It's Snowing

Snowing in lowball is a form of bluffing. A player stands pat on any five garbage cards and hopes to win the pot by convincing participants to fold after the draw. For the play to work, no one in the pot must have a reasonable pat hand himself before the draw, nor must anyone make a calling hand. The play is risky, but some players try it sometimes.

The ideal hand with which to snow is one that cannot otherwise win, a hand so bad that it could never win in a showdown. A king-high straight, while ordinarily unplayable, would not classify as a snow, because it could easily win in a showdown against a drawing hand that paired. In fact, if an opponent limped in from the small blind and you had a king-high straight in the big blind, and the opponent drew three cards, you'd have a better chance of winning by standing pat on your king-high no-pair hand than you would by drawing five cards. You would still be taking the worst of it, but not by much.

A snow is a hand like two pair or worse, and one that does not contain a good two-card draw. Playing a snow is rarely a good play, and if you never play one, you will not be costing yourself anything.

Old-time lowball players like to show off, however, and winning a pot with a full house is considered the ultimate coup. Of course, when a player wins with a hand like that, he has to show his terrific bluff.

The trouble with a snow is that it can get into trouble, and often has nowhere to go. I've seen players lose five and more bets on hands that should not have cost them anything. For example, Moe comes in for a raise in a Southern California $15-$30 game. Joe reraises. Everyone else folds. Moe raises again. Joe quickly puts in another bet. Moe looks back at his cards, thinks a moment, and calls. The house dealer asks who wants cards. Moe pulls a 9 out of his hand, shows it, and asks for a card. (Lowball players like to show the cards they're throwing away. They have to be careful about this habit in tournaments, however, where showing cards can lead to severe penalties.) Joe raps pat (draws no cards) behind Moe. After the draw, Moe checks. Joe bets. Moe pulls the king he has drawn from his hand, angrily slams it faceup on the table, and folds. Joe now proudly spreads his cards as he rakes in the pot, 3-3-3-7-7, a hand that could not possibly win in a showdown.

Was this a good play? Perhaps. It succeeded this time. And Moe will probably be more willing to call Joe after the draw. If Joe never bluffs again, he probably will get some calls he doesn't deserve. On the other hand, though, he's more likely to get caught the next time he tries to bluff – and that would not be just a snow, but betting a pair. And lowball players who make this play don't do it just once in their lives and quit. They love to snow. The play was very risky. Moe showed great strength by putting in the fourth bet. If Moe had had a better hand, he might have gone one more bet after Joe put in the fifth bet. The play worked out well for Joe because Moe had a breaking hand – that is, a hand topped by a 9 or possibly an 8 that also was a good one-card draw to a monster. Had Moe not had specifically a hand like 9-4, 9-5, or 9-6, but instead just a one-card draw, he would have called the first reraise and drawn a card. Had he had an 8, he probably would have put in the fourth bet, called the fifth, stood pat, checked, and called after the draw. If he had better, Joe would truly have been in trouble. When would Joe stop raising? The more bets he put in, the more likely it was that Moe had not only a pat hand, but one that he would bet after the draw – that is, a 7 or better. What would he do if Moe bet? Raise? Moe would surely call. And even when Moe drew, Joe was not out of the woods. A bit less than half the time, Moe would make a hand with which he would either bet or check and call.

I have seen players snow against more than one opponent. The risk rises exponentially. I doubt that the play succeeds even a third of the time against two opponents, and yet it has to succeed more than that to have positive expectation. The snower always has to put in more bets than his opponents, so he is laying odds – that is, putting in more than a third of the total.

Lowball players like to snow with a hand like a small full house. They even justify the play by saying, "They can't make a calling hand; I've got all the low cards." If you count eights and lower, a deck contains 33 low cards. If some nines might call, the low-card count goes to maybe an average of 35. The snower has not lowered the total much by subtracting his five cards. With anywhere from 28 to 30 cards from which to choose, opponents can not only hold many pat low hands, but they have many low cards from which to catch winners if they draw.

Some lowball players play every small full house pat. In fact, some go so far as to play any small two pair or trips as a snow. If you see a player do this more than once, you should call this player's pat hand with any hand that you make. Against most players, after you draw and catch a king, you can safely lay the hand down. I knew one player who loved to play snows. But if he had a reasonably legitimate hand, he would never push it too far. If he was pat and you checked to him, he would show down a 9. Pot odds always dictated my calling him with almost anything, and I caught him on more than one occasion by calling his pat hand with a pair. More hands consist of two pair, trips, full houses, and four of a kind involving small cards than there are pat hands. In fact, holding one of the otherwise unplayable high hands is as much as three times as likely as holding a pat 8 or better. Sure, I felt pretty silly when I once called him with a pair of eights and he showed down a pat 6, but that didn't make my calls unprofitable overall.

Not everyone who snows plays this way. In fact, some players snow only rarely. Nonetheless, you should be aware of the possibility, particularly among old-time lowballers.

Some lowball players are a little more sophisticated about this play. They make it only from late position, so they will likely be last to draw and last to bet after the draw. Then, they play pat only a hand containing two or more eights. Four eights would be the ideal snow hand. This is because if your opponent passes to you after the draw, he cannot have a good calling hand (an 8). He might not call with a 9 after passing if the opponent has stood pat. The point is, though, that it is much harder to make a hand with which someone can pass and call if all or most of the eights are accounted for. The hand lowball players traditionally pass and call with is an 8, and sometimes a 9, so a hand involving two or three nines played as a snow would also be reasonable, particularly if the snowee normally bets eights after the draw.

A hand with multiple eights and nines is more reasonable to snow with than others, because it's less likely that an opponent will pass and call, and it's more likely that if he does bet, it's with a good hand – and you can just give up.

Have I played snows in lowball? Sure, but I didn't make a habit of it. Here's when I am most likely to do so. I raise-open from the button with 3-3-2-2-A. If both blinds call, I probably draw two cards. If only the big blind calls and draws one card, I still likely draw two cards. But if the big blind alone calls and draws two cards, I stand pat. I do this only if I have not been caught bluffing recently. If I have been caught, if the big blind is a known calling station (and particularly if he has called the holder of a pat hand with a facecard) or always calls me even though I may not recently have bluffed, I just draw two cards. But if my image is right, I stand pat because I have a better chance of winning the pot that way. Yes, I can win a big bet after the draw if I draw two cards and beat a reasonable hand, but I will make a betting hand far less often than the other player will just pass and fold if I stand pat.

If you do try a snow, watch the other players' chip counts. Don't try a snow against a player who has only a few bets, or when such a player is behind you. If an opponent goes all in, the play obviously can't work. And be careful not to, as lowball players say, snow yourself all in.

Michael Wiesenberg's The Official Dictionary of Poker is the ultimate authority on the language of cardrooms. Order it online at CardPlayer.com.