While doing my July Time Machine post I ran across a bunch of posts I did about hosting a Carnival of Poker and it got me to thinking about hosting them again. The idea is rather simple yet people try to make it much more complicated because they think there’s a catch. There isn’t.

Basically, I define a theme or topic for the carnival and everyone is invited to submit their best blog post (or other content) on that topic and I will go through the submissions, pick the best ones, and incorporate them into a blog post here. Each submission that’s accepted will get anywhere from one to three sentences summarizing why people should go and check out the content.

That’s it. No hidden gotchas or anything like that. If you have a website and think you’ve got good content submit it and it could end up being featured here.

So with that out of the way . . . the topic is: Poker Humor

Do you have a collection of funny stuff heard around the poker table?
Do you have a comic about poker?
Do you have pics of funny poker license plates?
Have you captured funny pics of poker players?

Anything that involves poker and is funny is acceptable. Just submit your link using my contact form and it will be considered for inclusion.

I will accept links until Saturday, July 24, 2010 and will publish a post on Tuesday, July 27.

BTW, the way the carnival works is that there will be a network of larger poker sites that will rotate as hosts of the carnival. If you have a poker related site that already does some pretty decent traffic and you would like to host upcoming carnivals use the contact form above to drop me a line and let’s talk.

Each carnival host picks their own topic so you can fit the topic to your audience.

photcred to Dominic’s pics

Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? The Carnival of Poker

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Bpauk Daeng is a Thai gambling game that is very popular here in Thailand. It’s somewhat like Baccarat but with a Thai flavor. I was unable to find much in the way of information on the game so I thought I would do a write-up for any other farangs who find themselves getting invited to join a game.

Whoever suggests playing usually wants to be the dealer/banker (or what the Thais call The King) for the game. I haven’t done the math but the dealer/banker has a slight edge on the players that I will explain later.

Before each hand is dealt players must declare a bet amount. In most of the games I’ve seen played in bars and in private homes the stakes range from around 20 baht (0.60 USD) to around 100 baht ($3 USD) per hand. Normally the money should be on the table but when played in a public place usually the money gets exchanged at the end of the hand so there’s no cash sitting on the table.

I’m not sure if it’s a rule of the game but most of the time I see the game dealt counter-clockwise. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody deal clockwise from the dealer position.

Players are dealt two cards face down, one at a time just like in hold’em. I assume it is the dealer’s discretion since I’ve seen it played both ways, but the dealer CAN deal burn cards face up. I asked about this and was told that it’s done when the dealer feels unlucky and is trying to mess up the order of the cards.

Players then sum up the total of their cards.

A = 1 point
2 – 10 = 2 – 10 points accordingly
K, Q, J = 10 points

Just like in baccarat, you drop the tens when adding up the total. So, if your cards total 10, you would drop the tens and have zero. Or if your cards totaled 15, you drop the tens and have 5 points.

Any player who has an 8 or 9 turns their hand up and they cannot draw any cards.

At this point if the dealer has Bpauk Bpet (Bpet is Thai for 8) or Bpauk Gao (Gao is Thai for 9) the dealer will ask everyone to open their hands. If the player can beat the dealer (8 vs. 9) they are paid. If they match the dealer it’s a push. Otherwise the dealer wins and all players surrender their bets to the dealer.

If the dealer doesn’t have Bpauk Bpet or Bpauk Gao play continues with the dealer asking each player if they would like an additional card. Each player is allowed to draw 1 card if they choose. You are not obligated to take a card unless you have a hand total under 4.

Both the players and the dealer must draw on any hand under 4. There is no option to stay on a point total of 1, 2, or 3. However, if after the third card the player (or the dealer) has a total of 1, 2, or 3 that is their score since no player can be dealt more than 3 cards.

After dealing drawing cards to all of the players the dealer MAY decide to ask all hands that have drawn a third card to open their hands before deciding whether or not to draw themselves. Players that stayed put on two cards do not have to open their hand.

If the dealer asks the players to open the dealer then turns over their cards and winning hands are paid, equal hands push, and losing hands pay the dealer.

After the dealer has made their decision to draw a card all hands are opened up and bets are settled accordingly.

Payouts and Special Hands

The normal payout is 1:1. If you bet 20 baht and you beat the dealer the dealer pays you 20 baht. However there are some special hands that payout more than 1:1. Keep in mind that if the dealer gets these hands the players must pay the dealer at the same odds.

Pairs, flushes, sets, and a K, Q, J straight pay out as follows.

Pairs: 2:1
Two card flush: 2:1
Three card flush: 3:1
Sets: 3:1
K, Q, J straight: 6:1

However, with the exception of the K, Q, J straight, your hand must still win. For instance, if you have pair of fives or three tens your point total is zero. If the dealer has a score higher than zero you still lose the hand and lose your original bet.

Where it becomes interesting if when the dealer hits a hand. For instance, if the dealer was dealt 333 for a total of 9 points then everybody with a point score lower than 9 must pay the dealer 3:1. As an example, if you bet 20 baht you would owe the dealer 60 baht.

The House (Banker) Edge

Like I said, I haven’t done the math but I’m assuming the dealer’s edge comes from the fact that if they make a two card 8 or 9 other players aren’t allowed to draw but if the players make 8 or 9 on two cards the dealer can still draw to a push or a win.

Looking at the odds for baccarat it seems that the dealer holds a 1.286% advantage when playing baccarat with no house commission and one deck. But there are so many little variances I’m not really sure you can use the baccarat odds here.

Strategy

One of the things I find entertaining about this game is that it’s not a casino game where the casino has figured out the optimal strategy and puts that into the game’s rules (i.e. dealer must stand on 17 in blackjack). That means that the dealer may be playing horribly and someone playing optimal strategy can clean up against a bad dealer. And considering there’s always booze involved when this game is being played you can pretty much count on bad play.

There’s also the issue of the Thai reliance on luck. I’ve seen people draw on a 33 hoping to make a set . So they’re taking a 24:1 flyer on the hopes of getting paid out 3:1.

All in all, even though the house holds an advantage I think if one simply draws on anything under 6 and stays on 6 or better they’re playing pretty much an optimal strategy and can actually beat the house. Of course, if you’re playing against a dealer who knows how to play optimal strategy then you’re just gambling.

And remember, I’ve never actually played this game because, you know, gambling is illegal here. :-)

Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? Bpauk Daeng – Thailand’s Gambling Game

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If you’re interested in winding up any of your friends who have been playing online poker for a few years, all you have to do is ask them about the “good old days.” Just make sure you have some time and a high tolerance for extended whining, because that’s what you’ll be in for: Whining for how easy the games used to be. Whining about how much money they used to make. Whining about how simply playing ABC poker was enough to dominate the games, even at higher limits.

While your friends will no doubt exaggerate during this diatribe, they’re not lying. Online poker was an easier game a few years ago. Does that mean the games aren’t beatable in the here and now? Absolutely not. What it does mean is that smart players have to be more selective about the games they do choose to play, and I’m here to offer you a useful insight into a corner of the online poker world that is still quite beatable: Satellite tournaments.

Why are satellites still a profitable endeavor for skilled players? What edge can you achieve over the typical player and how do you exploit it? Those are just a few of the questions I’ll answer as I drill down the five reasons why satellite tournaments offer smart players one of the best values online.

Reason One: Satellites Have More Players Who Are Out of Their Comfort Zone Than Typical Tournaments

Online satellites are generally heavily tiered affairs. For example, consider a $35 dollar satellite to the PokerStars Sunday Million. While it seems strange to some players, a large chunk of the participants in a $35 satellite will actually come from a super-satellite with a smaller buy in (or possibly even a satellite a level or two below that, perhaps a free roll or FPP satellite). Any time you have opponents who are playing above the buy in level they’re used to, you can be sure that those opponents will be under greater pressure, have less familiarity with standard plays and be far more likely to tighter at the bubble than you.

Reason Two: Satellites Attract More Causal Players Than Typical Tournaments

Think of a friend you know who has a casual interest in poker. Now imagine the typical MTT lobby on a major poker site and imagine what tournaments are going to attract the attention of your friend. Is it going to be the Super-Turbo NLHE with 1 rebuy and 1 add on? Is it going to be the Sunday Million with the $215 price tag? Or is it going to be a super-satellite to the World Series of Poker with a $20 buy in? Nine times out of ten, it’s going to be the last one. Satellites have a mainstream appeal (when connected with a major live event) that other types of tournaments simply can’t match, and that appeal should equal a far softer field for experienced players such as yourself.

Reason Three: Flat Payouts Reward TAG Play

The majority of online poker grinders fall into a TAG (Tight-Aggressive style) category. That doesn’t mean they’re bad players – it just means that they’re unlikely to accumulate massive stacks in tournament play unless they run like god himself. That’s a shame in normal MTTs, because payouts are so heavily weighted to the top 2 spots that TAG players often don’t stand a chance. They come to the final table with an ok stack, but not enough to bully or gamble. If they get cards, they might win, but all things being equal, they’ll likely to make an early exit. Since sattys have a flat payout (the top ‘x’ of players all get the same prize), this deficiency is muted. TAG players can have a field day in satellites, picking up enough chips from terrible players to coast to the bubble and watching hyper-aggressive players knock out the opposition for them.

Reason Four: Satellites Force You to Expand Your Game

You often don’t have to play the tournament you win a seat to in a satellite. Both Full Tilt and PokerStars allow you to cash in the seat for tournament dollars, which can easily be redeemed for cash (we run a site called PSMoney where you can sell your PokerStars T$ for up to 97% of their face value). However, if you choose to play the tournament you’ve won a seat to, you’ll get a valuable experience that you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. It’s all too easy for poker to become a grind if you play the same games day in and day out, and while it’s a bit of an intangible benefit that satellites force you out of this rut, it’s a real benefit nonetheless that shouldn’t be discounted.

Reason Five: The Gap Between Good Satellite Players and Bad Ones is Much Bigger Than in Other Games

Anyone with a book and a brain can play reasonably good cash game poker or typical tournament poker. The logic of both is pretty straightforward, and good decision making is typical easy to express in straightforward, logical terms. That simply isn’t the case for satellites. Satellite play requires counter-intuitive decision making at several points (the most common example being the fact that it’s often correct to fold Aces in a satellite), and there’s a general axiom in poker that the more counter-intuitive the basic strategy for a game is, the greater the skill gap between the good players and the bad players will be. With a little bit of math and work with a ICM program (such as SNGWiz), you can discover unorthodox (yet optimal) plays that even a bright opponent working from standard assumptions regarding “good play” would miss entirely.

Hopefully that gives you a bit of motivation to try online satellites. You might discover a genre you enjoy casually, or possibly even add an entirely new format to your regular roster of play. Either way, enjoy the soft games and good luck beating the fish – now that you know where they’ve been hiding.

Chris writes for PartTimePoker.com and the T$ purchasing site PsMoney.com

photocred to NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? Satellites: The Best-Kept Secret In Online Poker

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From an old folder, here’s a poker hand from 2002:

I was playing $20-40 limit hold’em at Lucky Chances during the thinning hours. The game had gone from too-loose when it was full, to just-right when it was seven-handed, to not-nearly-as-good-as-it-just-was when the last white guy busted out, and now we were down to six players. The next dealer was standing behind the current dealer, which meant that on the next hand it would be time for the half-hour time collection of $5 per player. It also meant that the game might break, since time-collection time is when people tended to quit, and this game was at that tender stage where one falling domino could wreck it all.

It was my small blind and I posted it. The big blind quit. The next player, who would now be the big blind, quit. The next player posted the big blind. We were now down to four players. I called time out and asked the floorman to come over.

This was tricky, a double cusp. I was on the small blind cusp which meant I didn’t want to post my small blind unless I knew I was going to get full value for it by then getting to play my button and cutoff. And I was on a quitting cusp because the game was looking like it might not be worth playing in. But I didn’t want to pay the $5 house collection for just three hands. Plus, for all I knew, the game would break right after I played the small blind. Cusps.

The floorman knew there would be a rush for the cage if he charged us anything at all this time around, so he made the standard and proper ruling, and he said we could play the next half hour for free. We the people said okay, thank you, deal us in.

I posted the small blind. The next guy posted the big blind, and we were in action. The first player folded, the button folded, I now it was just me and the big blind, an opponent who I normally chop with. I gave him a question-mark look, asking with my eyes, “Do you want to chop?” He said “Okay, we chop this time, but after that, we play, we shorthand, we gamble.”

“Gamble, we gamble,” the other three of us sung somewhat in chorus. “No more chop chop. Now we play. We gamble.” There was that happy little moment when a shorthanded game settles into phase.

Next hand, I had the button. The under-the-gun player limped. Yamaha Tony we called him, because he wore the same jacket everyday for like three years that had the word Yamaha on it. I raised. One of the blinds called and the other blind folded. Tony called my raise (recall that call later!) and there were three of us heading to the flop.

The flop came. The blind checked, Tony checked, and I checked.

The turn came. The blind checked, Tony checked, and I checked.

The river came. The blind checked, Tony bet, I folded, and the blind folded. That was it. Tony won the most least contested pot of the night.

Tony, in an animated Chinese accent several pitches higher than usual, said, “You guys say you gamble you no gamble none of you gamble we going to gamble or go home?”

Then he turned over pocket aces.

And laughed. As did we all.

And went home. As did we all.

Want more Tommy? His book, Elements of Poker, contains his best advice in his distinctive style. Buy it from Amazon or personally inscribed from his website at TommyAngelo.com. Also at his website you can read Tommy’s blog and all of his old articles.

photcred to John-Morgan

Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? You No Gamble by Tommy Angelo

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My final post on Bill’s blog will be about 2-7 Lowball Poker. I know it’s been a while since my last post in my lowball poker series but on the whole I hope everyone’s enjoyed reading what I’ve had to write, I’ve certainly enjoyed writing it.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Bill once again for letting me write the posts, it’s been really good for me to get my sites some coverage and hopefully we’ll work together again sometime in the future.

This post is going to cover a bit about 2-7 Lowball Poker (single draw and triple draw) focusing on it’s history, popularity online and how to play.

The History Of 2-7 Lowball

2-7 Lowball Poker such as 2-7 single draw and 2-7 triple draw are historically popular high stakes games with the buy in for the WSOP 2-7 events ranging from a $5,000 rebuy to a $10,000 freezeout. The first 2-7 Lowball event on the WSOP calendar came back in 1973, which was the third ever World series of Poker, and since then 2-7 games have featured at thirty five out of the next thirty seven World Series of Poker championships. The winners list of 2-7 events really is a who’s who of poker legends. The list includes the poker great Doyle Brunson, Rounders star Johnny Chan and the man dubbed by many the greatest poker player of all time Stu Ungar.

Up until 2008 it was pretty difficult to get a game of single draw or triple draw. Neither of the two poker variants were offered online so you either had to play a home game, one of the high stakes WSOP events or sit with some of the best South Californian grinders who were well known for their high stakes 2-7 action. PokerStars finally stepped up to the plate in 2008 however and added both 2-7 single draw and 2-7 triple draw to their spread of games online. Since then the more popular of the two games in the online world has always been Triple Draw which has only ever been spread as a fixed limit game at PokerStars. Single Draw is less popular and PokerStars only spread it as a no limit game.

How To Play 2-7 Lowball Poker

In this little how to play 2-7 lowball poker guide I’ll cover how to play nl 2-7 single draw. Once you’ve learned how to play that learning to play 2-7 triple draw shouldn’t be a problem at all, all you’ll need to do is add another two drawing rounds into proceedings.

- NL 2-7 single draw starts out with the player to the left of the dealer posting the small blind and the player to the small blinds left posting the big blind. Cards are dealt around the table in a clockwise direction.

- The dealer then deals each player sat at the table five cards each. All cards are face down and un exposed to the rest of the table.

- After players have received their first five cards a round of betting takes place starting with the player to the left of the big blind. When playing NL 2-7 single draw there is no betting limit, when playing triple draw you’ll usually find the betting limit is fixed at a certain amount.

- Anyone who remains in the hand after the first betting round then moves on to a drawing round. During this round players can draw cards from the deck in an attempt to improve their hand. There is no minimum amount of cards you can draw but the max is obviously five.

- Should the dealer run out of cards at any point during the drawing round, this is much more likely when playing triple draw, then the discarded cards are shuffled and used for players to draw from.

- A final round of betting takes place after the drawing round is complete and the hand goes to a showdown. At showdown the best possible holding is 2-3-4-5-7, this is because when playing 2-7 lowball aces are always considered to be high cards and straights count as a high hand as well.

More Info on 2-7 Lowball

If you want to read more about 2-7 lowball poker and want to find out the best place to play online then I suggest you check out this page of my website: nl 2-7 it covers the full rules of 2-7 lowball poker and explains the differences between nl 2-7 single draw and 2-7 triple draw.

Thanks again for reading, hope everyone’s enjoyed my posts and if anyone would like me to guest post on their blog I’d be more than happy to! Just leave a comment and let me know.

Cheers guys,

Dave

Photocred to Adriano Agulló

Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? 2-7 Lowball Poker

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This is now the third article in the series I’ve written on Lowball Poker games at Bill’s blog and will cover Badugi Poker. The post will take a look at Badugi poker history and provide a short how to play Badugi guide. If you want to check out the other two articles in my series then here are the links:

Introduction to Lowball Poker
Razz Poker and the World Greatest Gambler

I’m hoping everyone’s enjoyed what I’ve written so far and finds this article interesting as well.

Badugi Poker History Then and Now

Badugi is one of the newer games to hit the live and online poker scene. It is thought that the game was first invented in South Korea around the 1960′s but obviously it’s impossible to pin point it’s exact conception. Paul Eskimo Clark a poker player who served in the USA army during the Vietnam War is credited with bringing the game back to America and although he claims to have invented the game as well it’s pretty clear it was being played over in South Korea well before the war broke out.

When Badugi poker first hit the Las Vegas poker scene it was mainly played at the higher limits, it is traditionally considered to be a real gamblers game which at the time was really attractive to the high stakes players in Vegas. The truth of the matter is though that there is a lot of Skill involved in Badugi and like in any form of poker the better players end up with the money in the long run.

Today Badugi is played in various live mixed cash games and it was reported that at last years World Series of Poker Greg Raymer and Todd Brunson among others where playing $400/$800 Badugi in the side games. Badugi doesn’t yet have a dedicated WSOP tournament but there is plenty of action online at PokerStars who include it in their SCOOP and WCOOP poker tournament series.

How To Play Badugi Poker

It’s not actually that difficult to learn how to play Badugi, in fact if you’ve ever played 2-7 Triple Draw then you’ll probably get the hang of it pretty quickly. The first thing you need to know about Badugi is that it has its own unique hand rankings system. The system is a lowball hand rankings system in which an unsuited A-2-3-4 would be the holy nuts, you only get 4 cards when playing Badugi. Any hand that has 4 cards of different suits and numerical value is known as a Badugi and your aim is to make the lowest Badugi possible. Pairs and suited cards will count against you.

Any hand of Badugi poker starts with the posting of the blinds, the dealer then deals each player 4 cards. A betting round takes place which is followed by a drawing round. During the drawing round players can draw as many or as few cards as they wish, choosing not to draw is known as standing pat. There are a total of three drawing rounds when playing Badugi and once the final drawing round and final betting round has taken place the hand goes to a showdown, much like in any Triple Draw game. The winner is then determined and the pot is shipped in their direction.

The above is just about as much information as you need to play a hand of Badugi but if you’re interested in finding out more about the game then why don’t you check out one of my newest sites: Badugi Poker, it covers how to play the game, strategy, drawing odds and where to play online.

Next week I’ll close out the series with an article on 2-7 lowball poker games.

photocred to RodrigoFavera

Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? Badugi Poker: Game History and How To Play

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Last week I said the Razz poker article that was coming up included one of my favorite all time poker stories. Instead of writing your standard how to play Razz article which you’ll be able to find in about 5 seconds on Google I’m just going to dive straight in and try to write something that’s exciting and more importantly interesting!

If you didn’t catch my first article then you can find it here: Introduction to Low Ball poker

Some of you might have heard of Archie ‘The Greek’ Karas but most of you probably haven’t. His story is one of true greatness. Archie is a man who is considered to be the greatest gambler of all time and when he arrived in Las Vegas to shoot pool in 1992 no one could have guessed what was about to go down.

Archie was in town to shoot pool but his love of gambling and natural talent for poker was where his story really stars. With just $50 in his poker Archie rocked up to Binions Horseshoe and started playing in the Razz poker games. In no time at all Archie had ran his $50 into a massive $30,000. During this heater Archie player only Razz and by the end of it he was sat in one of the biggest games in town a $200/$400 fixed limit Razz cash game.

With $30,000 in his pocket Archie then began shooting pool and after some truly epic battles with a player who to this day remains nameless Archie had turned his $30,000 in to a staggering $7,000,000!

It was at this point that Archie entered Binions Horseshoe sat at a heads up table with $5,000,000 in front of him and presented an open challenge to anyone with the bottle to come and play him. Of course the game was Razz and the first challenger was the legendary Stu Ungar. The two greats of the game battled for 3 straight days until finally Archie broke Stu Ungar taking a total of $500,000 from him. At the time it was the biggest game the poker world had ever seen. After Stu Ungar challengers came and went but no one ever got the best of Archie.

In fact the only person to ever get the best of Archie was Archie himself. He got bored with playing poker, the action wasn’t fast enough and the stakes weren’t high enough. Archie moved to the craps tables where his Vegas heater would finally end. At his highest point it’s said Archie was up over $50,000,000 but slowly and surely he went broke shooting craps for over $200,000 a point.

The years Archie spent gambling in Vegas will always be remembered and his reputation as the worlds greatest ever gambler is firmly set in Las Vegas history.

If this story has sparked an interest in Razz poker for you then you should check my new Razz poker website. It covers everything you’ll need to learn the game and play online.

Photocred to Andrew 鐘

Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? Razz Poker and the Worlds Greatest Ever Gambler

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Introduction To Lowball Poker

Lowball poker is a term used to encompass all games which use a variety of low hand rankings as opposed to the more traditional high hand rankings used in No Limit Holdem and many other popular poker variants. Texas Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha dominate the online poker world in fact there’s probably quite a few online players out there who have no idea how to play the different lowball games on offer.

This article will be part of series of guest posts Bill has kindly allowed me to make on his awesome poker blog! Today we’ll just start with an introduction to the most popular forms of lowball poker but in coming weeks the series will take a much more in depth look at the various lowball poker games you can play online. I’ll be doing my best to make all the posts as informative as possible as well as entertaining.

Popular Online Lowball Poker Games

Razz – Razz poker is without a doubt the most popular lowball poker game around. It’s got a reputation for being a bit crazy and outdrawtastic. A lot of players first come into contact with Razz via H.O.R.S.E and it’s considered one of the more tricky games in the H.O.R.S.E rotation.

Razz is essentially 7 Card Stud but using ace to five hand rankings. When playing Razz the holy nuts is A-2-3-4-5, straights and flushes don’t count against you when playing Razz but pairs and obviously high cards do. Aces are always considered low cards only.

Badugi – Badugi poker is the most recent form of lowball poker to be spread online and it’s thought to have originated from South Korea. It’s a four card triple draw lowball game which uses it’s own very unique system to rank hands. Badugi is a real favorite among high stakes live pro’s who consider it a real gambling game, don’t let that fool you though there’s a lot of skill involved.

When playing Badugi the aim is to make what is known as a Badugi. A Badugi consists of four cards which are all of different values and different suits. The best possible Badugi you can make is A-2-3-4. Pokerstars is pretty much the only place you can get a game online, it is spread at Merge networked poker rooms but their traffic sucks and the games never run.

2-7 Triple Draw – 2-7 Triple Draw is comfortably the second most popular lowball poker game but still sits firmly behind Razz in the popularity stakes. It first appeared online in 2003 when Pokerstars added it to their spread of games. 2-7 Triple Draw uses the deuce to seven hand rankings system in which a non flushing 2-3-4-5-7 is the absolute nuts. Aces are high cards and when playing 2-7 Triple Draw straights and flushes both count against you.

It’s usually played as a fixed limit game, sometimes played as pot limit game and very very rarely played as a no limit game. Online action can get pretty high and it’s not unusual to see the $1,000/$2,000 2-7 Triple Draw games running at Pokerstars.

2-7 Single Draw – Well as you probably already guessed 2-7 Single Draw is the same as Triple Draw aside from the fact there’s one draw and not three. As a result of less draws it’s played as a no limit game far more often than a fixed limit or pot limit game.

Single Draw is much less popular than Triple Draw online but is still spread on the cash tables at Pokerstars as well as featuring in their World Championship of Online Poker. Single Draw is sometimes referred to as Kansas City Lowball and you’ll virtually never find it spread in any live poker rooms.

Next Week Razz

Hopefully you enjoyed this introduction to lowball poker article, next time out we’ll take a much closer look at Razz poker. I’ll write a bit about it’s history, including on of the most exciting moments in Vegas poker history ever and give you a basic how to play guide.

Want to read more about lowball poker right now? Then you should check out my site playlowballpoker.com, I’ve covered all the lowball games above in much more depth and also some of the more popular hi/lo games. Check it out, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? Low Ball Poker by Dave

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In 2003, I intentionally folded pocket aces before the flop in a live, $20/40 limit hold’em game. It was, according to my meticulous calculations, the worst play ever. But that wasn’t the only reason I did it. I wrote an article at the time in which all is revealed:

http://tommyangelo.com/articles/the_worst_play_ever.htm

Today I am here to claim credit for also having made the second worst play ever. But this time, I had help – or more accurately, I helped. Most of the credit must go to my partner in perversion, Eric.

THE DATE: August 20, 2009

THE PLACE: The Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, room 22017

THE PLAYERS: Me, Eric, and an unwitting cohort who shall remain forever oblivious of the gift bestowed upon him by our lunacy.

Eric is a young professional poker player who hired me as his coach. During the first day of a three-day coaching program, Eric told me that my article “The Worst Play Ever” had inspired him to fold pocket aces before the flop too. We briefly discussed the long-range effects that making this outrageous play had on us. Turns out, there aren’t any. But we did note that it gave us a quirky little bond, like two people who bump into each other and spill each other’s coffee.

At the end of the third day, after the official coaching was officially over, we decided to play some low stakes online poker and split our action, just for fun. Minutes later we were playing two tables of 6-max $1/2 no-limit hold’em, with Eric driving. Because my iPhone was still recording the coaching session, these events were etched in silicon.

Eric and I were having a grand time, casting aspersions and making proclamations exactly as I had coached him not to. I did some bold mock-yelling at my faceless opponents after I convinced Eric to call a river bet with ace-high. “You’re all a bunch of ding donks and I hate you all!” Eric did some mock-mocking of me after I talked him into bluff-check-raising the river against a player who happened to have the nuts. “It’s a good thing you charge a lot for your coaching,” he said, “because you suck at playing.”

A couple minutes went by with no interesting betting decisions. Eric was playing on autopilot as we discussed his method for quickly sizing up the skill level of an opponent, when suddenly, the talking stopped, and we both gazed lustfully at our latest hole cards: pocket aces, on the button.

“Now there’s a hand with some creative potential,” I said.

The first two players folded and the cutoff opened for $6. He had $200, as did we.

Eric said, “What are we doing?”

I said, “We’re … calling!”

Eric said, “Okay,” and he called.

Both blinds folded. The pot was now headsup.

Eric said, “Hey, we’re up against the bozo player.”

“Yeah,” I said.

I distinctly remember what I was thinking at the time. I was thinking about the financial and emotional damage we were about to inflict on this poor unsuspecting sap who had chosen to visually represent his being with the image of a mostly squashed cockroach.

Eric, anticipating a continuation bet by the cutoff, asked, “Are we instant calling? Instant raising?” Then he paused, and added, “Or folding?”

I erupted with a big loud laughing AHHHHHH-ha-ha-ha-ha and Eric joined in just as loud, right away. I said, “I like your thinking!”

The flop came out 10-6-2 rainbow. The cutoff bet $12 into the $15 pot.

Eric said, “This’ll be the first time anyone made a play like this, on purpose anyway.”

I said, “Wow, you’re really serious about this? That would be wild.” The tempo and pitch of my voice started going up as I processed what was really going on here: “Go ahead! Do it! Fold it!”

Eric giggled, and…

Click. Aces gone.

SMACK! A stinging high five.

We relished the monumentalness of the moment. This went way beyond coffee spilling. This was more like walking on the moon together and puking up our Tang. I rambled on about the incredible improbability of this event. First, I had to be wacko enough to fold those aces six years ago, and then write about it, and Eric had to read about it, and hire me to coach him, and then we had to share our action, and get pocket aces, and then, Eric had to somehow summon enough awareness to think of folding the aces at that perfectly absurd postflop moment.

That I would enthusiastically say yes to Eric’s suggestion was a given. This is the kind of thing that if you pass it up, you regret it forever. Even if you forget it ever happened, the regret lives on inside you, chewing away at your mind’s lining, dampening your dynamics in that way that makes people who haven’t seen you in a while say things like, “You’ve changed.” But they aren’t smiling. Okay, maybe it’s not like that. But it’s something.

Eric and I have talked and emailed plenty since that day, and the pocket aces hand has never come up. It’s like it never happened. Except it did. It’s like we are no different than before. Except we are. It’s like nothing ever matters, except everything always does.

Want more Tommy? His book, Elements of Poker, contains his best advice in his distinctive style. Buy it from Amazon or personally inscribed from his website at TommyAngelo.com. Also at his website you can read Tommy’s blog and all of his old articles.

Photocred to Eliya

Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? The Second Worst Play Ever by Tommy Angelo

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Thanks for reading Bill's Poker Blog. You might want to check out his other sites: Poker Job Search is a resource for people who are looking to get started in the online poker industry. Rakeback Report Get the best rakeback deals from the biggest online poker sites. Learn how you can make a living playing poker. Flop the Nuts Poker gives you up to date info on live poker events Are you following me on Twitter? Why not? Biggest Pot in Online Poker History . . . to date

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