Re: Why is there no Lowball Texas Holdem?
 

You could say that someone would be stupid to open in early position with less than a good ace (or a good two), but then, you could say the same of someone who opens in early position without a good ace or a big pair in NL.

And yet people do.

Because if you're only opening with good aces or twos in early position, it becomes extremely easy to play against you post flop. And if you know that people "know" you've got an ace or a two, suddenly they're quite exploitable.
It's not tough to think of situations where a lot more thought comes into play.

You also develop the same incentive to limp-raise (if not more so) with your good aces, just because you dont want to discourage action. There is probably a lot more emphasis on preflop action than in regular hold em, but it's not completely mindless. It's just different.

Re: Why is there no Lowball Texas Holdem?
 

I'm well aware of the difference, but I thought assessing the playability of O8 would at least give us clues as to the playability of HELow. I still don't see much point to the low-only version, so I was suggesting another variant the OP might like.

Re: Why is there no Lowball Texas Holdem?
 

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I love HE/8, though we usually play it hi/lo without the qualifier now. It's a good game. If players are too nitty then adjust your games, put a straddle on or do something...

I don't know why people beat up on this game so much, it plays just fine. I guess for some people anything other than NLHE (with exactly x/2x blinds) is "dumb."

[/ QUOTE ]

The issue is NOT that it's not holdem. Plenty of things aren't holdem, and they play fine.

The issue is that it has the wrong structure for poker - too much emphasis on the first betting round. I can think of at least 15 lowball variations that would play better. Why not go play one of them? My personal favorite: NL 2-7 STRAW.

Re: Why is there no Lowball Texas Holdem?
 

Holdem high-low split (8 or better) makes more sense, though nothing great. The best hands there are AA-QQ, A2s-A6s (they don't all rank at this spot) A2-A5, AKs-ATs, JJ-TT, two cards five or less suited (e.g. 52s), AK-AJ, two cards five or less unsuited (though 53 and 54 - like AT and A6 - are near top 20%. A7-A9 are near top 33%, and the same goes to medium suited aces in most cases), 62s-63s, 22, KQs. The worst hands have one or two medium cards where the highest card is less than an ace.