London Lowball Rules

London Lowball is played with a standard 52-card deck with no jokers and no wild cards. Between two and eight players may take part.

The object of the game is to win the pot, either by holding the lowest five-card hand at showdown under ace-to-six ranking (Article 2) or by making a bet that no other player calls.

The deal and the sequence of streets are the same as in seven-card stud. The game differs from Razz only in its hand ranking and its usual betting structure.

Aces are low and rank below twos. Kings are the highest cards.

Straights and flushes count against a hand. Five cards in sequence, such as 5-4-3-2-A, are a straight, and five cards of one suit are a flush. Either ranks as a high hand and is worse than any hand with no pair.

Pairs count against a hand. Any hand with five different ranks that is neither a straight nor a flush beats any hand containing a pair.

Hands are compared by their highest card first, and the lower card wins. If those are equal, the next-highest cards are compared, and so on down to the lowest.

2.4(a) The best possible hand is 6-4-3-2-A, provided the five cards are not all of one suit.

2.4(b) The next best hands are 6-5-3-2-A, then 6-5-4-2-A, then 6-5-4-3-A. The hand 6-5-4-3-2 is a straight.

Suits have no rank at showdown. Identical hands split the pot.

Each player posts an ante before the deal. Antes are dead money.

Each player is dealt two cards face down and one face up. Three more cards follow face up, one at a time, and a final card is dealt face down, as in seven-card stud.

The sources do not fix the bring-in rule for London Lowball. The usual practice, as in Razz, is that the player showing the highest card on third street brings in, and from fourth street onwards the lowest hand showing acts first. The dealer or house shall announce the rule in use before play.

When ranking boards to decide who acts first, pairs showing count against a hand, as in 2.3.

London Lowball is normally played pot limit: no bet or raise may exceed the size of the pot at the time, counting the amount the player must first call. See betting structures.

The table may agree to play fixed limit or another structure instead. The structure shall be announced before the deal.

If there are not enough cards for every active player on seventh street, a single card is dealt face up in the centre as a common card for all, as in seven-card stud.

If more than one player remains after the last betting round, the players show their hands. Each player's hand is the best five-card low hand from their seven cards.

The lowest hand under ace-to-six ranking wins the whole pot. There is no high half and no qualifier.

The cards speak. Hands are read from the cards shown, whatever a player declares. A player who miscalls a hand does not lose a pot their cards win.

If all but one player folds at any point, the remaining player wins the pot without showing their cards.