Ace to 5 lowball - California Style

[pipes]

Anyone ever play this in a cardroom or as part of a home game? Is it fun to play and facilitate action?

I was thinking of trying to play it as part of a rotation in a home game. Some of my reasons are:
- Single draw, so 8 players can play. (Maybe 9 if not too loose)
- Hands sb fast because of single draw
- Old school game
- Get excuse to study and reread that section in SSI

Any thoughts/comments on quality of game?

Should play rule where you must bet a seven? What's goal of that rule?

thanks

[MarkGritter]

There was an earlier thread on the sevens rule here:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...Number=6492467

It's to prevent check-raising. (Though whether check-raises really do kill the action or not I don't know.)

I don't think A-5 is much of an action game. A-5 is generally so tight that some cardrooms mandated that you kill a hand every so often. (You got to see two cards and then decide whether to kill or not. I can't find where I read this, though.)

There are a couple standard ways to induce action:

1. Use a third blind. (Some games were, for example, 5-5-10 and 20 to open. This offers 1:1 odds to the player entering the pot, which is better than the 3:4 odds offered to a raise by the modern small-blind/big-blind structure, although worse than the 3:2 odds for a limp.)

2. Use the kill rule described above, where players may double the stakes by posting a double-sized blind after seeing two of their cards.

[SteelWheel]

I've played this game at the Commerce. The rules provided for three blinds--a small blind which was on the button, a middle blind in the typical spot, left of the button, and a big blind to the left of the middle blind. Blinds were in the ratio of 1:2:3 --IOW, the small blind/button would be (say) $10, the middle blind would be $20, and the big blind would be $30.

A player winning two hands in a row had to post a kill blind; in addition, the "look at two with an option to kill" rule was also in effect.

[MrMemory]

[ QUOTE ]
I've played this game at the Commerce. The rules provided for three blinds--a small blind which was on the button, a middle blind in the typical spot, left of the button, and a big blind to the left of the middle blind. Blinds were in the ratio of 1:2:3 --IOW, the small blind/button would be (say) $10, the middle blind would be $20, and the big blind would be $30.

A player winning two hands in a row had to post a kill blind; in addition, the "look at two with an option to kill" rule was also in effect.

[/ QUOTE ]

Awesome. That'll spice up the action.