Lowball
LOWBALL VARIANTS

Submitted by TwoGun on 2004-04-10

Rules

Lowball is the same as five card draw, except the lowest hands wins. There are two types of lowball:

A-5: In A-5 lowball, straights and flushes do not count and an ace is considered low. Thus, A2345 is the best hand, and it does not matter if it is a flush or not

2-7: In deuce to seven lowball (also known as Kansas City lowball), straights and flushes do count and an ace is considered high. Thus, the best possible hand is 23457 and it cannot be a flush.

In case you do not know the rules to standard five card draw, here they are:

Each player is dealt 5 cards face down. There is a round of betting. Then players can discard up to 5 of their cards and draw new ones from the deck. After the draw, there is another round of betting.

Some play that you can not draw more than 4 cards, and you can only draw 4 cards if you have an ace (and expose it). Also, some have a rule that to open on the first betting round, one must have a pair of jacks or better. If no one has jacks or better, the hand is considered a misdeal.

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