Lowball or low poker is a variant of poker in which the normal ranking of hands is inverted. Several variations 🫦 of lowball poker exist, differing in whether aces are treated as high cards or low cards, and whether straights and 🫦 flushes are used.
Low-poker ranking [ edit ]
Lowball inverts the normal ranking of poker hands. There are three methods of ranking 🫦 low hands, called ace-to-five low, deuce-to-seven low, and ace-to-six low. The 'ace-to-five' method is most common. A sub-variant within this 🫦 category is 'high-low poker', in which the highest and lowest hands split the pot, with the highest hand taking any 🫦 odd chips if the pot does not divide equally. Sometimes straights and/or flushes count in determining which hand is highest 🫦 but not in determining which hand is lowest, being reckoned as a no-pair hand in the latter instance, so that 🫦 a player with such a holding can win both ways and thus take the entire pot.
Lowball variants [ edit ]
The 🫦 most popular forms of lowball are ace-to-five lowball (also known as California lowball), and deuce-to-seven lowball (also known as Kansas 🫦 City lowball). Ace-to-five lowball gets its name because the best hand at that form is 5-4-3-2-A. In ace-to-five lowball straights 🫦 and flushes do not prevent a hand from being low. You win by simply having the five lowest cards. Deuce-to 🫦 seven lowball gets its name because the best hand at that form is 7-5-4-3-2 (not of the same suit).[1]
Ace-to-five low 🫦 is the most common method for evaluating low hands in poker, nearly universal in U.S. casinos, especially in high-low split 🫦 games.
As in all low hand games, pairs count against the player. That is, any hand with no pair defeats any 🫦 hand with a pair; one pair hands defeat two pair or three of a kind, etc. No-pair hands are compared 🫦 starting with the highest-ranking card, just as in high poker, except that the high hand loses. In ace-to-five low, straights 🫦 and flushes are ignored, and aces play as the lowest card.
For example, 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 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.
This is called 🫦 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 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, etc.
When speaking, low hands are referred to by their highest-ranking 🫦 card or cards. Any nine-high hand can be called "a nine", and is defeated by any "eight". Two cards are 🫦 frequently used: the hand 8-6-5-4-2 can be called "an eight-six" and will defeat "an eight-seven" such as 8-7-5-4-A.
Another common notation 🫦 is calling a particular low hand "smooth" or "rough". A smooth low hand is one where the remaining cards after 🫦 the highest card are themselves very low; a rough low hand is one where the remaining cards are high. For 🫦 instance, 8-7-6-3-A would be referred to as a "rough eight", but 8-4-3-2-A would be referred to as a "smooth eight". 🫦 Some players refer to a hand containing a 4-3-2-A (in ace-to-five low or ace-to-six low) or a 5-4-3-2 (in deuce-to-seven 🫦 low) as a "nut" (thus, in ace-to-five or ace-to-six, a 7-4-3-2-A would be called a "seven nut").
High-low split games with 🫦 ace-to-five low are usually played cards speak, that is, without a declaration. Frequently a qualifier is required for low (typically 🫦 8-high or 9-high). Some hands (particularly small straights and flushes) may be both the low hand and the high hand, 🫦 and are particularly powerful (or particularly dangerous if they are mediocre both ways). Winning both halves of the pot in 🫦 a split-pot game is called "scooping" or "hogging" the pot. The perfect hand in such a game is called a 🫦 "steel wheel", 5-4-3-2-A of one suit, which plays both as perfect low and a straight flush high. Note that it 🫦 is possible—though unlikely—to have this hand and still lose money. If the pot has three players, and one other player 🫦 has a mixed-suit wheel, and a third has better straight flush, the higher straight flush wins the high half of 🫦 the pot, and the two wheels split the low half, hence the steel wheel wins only a quarter of a 🫦 three-way pot.
Ace-to-five lowball, a five-card draw variant, is often played with a joker added to the deck. The joker plays 🫦 as the lowest card not already present in the hand (in other words, it is a wild card): 7-5-4-Joker-A, for 🫦 example, the joker plays as a 2. This can cause some interesting effects for high-low split games. Let's say that 🫦 Alice has 6-5-4-3-2 (called a "straight six")--a reasonably good hand for both high and low. Burt has Joker-6-5-4-3. By applying 🫦 the rule for wild cards in straights, Burt's joker plays as a 7 for high, giving him a seven-high straight 🫦 to defeat Alice's six-high straight. For low, the joker plays as an ace—the lowest card not in Burt's hand—and his 🫦 hand also defeats Alice for low, because his low hand is 6-5-4-3-A, lower than her straight six by one notch. 🫦 Jokers are very powerful in high-low split games.
Wheel [ edit ]
A wheel or bicycle is the poker hand 5-4-3-2-A, regardless 🫦 of suit, which is a five-high straight, the lowest-ranking of the straights.
In ace-to-five low poker, where aces are allowed to 🫦 play as low and straights and flushes do not count against a hand's "low" status, this is the best possible 🫦 hand. In high/low split games, it is both the best possible low hand and a competitive high hand. The best 🫦 deuce-to-seven low hand, 7-5-4-3-2, is also sometimes called "the wheel".
Ace-to-six low is not as commonly used as the ace-to-five low 🫦 method, but it is common among home games in the eastern region of the United States, some parts of the 🫦 mid-west, and also common in the United Kingdom (it is the traditional ranking of London lowball, a stud poker variant).
As 🫦 in all lowball games, pairs and trips are bad: that is, any hand with no pair defeats any hand with 🫦 a pair; one pair hands defeat two pair or trips, etc. No-pair hands are compared starting with the highest-ranking card, 🫦 just as in high poker, except that the high hand loses. In ace-to-six low, straights and flushes are accounted for 🫦 (as compared to Ace-to-five) and count as high (and are therefore bad), and aces play as the lowest card.
For example, 🫦 the hand 8-5-4-3-2 defeats 9-7-6-4-3, because eight-high is lower than nine-high. The hand 7-6-5-4-2 defeats both, because seven-high is lower 🫦 still. The hand 7-6-5-4-3 would lose, because it is a straight. Aces are low, so 8-5-4-3-A defeats 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.
It is called ace-to-six low because the best possible hand is 6-4-3-2-A (also known as a 🫦 Chicago Wheel or a 64), followed by 6-5-3-2-A, 6-5-4-2-A, 6-5-4-3-A, 7-4-3-2-A, 7-5-3-2-A, etc.
When speaking, low hands are referred to by 🫦 their highest-ranking card or cards. Any nine-high hand can be called "a nine", and is defeated by any "eight". Two 🫦 cards are frequently used: the hand 8-6-5-4-2 can be called "an eight-six" and will defeat "an eight-seven" such as 8-7-5-4-A.
A 🫦 wild card plays as whatever rank would make the lowest hand. Thus, in 6-5-Joker-2-A, the joker plays as a 3, 🫦 while in Joker-5-4-3-2 it would play as a 7 (an ace or six would make a straight).
High-low split games with 🫦 ace-to-six low are usually played with a declaration.
Deuce-to-seven low is often called Kansas City lowball (the no-limit single-draw variation) or 🫦 just "low poker". It is almost the direct opposite of standard poker: high hand loses. It is not as commonly 🫦 used as the ace-to-five low method.
As in all lowball games, pairs and trips are bad: that is, any hand with 🫦 no pair defeats any hand with a pair; one pair hands defeat two pair or trips, etc. No-pair hands are 🫦 compared starting with the highest-ranking card, just as in high poker, except that the high hand loses. In deuce-to-seven low, 🫦 straights and flushes count as high (and are therefore bad). Aces are always high (and therefore bad).
For example, the hand 🫦 8-5-4-3-2 defeats 9-7-6-4-3, because eight-high is lower than nine-high. The hand 7-6-5-4-2 defeats both, because seven-high is lower still. The 🫦 hand 7-6-5-4-3 would lose, because it is a straight. Aces are high, so Q-8-5-4-3 defeats A-8-5-4-3. 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 3-3-6-5-2.
Since the ace 🫦 always plays high, A-5-4-3-2 (also called the Nut Ace) is not considered a straight; is simply ace-high no pair (it 🫦 would therefore lose to any king-high, but would defeat A-6-4-3-2).
The best possible hand is 7-5-4-3-2 (hence the name deuce-to-seven low), 🫦 followed by 7-6-4-3-2, 7-6-5-3-2, 7-6-5-4-2, 8-5-4-3-2, 8-6-4-3-2, etc. Hands are sometimes referred to by their absolute rank, e.g. 7-5-4-3-2 (#1, 🫦 said 'number one', see table).
Hand Name (#) Other Name 7-5-4-3-2 #1 Seven perfect, The nuts, Number one, The wheel 7-6-4-3-2 🫦 #2 7-6-5-3-2 #3 7-6-5-4-2 #4 8-5-4-3-2 #5 Nut Eight, Eight perfect 8-6-4-3-2 #6 8-6-5-3-2 #7 8-6-5-4-2 #8 8-6-5-4-3 #9 Rough 🫦 eighty-six 8-7-4-3-2 #10 Eighty-seven smooth 8-7-5-3-2 #11 8-7-5-4-2 #12 Average eight 8-7-5-4-3 #13 8-7-6-3-2 #14 8-7-6-4-2 #15 8-7-6-4-3 #16 8-7-6-5-2 🫦 #17 8-7-6-5-3 #18 Rough eighty-seven, The Dave P. 9-5-4-3-2 #19 Nut Nine, Nine perfect
When speaking, low hands are referred to 🫦 by their highest-ranking card or cards. Any nine-high hand can be called "a nine", and is defeated by any "eight". 🫦 Two cards are frequently used: the hand 8-6-5-4-2 can be called "an eight-six" and will defeat "an eight-seven" such as 🫦 8-7-5-4-2.
Another common notation is calling a particular low hand "smooth" or "rough". A smooth low hand is one where the 🫦 remaining cards after the highest card are themselves very low; a rough low hand is one where the remaining cards 🫦 are high. For instance, 8-7-6-4-2 would be referred to as a "rough eight", but 8-5-4-3-2 would be referred to as 🫦 a "smooth eight".
Wild cards are rarely used in deuce-to-seven games, but if used they play as whatever rank would make 🫦 the lowest hand. Thus, in 7-6-Joker-3-2, the joker plays as a 4, while in Joker-5-4-3-2 it would play as a 🫦 7 (a six would make a straight).
High-low split games with deuce-to-seven low are usually played with a declaration.
See also [ 🫦 edit ]
