Kansas City lowball is a draw poker game that is much like five card draw, only the winning hand is the lowest possible hand that can be made. Kansas City Lowball is also referred to as 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball or simply deuce to seven lowball. Kansas City lowball is more popular off the internet than on but it is available at the web's largest poker room - Pokerstars. Detailed Kansas City Lowball rules are covered below.


Kansas City lowball is considered one of the “blind games”. This means that the player directly to the left of the dealer button must put in the small blind (for example, in a $5/$10 game, the small blind bets $5), while the player to the small blind’s left is known as the big blind (and in this instance, he would bet $10). Dealing of Kansas City lowball begins to the left of the dealer and continues clockwise around the game table. Each player is deal five cards that are facing down. Betting begins once each player has received their initial five cards. The player to the left of the big blind will begin the betting for the first round. Once that is done, the first draw begins.


During the first draw, players can discard and replace cards in their hands that are unappealing. The draw begins with the small blind (the player to the left of the dealer’s button or dealer’s chip). Each player takes a turn announcing how many cards he would like to discard, and is dealt that number of cards, all at one time. This continues clockwise around the table. Players who choose to keep all of their original five cards may do so; when a player in Kansas City lowball decides to keep all five cards that they were originally dealt, that player is said to be “rapping pat” or “standing pat”.

Players who want five new cards will be dealt four of those cards by the dealer and receive their fifth card after all other players have received their cards. If more than one player takes five cards, then they are given their final cards in the order that they are seated around the table in a clockwise fashion. If the final player to be dealt to decides to take five cards, the dealer will deal four cards to the player, burn one card, and then deal that player his fifth cards. Burning a card is simply discarding it from the game and not using it for play.


Once all players have been dealt the number of cards that they choose to receive, the second round of betting ensues. This round of betting in Kansas City lowball will begin with the player who is in the small blind position (directly to the dealer’s left). The above pattern of dealing, discarding, and betting will continue until there is only one player left or there have been three drawing rounds. The showdown occurs after all betting is complete in Kansas City lowball.

The winning hand is the hand that hasthe lowest possible value. Aces are considered high, not low, in Kansas City lowball. The best Kansas City lowball hand is seven – five – four- three- two, although there must be two suits present (no flushes). Flushes, straights, and pairs count against players in Kansas City lowball.