A NEAT TRIO YOU MAY NOT
KNOW
Dear Mark,
When playing kitchen table poker, it seems arguments
arise on what is
the best possible hand for certain games. Recently a
dispute occurred
on what is the best hand for both California and
Kansas City Lowball.
For example, I recently thought I had the best hand
for California
Lowball with an A 2 3 4 5, all in hearts. My friend
believed I didn’t
have the best hand because it also was a flush. Am I
correct to assume
that flushes do not count in both California and
Kansas Cit Lowball?
Jules G.
I am glad, Jules, your letter specified which game
was disputed
regarding flushes because flushes are treated
differently in the two
games you mentioned, California and Kansas City
Lowball.
Lowball is a form of draw poker in which the lowest
hand wins the pot.
But regarding the game in question in your letter,
California Lowball,
you are correct that it didn’t matter that you had a
heart flush.
California Lowball, also called Ace to five, is a
form of lowball in
which the best possible hand is just what you held
-- A 2 3 4 5. The
ace is considered a low card and straights and
flushes DO NOT count
against you.
As for Kansas City Lowball, or Deuce to Seven
Lowball, the best
possible hand is a 2 3 4 5 7. In this form of
lowball, the Ace can only
be considered a high card and Straights and Flushes
DO count against
you.
Dear Mark,
I've just launched website where your readers can
play faro. It's got
the rules of the game, a smattering of history, and
a lovely visual
design. You can play faro right on your web browser,
while enjoying the
ragtime piano music of a 19th century saloon.
Wichita Faro is not a
commercial site, and there's no real gambling, just
a FREE fun
introduction to faro. Sean G.
Sean knows from a past column that Yours Truly would
love to see Faro
reappear in a casino somewhere, anywhere, so much so
that if a casino
like the Bucket of Blood Saloon in Virginia City
were to ever offer
Faro, I’d be on the first flight to Reno.
Of course, it would be a whole lot cheaper to surf
over to Sean’s Super
Bargain -- Wichita Faro web site: http://www.gleeson.us/faro/
So, readers, how about a two minute primer before
you log on to Sean’s
Wichita Faro, and for those of you at home without
internet access, if
such there be, go fetch yourself two decks of cards
and play along,
smugly grinning in the light of your lower phone
bill.
With the first deck we’ll use just thirteen cards
for your layout, or
spread. The other deck is for the game itself. Using
one complete suit
(layouts generally used spades), running from ace to
king, lay them
face up. This is your game layout. As the bettor,
“back a card” (place
your bet) on any rank (card) by putting a chip on
it. With the other
deck shuffled, deal the top two cards (dealers of
yesteryear dealt from
a box, sort of like today’s shoe). If you backed the
first card dealt,
you lose, and if you placed a bet on the second
card, you win. If you
have a bet on any of the other cards, they can be
withdrawn or left
standing for the next turn. The house derived its
advantage when a pair
was dealt. Here the bank would take half the money
that had been staked
on the paired cards.
There you are, folks, you now know Faro, the most
popular game (it
wasn’t poker) of the Old West.
Online Gambling quote of the week: “The ability of a poker
player is judged
solely by the difference between his stack when he
sat down and his
stack when he got up.” David Mamet, gaming author
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