Ace-to-five lowball
Ace-to-five lowball is a variation of poker which is mostly played on online platforms, though it sometimes played on land-based venues as well. This variation of poker requires the players to make the weakest poker hand possible, instead of the standard strongest hand. Straights and flushes are ignored in this variation and the best hand is 5-4-3-2-A. Also, suite, whether it is the same or different, makes no difference.
Being a draw game, three possible draws are allowed per hand. Apart from this, the blinds method is used in the online version of Ace-to-five lowball. This means that the player sitting to the left of the online dealer has to pay the small bind, which is equal to half the low stake. Now the player to the left of this player, who is known as the small blind, is the big blind, and s/he has to pay an amount which is equal to the low stake.
Once the blinds have been paid, the game begins, wherein the dealer will deal each player five private hole cards, which will be facing down. The betting round is started by the player sitting next to the big blind. At this point players can either raise fold, call or bet.
In Ace-to-five lowball, once the first betting round is over, the first draw round begins. The player sitting to the left of the dealer starts this round. Here the players can discard anywhere from 0 to 5 cards, which will be replaced by new ones.
Now after two more rounds of betting and draw, the final betting of the Ace-to-five lowball games takes place. Following this is the showdown, which only happens when there is more than one player remaining, after the final betting round. During the showdown all remaining players show their hand and the one with the lowest hand bags the pot. In case there is more than one contender to the pot, it is split equally between them, as there is no suite rank which can help decide a definite winner.
In Ace-to-five lowball, the best hand, which is the A-2-3-4-5, flush and straight not counting, is also known as a wheel or sometimes even a bicycle. The next best hand following the wheel is 6-4-3-2-A and so on. Another point to remember is that in Ace-to-five lowball, a no pair hand tops a one pair hand, which in turn beats a two pair hand and all beat a three pair hand.
Aces are always counted as the lowest card, and jokers are used in this variation of poker. A joker card is always the lowest card which is not present in the hand that the joker card is a part of.
Neste begrep: Ace-to-six lowball
