2-7 Lowball Rules – How To Play NL Single Draw

2-7 Lowball rules for NL Single Draw are simple; however, players not familiar with the Deuce to Seven ranking of hands often get confused. Of course, in lowball poker the goal is to make the lowest hand possible. In Deuce to Seven the best hand a player can make is 2-3-4-5-7. This is because Aces are always high, so A-2-3-4-5 is not a straight, in fact it’s not a good hand becasue it loses to even king high. 2-3-4-5-6 is a straight which is a hand unlikely to ever win in 2-7 lowball. Hopefully by now, you can see the reason a non flushing 2-3-4-5-7 is the best hand possible (it’s the lowest collection of cards that doesn’t make a straight and isn’t a flush).

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When ranking a 2-7 Lowball hand, the first thing that is looked for is if the hand is a pair, straight, or flush which are all horrible 2-7 lowball hands. Assuming we have an actual low hand (high card only), we’ll then look at the highest card in the hand. Example: a 2-3-4-7-8 is an eight low. This hand will beat a 9 low, 10, low etc, and lose to a 7 low. If two players both have the same low, example: 2-3-4-7-8 and 2-3-4-6-8 then the second card is examined. In the case given, an 8-6 is a lower hand than an 8-7 so it would win at showdown. As cards match further each kicker is compared until a winner is determined.

2-7 Lowball Rules – No Limit Single Draw

If you’ve played five card draw we can sum up the 2-7 Lowball rules in a single sentence. It is played the same way as Five Card Draw with the only difference being the best deuce to seven lowball hand will win at showdown (or more simply stated: the worst hand wins). In case you’re a complete newbie to poker, don’t worry we’ll break the 2-7 lowball rules and nl 2-7 rules down further.

2-7 lowball starts with two players posting a blind. These are forced bets which are a small blind and a big blind (the amount determined by table stakes). Each player is then dealt five cards and a round of betting occurs. The betting starts with the player to the left of the big blind and will go around the table with each player having an option to fold, call the current bet, or raise the current bet.

In 2-7 Lowball the betting stakes are no limit, which means a player can bet as much as he would like. If a player does not have enough chips in front of him to cover the bet, he can still remain in the hand by declaring himself all in. A side pot will then be created, and that player will have an opportunity to win what was in the pot matched up against his remaining bet. If only two players are left in this hand, the extra chips in the pot are returned to the bettor who had more chips at the start of the hand. If more than two players are in the hand, there will be a sidepot which only the players who covered the bet can compete for. If this sounds confusing, don’t worry too much, after you’ve seen this occur a few times, you’ll be fully aware of how all in situations work in No Limit poker games.

To get back on track with the 2-7 lowball rules, as we mentioned, each player has been dealt five cards and a betting round has occurred. Now that this betting round is complete, each player, starting to the left of the dealer button, has the option to discard as many cards in his hand as he would like and have them replaced with new cards. This is called the draw. Once the draw is complete, a final No Limit round of betting takes place. When this final betting round is complete, if more than one player is left in the hand, there will be a showdown. At showdown, the pot is awarded to the player with the best Deuce to Seven lowball hand.

A great way to learn 2-7 lowball poker yourself is to start off at the micro-limit tables at the World’s largest online poker site and exclusive provider of 2-7 lowball online, PokerStars.com.

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