded are used as a "new" deck and reshuffled, and the game play continues using the "new" deck.

 

 

Joker

The joker, commonly excluded but can also be included as a "wild" card. If included the joker plays as the lowest card not already present in the hand. In other words the Joker plays as card value 2 in hand 7, 5, 4, Joker, Ace.

 

Note... Online, as well as land based, players will be informed whether the joker is in play or not.

 

 

The Showdown

The showdown in Ace to Five Lowball is much different than in the more typical game of poker like Texas Hold'em, as the game uses a low hand ranking system, trying to create the worst possible five card hand. Aces are always low, straights and flushes counts against you etc.

 

 

Hand Rank

In Ace to Five Lowball, straights and flushes counts against you and aces are always low, hence the best possible Lowball hand is A, 2, 3, 4, 5. The following Lowball hands are in order of the strongest (lowest) winning hand first etc.

 

5, 4, 3, 2, A The best possible lowball hand
6, 4, 3, 2, A  
6, 5, 3, 2, A  
6, 5, 4, 2, A  
6, 5, 4, 3, A  
6, 5, 4, 3, 2  
7, 4, 3, 2, A  
7, 5, 3, 2, A  
8, 5, 4, 3, A Aces always low
8, 5, 4, 3, 2  
9, 7, 6, 4, 3  
7, 6, 5, 4, 3 Straights counts against you
K, J, 8, 6, 4  
9, 5, 3, A, A Pair loses to no pair (aces low)
5, 4, 3, 2, 2  

 

Note... The above hand rank list is not the complete list of hands.

 

Hence the hand 8, 5, 4, 3, 2 defeats 9, 7, 6, 4, 3 because eight-high is lower than nine-high. The hand 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 defeats both, because seven-high is lower still, even though it would be a straight if played for high. Aces are low, so 8, 5, 4, 3, A defeats hand 8, 5, 4, 3, 2. Also, A, A, 9, 5, 3 (a pair of aces) defeats 2, 2, 5, 4, 3 (a pair of deuces), but both of those would lose to any no-pair hand such as K, J, 8, 6, 4. In the rare event that hands with pairs tie, kickers are used just as in high poker (but reversed)... 3, 3, 6, 4, 2 defeats 3, 3, 6, 5, A.

 

The game is named Ace to Five low because the lowest (and therefore best) possible hand is 5, 4, 3, 2, A, called a wheel. The next best possible hand is 6, 4, 3, 2, A followed by hands 6, 5, 3, 2, A etc.

 

 

 

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