Lowball Wisdom

"Roses are red, violets are blue. Don't draw to eights and don't draw two."

I don't know how many times I've heard this bit of versified advice for limit lowball. Like much else about poker, not only is the advice not universally true, but those who offer it violate the advice as much as they heed it.

The advice has a nugget of truth. In early position, you certainly should not open to draw two cards nor to draw to an 8. If someone else opens from early position, you generally should not call with a hand that fits into either category.

However, if you're in the cutoff position, and everyone has passed to you and you have a smooth 8 to draw to, you certainly should open. If you're on the button, everyone has passed, and you have a good two-card draw, again you should open, because your hand is likely better than that of either of the two blinds.

I've often seen someone recite that bit of doggerel to a new player or to someone who wonders if there's any strategy to the game, or to admonish someone they see as having just made a mistake. That someone then within two hands opens from an early position. If someone else raises, the opener naturally calls. In a double-limit game, the person would have limped, and then called the raise, because, after all, "it's just like coming in again." No matter what the raiser does, the opener now takes two cards. Often, the opener is careful while drawing to have the joker in the door and hold his hand in such a way that everyone can see why he opened in the first place to draw two, as if having the joker justifies having made a bad play.

As an aside, here's a nice bit of knowledge. If you see someone prominently displaying the joker in the door after having come into a pot, unless the player is very tricky, that almost always indicates a two-card draw. The joker is meant to be a "scare card" to discourage others from raising. It's the old tells principle: Strong is weak. The joker is the strongest card in lowball. Why show that you have it other than to discourage raises? When I see someone flashing the joker like that, I'm much more likely to raise with my one-card draw to a 7 or with my very rough pat hand. You can't overdo this, of course, but a hand as rough as a 10-9-8 is the favorite over any two-card draw, even one with the joker. By not overdoing this I mean that the player directly to the left of the big blind opens while prominently displaying the joker, and you know that this person is not capable of a reverse tell. You are next to act with your pat rough 10. Throw it away; don't raise. Six more players still remain to act. If anyone calls behind you, or, worse, raises, you are in a very bad spot. Neither should you flat-call. This just encourages players to get in behind you, and a pat 10 has decidedly the worst of it against multiple players, even with some drawing rough and drawing two cards. But if you have that pat 10 on the button, by all means raise. Or, if you're in the cutoff seat and the button has indicated that he'll fold, again, raise. If you're on the button with an 8-6 to draw to, also raise. Lowball is very much a game of position, and you don't play marginal hands out of position.

If several players are in, the same person who cites the poem calls to draw to an 8. If the two livest players are in and you're on the button, yes, you can call to draw to your 8. You might even raise. But even with the same two players in and you next to act, but this time with five more players to act, you should just sigh, wish your position were better, realize that the situation is not right, and dump the hand.

Here's another that seems counterintuitive. With two or more players in, if you are on the button with a two-card joker-wheel draw, you should call. This is because of implied odds. One or both of the blinds may call. If they don't, there's extra dead money to pick up. But let's say two players are in, you call, and the big blind calls. And by "in" I mean either the opener came in for a raise and the second player called, in a single-limit game, or the first player opened and the next called, in a double-limit game. You are getting immediate odds of slightly better than 3-to-1. If you win one time in four, you profit. Typically, you won't win that often, but you will be part of a larger pot enough times to make your call worthwhile. That is, sometimes a big pot will develop and you will make a big hand and snag it. You'll make that two-card wheel and beat a 7 or a 6. Don't make the mistake of calling on the button with a two-card draw to a 7. You want to make a hand with which you can raise if you catch perfect. Drawing to a 6 with the joker is iffy here. You can probably do it if the first two players are reasonably loose. Don't do it if the tightest player at the table was the one to open the pot. And don't make the mistake lots of players make by giving themselves permission to draw two every single time they're on the button and someone else has opened. You need at least two in the pot, and you don't want one or more maniacs on your left in the blinds.

When I said counterintuitive about that two-card draw, I meant that earlier I said don't open from early position with the hand, and don't call with it from a middle position. If that's proper strategy, calling from the button seems inconsistent. Just remember about position. The button is the best position in lowball, and the two blinds are the worst position. (And, just think, they have to pay for that privilege!)

Of course, if you're the big blind, you would always call one more bet (in a single-limit game) or half a bet (in a double-limit game) to draw two, and you would make that two-card draw to considerably worse hands than a bicycle.

What if you're on the button in the aforementioned situation and this happens? Two players are in, you call with A-2-joker, and the small blind raises. The big blind folds, and the other two call. Why, you call, of course. You are now considerably less likely to win anywhere close to one time in four, but that doesn't matter. Your first bet is gone, and you can't count it. You are now getting better than 7-to-1 on what is in the pot to call – with considerably higher implied odds. If you win one time in eight, you profit on that last call. Even if the raiser is pat, you should win more than an eighth of the time against typical hands. And the times you win a monster pot make up for the remaining times that you took the worst of it. But don't do what I see lots of players do. Once they're in, they don't get out. Now, the small blind raises, the opener reraises, the second player calls, and they still call with their two-card draw for the two more bets. Sometimes the small blind raises one more time, and now they're stuck for still another bet. No, you can call when your call ends the action.

"Roses are red, violets are blue. Don't draw to eights and don't draw two." Make that, "unless the time is right."