Deuce-to-Seven Lowball
Deuce-to-seven, or Kansas City, Lowball, is the original form of lowball poker. This game has been traditionally more popular in the southern U.S., while regular ace-to-five lowball is predominant in the rest of the country and internationally. The reason for this is that deuce-to-seven is a high-stakes game with a huge win/loss variance. It can break the highest of rollers or make a guy a fortune. It’s usually played in a no-limit form without any jokers in play.
Five cards are dealt just like regular draw poker. Unlike other forms of lowball, the best hand in this game is the lowest traditional poker hand; 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. Aces are never small and straights and flushes are considered made hands, and are counted against you. Players get three draws to improve their hand with a betting round between each draw.
Drawing hands require a lot of consideration, and some hands that may seem like they are good draws may not be at all. Take for example when you’re holding four suited cards like 7h, 6h, 5h, 3h. This may appear to be a draw to a good hand, but your odds of hitting the cards you need are not good at all. The straight and flush possibilities reduce the number of outs you have to make your winning hand because any four or heart will bust up your hand. A better draw hand would be 2, 3, 4, 5, off-suit. The chance of hitting a flush is not there and even though it looks like these cards are an open-ended straight draw they are not. Remember that the aces are never low in this game.
Pot odds are calculated the same way you would in holdem. Calculate your outs to a better hand and compare that ratio with the size of the bet compared to the pot. With everyone on the table looking for the same group of cards, a player’s outs are often in the possession of another player.