Pair-friendly lowball

[MarkGritter]

Our recent discussion about Badugi gave me a strange idea. In triple draw there is a strong incentive to stay pat because pairs have little showdown value. Badugi, though, is somwhat pair-neutral; a 3-card showdown hand with a pair is no weaker than a 3-card hand with one. Can we go even farther by creating a lowball game in which pairs are advantageous?

Here is one idea: hands are ranked according to the number of distinct ranks. The best hands are 2-card hands (quads or full houses) with equivalent-sized hands ranked in the usual A-5 manner.

Thus the best hand is A2, which may be AAAA2, AAA22, AA222, or A2222. 55566 beats AAA77.

KKKQQ beats 3322A. KKQQJ (KQJ) beats AA234 (432A).

QJJJ8 beats K3AAA but loses to T3AAA (demonstrating that the order is not just the inverse of the normal poker hand ranking excluding straights and flushes.)

Worst hand is KQJT9.

?'s: (answer for either single draw or triple draw)

What hands should you start with? Low pairs + two pairs or better? A three-card hand will improve to a two-card hand about 24% of the time with three draws. How strong are trips?

When is it correct to stand pat with a 3-card hand? If you hold 44322 and your opponent is drawing one you are a favorite. (The best he could hold is AA33 so he has 7 outs to beat you.) Obviously KQJ is no good. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Somewhere in between should be a hand that is usually a small favorite.

Similarly, when is it correct to keep a kicker with your trips?

[MarkGritter]

A simpler variation that Andrew Prock says he's played is just "lowest high card wins". AAAA2 is still best, but 432AA (a '4') beats 99988 (a '9'.)

I think that variant is probably significantly easier to figure out given that it can be played almost like A-5 lowball. In the 'pair-friendly' version I described above it seems likely that the decisions are less straightforward since pairing or keeping a pair is signficantly stronger than drawing an unpaired low card.

[monroe]

I keep a list of game variations that I've come up with. One of them is lowball where pairs are acceptable. I had no idea anyone actually played that, becuase it doesn't seem like a good game. Note that there are seven versions of the nuts: 2AAAA, 22AAA, 222AA, 2222A, 3AAAA, 32AAA, and 322AA. 322AA can also chop a pot. Consider yourself cursed if that ever happens. Your version, although harder to explain, seems like a much more interesting game.

Although I've never played it, one of my variations is stud high-low regular where pairs are acceptable for low (Stud Hi/Lo Super). For example, 86628K6 would be a full house for high and 86662 for low.

[monroe]

More lowball variants I've come up with (I have never actually played any of these):

Kansas City Lowball with a "floating bug" (a single paired wheel card is wild). For example, J5532 is equivalent to J5432. J8832 is just a pair of eights, however, and J5533 would be a pair of threes (J5332).

Triple-Draw with a "reverse qualifier". Play 2-7 with an 8-or-better (worse?) qualifier. 85432 becomes the nuts, and a hand like 76432 would fall between a pair of deuces and Ace-high. (I called it Swiss Lowball)

Lowball where five cards are dealt, but only the lowest four play. A234X is the nuts, unless the X is 3, 2, or A. (I called this Santa Fe Lowball)

Triple Draw where the objective is to make the lowest flush (aces are low). If no player makes a flush, then the lowest four-flushes are compared, and so on. So Th-8h-4h-2h-Qs would beat Jd-7d-6d-5d-Ac but lose to Ks-Js-9s-3s-As. (I called this Vienna)

Triple-Draw where the objective is to make the best A-5 lowball hand consisting of no more than two suits. Again, if no five-card hand can be made, then four-card hands are compared, and so on. A2345 (of no more than two suits) is the nuts. Ac-3c-4c-5d-6h is only a four-card hand (543A) and loses to Kd-Qd-Td-8s-7s. This is very interesting, I think.

Sorry for the hijack...


Getting back to your original game, I think it could use some analysis. It may play horribly, but it could also be deep. I would think that in a triple-draw format, certain hands would be large (too large maybe?) favorites over others. I could be wrong. You were thinking of playing with just one draw, right?

How about a mixed pot-limit game alternating rounds of this and regular 5-draw?