How To Play Lowball Poker
Play Poker » Poker Games » Lowball Poker
The most popular way to play lowball poker is using five card draw rules. The difference between five card draw and lowball poker is that you want to actually have the lowest hand rather then the highest hand. You still use the same hand rankings as a normal poker game except you don’t want a pair. The objective is to try and be as close to A-2-3-4-5 as possible, but you’re only as good as your high card. If you have A-2-3-4-10 and your opponent has 3-4-5-6-8 then they would win since their highest card is lower then your highest card.
If you know how to play five card draw poker already then you won’t need to read the rules below. If you’ve never played either poker game or you want to make sure you understand all of the rules then you should continue reading. In lowball poker you use blinds rather then using antes although you could use both. It’s important to switch dealers every hand when playing with blinds to ensure the same players aren’t paying the blinds every hand.
The player to the left of the dealer in lowball poker needs to post the small blind while the player sitting next to the small blind needs to put in the big blind. The dealer can then deal out 5 cards to every player in the hand. The 1st betting round starts at this stage in the hand with the player to the left of the big blind acting first. Everyone needs to call the big blind, fold their hand or raise the pot if they think they have a good hand. In some lowball poker games the rules state that you need to double the big blind in order to open up the 1st bet although you don’t need to use this rule.
After everyone is finished betting the players that are still left in the hand are allowed to draw cards. There is no limit on the amount of cards you draw at this stage of the hand. You only get one draw so make sure you draw all of the cards that you want to replace at the same time. When the draw is complete there is one final betting round. If you’re playing limit lowball poker then you need to use the big blind as the minimum bet rather then the small blind.
When the round of betting is finished players need to flip over their hands to see who won. Lowball poker is a game where the lowest hand wins as mentioned above. There are no special rules and all you need to do is have a lower hand then your opponent without having any pairs. If you have a pair in your hand then you’re going to lose to any hand that doesn’t have a pair. It’s important to keep the betting low during the 1st betting round in case you draw a pair when you draw your cards.
Lowball poker can also be played in several other variations including Holdem. Most poker games can be played in lowball form since the only rules difference is that the low hand wins rather then the low hand wins. You can also play lowball poker by playing hi/lo, which is where the pot is split between the player with the high hand and the low hand unless the same player wins both hands.
If you want to learn how to play lowball poker I recommend playing lowball poker as described above. Once you learn all of the rules and you feel confident playing lowball five card draw you can start trying out other lowball variations. Certain lowball poker games can be played online, so it’s a great poker game to learn how to play. Over the past few years more and more people have started to play lowball poker games because it’s a nice change from playing the popular poker games such as Omaha and Holdem. A lot of the competition on lowball poker tables are still learning the game, which means it’s a lot easier to win money against lowball poker players then it is Holdem players since the majority of Holdem players have played for years now.