Single-Draw Lowball Strategy

The differences between Deuce-to-Seven Lowball and Ace-to-Five Lowball may alter the "feel" of the game somewhat, but they have little effect on solid strategy decisions. The "sevens rule," for example, changes little or nothing, except that one should be mindful of it when it is in force. The presence of the joker may affect a few probability calculations (like the number of "outs" in the deck and the number of remaining cards). In the same vein, the absences of straights and flushes from consideration just affects the number of "outs" that can cause a hand to improve on a draw. The ace as a low card affects the evaluation of the relative strength of a given hand. For example, an eight-high hand is just not as strong in Ace-to-Five Lowball as in Deuce-to-Seven Lowball because in the former variation there are just more hands out there that will beat it.

So experts agree that Lowball strategy is pretty much the same, regardless of the variation. To start, consider two fundamental areas in which inexperienced players make mistakes. They are:

• Failing to understand winning combinations
• Playing or overplaying bad cards

Failing to Understand Winning Combinations

Like all the other low-hand games, Lowball penalizes players who have not yet figured out what hand beats what other hand. Some players lose because they have the wrong mindset for a game. The high-card draw mindset just can not be imported into Lowball.

For example, newcomers to Lowball frequently imagine that a hand like 2-3-4-5-8 will beat a hand like 2-4-5-6-7 because the second lowest card is lower in the first hand. But it is the 8 that loses to the 7. This is why players by convention recite their hands from the large end to the small - 8-5-4-3-2 (or 85,432). The large end makes the difference in deciding which hand (absent pairs) is lower.

Another example pertains to Deuce-to-Seven, in which aces are high. New players often "think" in Ace-to-Five terms, where the ace is low, or carry in the concept of a "wheel" from Omaha Lo or Razz. But in Deuce-to-Seven the ace makes the hand worse than any unpaired hand that doesn't have an ace (or a flush or a straight). Every once in a while a player will spin out and just flat forget that he or she is in Deuce-to-Seven and play an ace as low.

Another mistake relating to winning combinations is not thinking through which hands can beat which other hands. In high-card poker, the rank orderings are clear and well-known. But when the rankings are turned upside-down, players unaccustomed to the game are easily confused. In high-card games, players do not have to concentrate that much on straight flushes, four of a kind or (possibly) full houses, as they are rare. But in Lowball, the absolute nut hand will be seen many times in just one session. Hands that contain even a humble pair will lose virtually every time. At a full table, any face card will probably ruin the chances of winning, and even eights can be dangerous. Newcomers to the game will often bet and raise with hands that are probable losers, just because they have not figured out which hands are winners and which hands are not.

It is not that hard to figure out what you need to complete a good hand and what your opponents need in order to beat you. But it is an acquired skill that does not naturally transfer from high-card poker games. For example, ask yourself (and don't take all day to answer) how many hands beat 8-5-4-3-2 in Deuce-to-Seven? It's not second-nature to know, is it? Any ace or six will spoil the show (aces are high, and straights count as straights.) The only hand that beats this one is a 7-high hand that has a gap and (of course) at least one off-suit card. Basically that would be the "nuts" that gives the game its name -- Deuce-to-Seven (with no six) - and any other runs from deuce to seven that have a missing 5, 4, or 3.

Try again with 8-6-5-4-3. This is the same hand as before, with the gap as a missing 2 rather than 6. It will lose to seven-high hands and to eight-high hands where the gap is at 5, 4 or 3. This illustrates the difference between rough and smooth hands. A rough hand is one that has its cards clustered towards the high end. So if the high card falls out, the second card will be almost as high. A smooth hand has its cards clustered towards the low end. So if the high card falls out, the hand improves greatly. Drawing rough means trying to improve a rough hand, when the risk of damage is high, but the chance for hand improvement is low, even though the draw might be successful. Drawing smooth is the reverse: the risk of damage is less than the reward of a much improved hand if the draw is successful.

Most winning hands in Lowball started out as draw hands. True pat hands are somewhat unusual. Many players would rather play a rough hand pat than draw to it, so you will see quite a few rough Queen-high or Jack-high hands at showdown that were played pat.

The decision whether to draw one card to an otherwise strong hand can be a bit tricky. It is discussed below. Off-loading a pair or a high card in a smooth hand, where the other cards are all low and unpaired, is not a hard decision. In some cases, the question is whether to play the hand at all, especially if it requires a two- or three-card draw.

Playing (or overplaying) Bad Cards

Almost all written treatments of poker strategy say at some point that weaker players play too many hands. In Single-Draw Lowball, a person can be dealt a hand with so little promise that it is not worth a bet just to get to the draw. (The same principle applies in Triple-Draw, but some players take solace in the fact that there are two draws after the first one. This is no cause to be complacent. Even in Triple-Draw, the good players will be perfecting strong starting hands with their draw - while you are trying to recover from a miserable deal.)

It is also said in Hold'em that any two hole cards are capable of winning (but not necessarily very often!). That's because of the potentially redeeming qualities of the board cards. Such a statement is really not very good Hold'em advice, and it is horrible counsel for Lowball! Because the poker hand hierarchy has been turned on its head, players accustomed to high-card games are inclined to think that any lousy hand in a high-card game will be a great hand in Lowball. That is not true, either. Some hands are no good, no matter what game it is. They tend to be the ones in the middle - too high for Lowball and too low for high-card poker. There are a lot of such hands. Resist the temptation to play them in Lowball.

The Perils of Drawing Cards

Most Single-Draw Lowball players are reluctant to draw cards, as they can easily get stuck with a pair or an ugly high card. In Triple-Draw this should not be so big a deal in the first round because of the opportunities for later recovery. But remember the caution that good Triple Draw players do not waste their draws trying to fix up lousy cards.

The tendency is to stand pat unless there's a pair, or an ace or another high card. Standing pat with a Queen-high is fairly common, even though it does not win that much, except as against bluffers.

If the hand just can not be played as is, a Lowball player might ask for a card. A draw of two cards is about as risky as the average player gets. Three is really going out on a limb, and four - well, put it this way: If you called the blind and paid to go to a draw with only one good card in your hand, you're crazy. Sit out the round if the deal only gave you one or two cards worth keeping.

A player who has been standing pat might or might not have a great hand. Holding a queen-high, for example, is a bit like having a seventeen in Blackjack. It's not good enough to win that much, but it sometimes does. It's risky to try to improve on it. It's the sort of hand you just have to suffer through and hope for the best.

Depending on the number of players at the table and in the game, and depending on one's position, most players will stand pat with anything under the Queen-high -- unless they're in a particularly loose mood. (The Jack-high players will grumble, of course, but they do win from time to time.) Above the Queen-high, most players will draw. Even with the Queen-high, a draw has a positive expectation if the next card in the hand is low. (Don't draw with a Queen high when the second-highest card is a Jack. The risk is much worse than the reward. But if the next highest card is a six, then a draw is a good idea.)

At a full table, if players in front have stood pat or drawn just one card, the message should be that the Queen-high hand is a likely loser unless it undergoes some improvement. The chances of improving a Queen-high with a one-card draw are still pretty reasonable.

When another player has drawn one card and stays in the betting, it is often a challenge to figure out if the hand improved or if he or she is just putting the best face possible on a potential disaster. Often enough the one-card drawer will pair up and then try to bluff. Good Lowball players will be glad to drag the bluffers to showdown.

A one-card drawer really is just hoping for the best. The mistake commonly made is staying in the game even if the hand failed to improve. If the best didn't happen, paying money to prove how bad your hand turned out is lunacy.

In Five-Card Draw, you typically hold a pair if you are dealt one, draw three cards, and hope that one of the three new cards will produce the card wanted. The two cards in the draw that were not successful won't get much attention. In Lowball, the concern is really focused on the "not successful" draw cards, as they can blow the whole hand.

In general, the worse the card, the better your chances of improving your lot with a draw. This makes intuitive sense. Think in terms of "outs." In an Ace-to-Five game, if I slough a 9, there are 19 cards that are the same or worse for me in the deck (three nines and four each of 10 through king). There are also 12 cards that will pair up one of the other cards in your hand. That's a total of 31 "bad" outs. The deck has 47 cards in it. The chance of not being better off, and probably being worse off, is 66%. If I slough a king, the number of "bad" outs drops to 15 (three kings and 12 pairing threats). That probability is 32%. In the case of the nines, the cards are 2:1 against you. In the case of kings, the odds are a little better than 2:1 in your favor.

Drawing two or three cards is really asking for trouble, as the section on Lowball Probabilities explains in terms of the math. Basically, the pot odds would have to be incredible to justify taking such a risk.

If an opponent draws two or three cards in front of you, you know that he or she is probably really hurting, absent some blind luck. What should you do? Stand pat? No. If the hand is a promising draw hand, draw anyway. The expectation of improvement is positive, and the chances of winning even with a so-so draw are now pretty favorable. Standing pat instead of making an intelligent draw is a mistake, regardless of what the opponents do. An intelligent draw is one in which the exit of the high card will yield a strong, winning hand if the new card is lower and does not pair up.

Betting Practices

Because draw hands are common in Lowball, many players are tempted to slow-play every hand. This is especially true for newcomers to the game, who tend to play tight in any event. It is probably more important in Lowball to play good hands aggressively than in high-hand games. Since everyone else at the table may be on a draw hand, early bets and raises helps to flush them out before the draw.

Players accustomed to Stud and Hold'em games sometimes are reluctant to play a medium-to-strong hand aggressively, as they don't want to disclose their hand strength too early. This hardly makes sense in Single-Draw Lowball, with its two betting rounds. It could be a consideration in Triple-Draw, where there are four betting rounds, just like Hold'em games. But the point is that the strength of a hand is disclosed anyway when asking for cards in draw poker. You're not hiding much by slow-play and you're not hiding it for long.

The best tactic is to be a consistent bettor across the board - draw hands, pat hands and medium-rough hands. Don't play the lousy hands and fold when you know you are beaten. It's really just solid, basic poker play. Lowball games tend to reward solid and consistent play and penalize those who come to the table with bad poker habits.