Last issue we looked at Razz – a Stud game where the lowest hand wins. This month, in keeping with the low-handwins theme, we’re taking a look at the 5-Card Draw equivalents – Ace-to-Five Lowball and Deuce-to-Seven Lowball.

Mostly, these variants follow the normal rules of Draw poker. As such, everyone is dealt five cards face down, there’s a round of betting, and then each player still in the pot gets to change as many or as few cards as they choose (in some cases the limit is four). Naturally, in the Lowball version the idea is to form the lowest possible hand, though the details of what is the ‘lowest’ or ‘best’ hand changes according to the variation you’re playing.

In Ace-to-Five – otherwise known as California Lowball – straights and flushes don’t count against your hand and the Ace is low, so the best hand is A-2-3-4-5.