Lowball poker game: Ace-to-Five, where the lowest hand wins

What ace-to-five lowball is, and what it is not

You play five card draw and the lowest hand wins. John McLeod's Pagat page lists this as California Lowball, also known as Ace-to-Five Single Draw. Wikipedia says the name comes from the best hand, 5-4-3-2-A, with the ace at one end and the five at the other. Of the three ways to rank low hands, ace-to-five is the one Wikipedia calls most common.

Other games share the word. Deuce-to-seven lowball, also known as Kansas City Lowball, makes aces high and counts straights and flushes against you, so its best hand is 7-5-4-3-2. Triple draw gives you three draws and four rounds of betting, in ace-to-five and deuce-to-seven forms. Razz is seven card stud played for low. All are real games. None is dealt here: we deal five cards and a single draw, ranked ace to five.

The ranking, with hands you can check

Compare the highest card first, and lower is better. So 7-5-4-3-2 beats 7-6-3-2-A: both are 7-lows, and the next card down, a five against a six, settles it. The ace is always the lowest card, so 8-5-4-3-A beats 8-5-4-3-2. Straights and flushes are ignored, which is why 7-6-5-4-3 beats 8-5-4-3-2 although it runs in sequence, and why 5-4-3-2-A, a straight in high poker, is the best hand here. It is called the wheel, or the bicycle. From the top the ladder runs 5-4-3-2-A, 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, then the 7-lows from 7-4-3-2-A.

The high hand loses outright, and pairs are bad. A full house, the pride of high poker, loses here to any hand of five different ranks, even K-Q-J-10-9. Wikipedia says one pair beats two pair and three of a kind, and stops at etcetera. The rest of that order is our reading of the etcetera: a pair, then two pair, three of a kind, a full house, and four of a kind worst, the reverse of high poker. Inside a category the repeated cards compare first. Yes, A-A is the best pair, which feels wrong until you remember that lower wins. Then come the odd cards, so 3-3-6-4-2 beats 3-3-6-5-A.

One hand at this table, step by step

Every seat starts the match on 500 play chips. The seat left of the button posts a small blind of 5, the next posts a big blind of 10, and everyone gets five cards face down. With two seats, the dealer posts the small blind. There is no ante. Betting goes round, a bet or raise being 10. Then each seat still in swaps up to five cards, once, and a second round follows in which a bet or raise is 20. The lowest hand takes the pot. Every button shows what it costs before you press it.

Fold only appears when calling costs something, so there is never a free fold. A bet and three raises is the limit while three or more seats are still in, and there is no cap on raises once only two are. A seat that cannot cover a bet goes all in for the chips it has. It stays in and still draws, and the others play on for a side pot it cannot win. How many cards each seat drew is public, so a seat that stood pat has told you something.

A hand, heads-up. You deal, so you post the 5 and your friend posts the 10. You hold Q-8-5-3-A, call the other 5, and your friend checks. Your friend draws first, two cards, and you throw the queen and draw a 2, which makes 8-5-3-2-A, an eight-low. You can both see how many the other drew, two and one. Your friend checks, you bet 20, they call, and the pot is 60. You show 8-5-3-2-A against their 9-6-4-3-2. Eight-low beats nine-low, and you take all 60.

Where other rule sets differ, and what we chose

Pagat leaves several details open, and so do we. Its California Lowball has the dealer post a small blind and the next two seats big blinds. We post one small blind and one big blind, which suits two seats as well as six. Some games double the bet after the draw and some keep it, and we double it, 10 before and 20 after. Pagat says a joker is often added and describes betting sevens, a rule that caps what a seat can win after checking with a 7-low or better. We play neither: 52 cards, no joker, no betting sevens.

The match is ours too. The host picks 6, 12 or 20 hands (you do, at the computer table), 12 if nobody chooses, and whoever holds the most chips after the last hand wins. A seat that ends a hand on fewer than 10 chips is out for the rest of the match and watches the others finish. Equal best hands split the pot, and the odd chip goes to the tied seat nearest the dealer's left, as Pagat's betting page has it. For a seat that runs short we follow that page too: side pots, and its rule for fixed limit games that an all-in raise of less than half a bet does not reopen the betting, while one that takes the bet half a bet or more above the last full raise counts as a full raise.

Play chips, and nothing else

The chips are play chips, a running score for one table. Nothing is bought, won or kept, and nothing carries over: when the match ends, the chips end with it. A line under the board says so.

It is free, like every table here. An ad may show up now and then, and we aim to keep it discreet. No account and nothing to install: pick how many seats and drop a friend the link.

Against the computer, or with friends

At the computer table you sit down with one to three computer seats, your choice, remembered on that device. It plays a strategy we can state. It stands pat on a 7-low or better and raises. With an eight-low, or four good low cards, it calls one bet and draws one card. With three cards of six or lower and no pair, it draws two. Junk folds to a raise, and now and then it bluffs a bet after the draw. Watch which hands it stands pat on and you have a working idea of a playable hand.

With friends, the host opens a table for two to six seats and sends one link per seat. There is chat while you play, and voice if the host switched it on. A table stays open for 48 hours after the last move. A friends' table has no computer seats and no clock on a decision. The board shows whose turn it is, the pot, what calling costs, everyone's chips and how many cards each seat drew, and it names your own hand in words, such as 8-low: 8 6 4 3 A, or a pair of fours.

Lowball poker strategy and a cheat sheet

Five lines to keep. The lowest hand wins. The ace is low. Straights and flushes do not count. A pair loses to any five different ranks. Highest card first, lower better. If a friend says lowball and means deuce-to-seven, ask first: aces are high there and a straight counts against you. Pagat gives the advice that shapes most draws, and the numbers behind it: it is seldom worth drawing more than one card. Draw two and you make a pair about half the time, and however low the three cards you keep, your chance of a nine-high or better is never more than 25%.

Our opinion: the game is in the draw count, and the cheapest fold is the one before it. Draw poker has no flop, so this is the fold you would call preflop in another game. If making a nine-low or better takes two new cards, Pagat's numbers put your chance at no better than one in four, so fold when it costs something. A seat that stands pat is claiming a good hand, and a seat that draws three is usually building one from scratch. The table shows every seat's count, so use it. Our test for a good game with friends is equal ground: if only one of you knows the rules, that one has an unfair edge. Lowball passes, because the rules fit on a page and the instincts you bring from high poker mostly point the wrong way.