A-5 Single Draw

It’s California lowball, except you can bet your whole stack

Same skeleton as California lowball: five cards, ace-to-five rankings, one draw, one more betting round, lowest hand takes the pot. What changes is the betting. This is the no-limit or pot-limit version, so a single bet can be anything up to your whole stack, and the old-school limit rules (the sevens rule, banned check-raising) disappear.

The WSOP rule book puts it this way: single draw is generally played pot-limit or no-limit.

30-second cheat sheet

• Five cards each, face down. Button and blinds, sometimes with an ante.
• Open with a bet or fold before the draw.
• One draw, 0 to 5 cards. Then one betting round.
• Normal no-limit and pot-limit raising rules apply: the minimum raise is the size of the last raise.
• Lowest five-card hand wins it all. Ace is low, straights and flushes are ignored, pairs are bad. Best hand: 5-4-3-2-A, any suits.
• After the draw, any hand can check (no sevens rule), and check-raise is allowed.
• Whether there’s a joker depends on what’s posted. When there is one, it plays as the lowest card not already in your hand.
• Max six players in the WSOP rules.

Full rules

Deal and opening

It’s a button game with blinds, sometimes with an ante added. Everyone gets five cards face down. Pre-draw, players must open with a bet or fold. Some structures let the big blind be called. Others require the open to be double the big blind.

The draw

Each player, starting left of the button, discards 0 to 5 and takes replacements. The WSOP procedure is that the dealer pushes the cards to you. If you ask the dealer to pitch them to you, any card that lands face up stays with you (rule 290). Robert’s Rules says a player can get up to four in a row, with the fifth dealt after everyone else has drawn. The WSOP lowball rules let you get five in a row.

You must hold exactly five cards after the draw, or your hand is fouled.

The post-draw round

One betting round, starting left of the button. Because this is a big-bet game:

• Any hand may check without penalty. The limit-lowball sevens rule isn’t used (WSOP rule 291, Robert’s no-limit/pot-limit rule 4).
• Check-raise is allowed (WSOP rule 282, Robert’s no-limit/pot-limit rule 5).

Joker

It depends on the room. The WSOP says jokers are not used unless the room posts them. Robert’s says the joker is assumed to be in use unless the room posts otherwise. When used, it’s the lowest card not already in your hand.

Showdown

The ranking is identical to California lowball:

• Ace low, straights and flushes ignored, pairs bad.
• Lowest wins. No pair beats any pair. Compare the highest card first, then down.
• For pair hands, A-A beats 2-2.
• Ties split.

The WSOP’s example: P1 holds 7-5-4-2-A (a seven), P2 holds 8-6-3-2-A (an eight) and P3 holds 6-5-4-3-2 (a six; in high poker that’s a straight, but that doesn’t matter here). Six beats seven beats eight, so P3 wins. Without P3, P1 beats P2 on the top card.

Cards speak, but you can’t claim a better hand than you hold. If you spread a hand with a pair without announcing “pair” and another player folds because of it, you risk losing the pot (WSOP rules 279-280).

Rooms disagree

• Exposed cards before the draw: Robert’s says you must take an exposed A, 2, 3, 4 or 5 (because nobody is entitled to know you don’t have the best hand) and replace any other. WSOP rule 290 replaces every exposed card.
• Joker default: see above. BARGE just says the no-limit game “is also sometimes played” without describing the joker. PokerNews’ bracelet table marks the 1983 and 1986 no-limit A-5 events “with joker” and does not mark the 1982 one.
• Draw size: four in a row (Robert’s) versus five in a row (WSOP).
• Opening bet: both structures exist: the big blind callable, or an open of double the big blind.

Worked examples

Six, seven, eight

Six beats seven beats eight

P1

• 7-5-4-2-A low

P2

• 8-6-3-2-A low

P3

• 6-5-4-3-2 low✓ wins

P3 scoops the whole pot.

This is the WSOP’s own illustration. P3’s 6-5-4-3-2 is a six-high hand. In a high-poker game it’s a straight, but here straights don’t matter. Six-high beats P1’s seven-high, which beats P2’s eight-high.

The draw that paired

The one-card draw that paired

Camthrew

• Pair of Threes (paired low)

Dee

• Q-J-T-9-7 low✓ wins

Dee scoops the whole pot.

Cam was drawing to 8-6-4-3 and caught a three: 8-6-4-3-3. That’s a pair, and Dee’s Q-J-10-9-7 has none. Dee’s queen-high hand wins. One draw, no second chance.

A suited straight

A straight flush is just a six-low

Eddie

• 6-5-4-3-2 low✓ wins

Flo

• 7-5-4-3-A low

Eddie scoops the whole pot.

Eddie’s 2-3-4-5-6 in spades would be a straight flush in high poker. In ace-to-five it’s a six-low and beats a seven-low.

How you’ll embarrass yourself

• Using 2-7 instincts. A-2-3-4-5 is the nuts here, straights and flushes are fine, and an ace is your best card.
• Expecting the sevens rule. You can check a seven-low and still win everything. It’s a no-limit game.
• Forgetting to open or fold before the draw.
• Assuming exposed cards are always replaced. Ask the room’s rule.
• Drawing two or more as a habit. Pagat’s general lowball advice: drawing two makes a pair about half the time, and your chance of making a nine-high or better is never more than 25%. (That’s general lowball advice, not specific to A-5.)

Lore and reputation

There’s not a lot of modern evidence for this game. It’s not on the PokerNews or PokerListings Dealer’s Choice menus, which list the 2-7 single draw instead. The WSOP live-action rule book still has a full set of no-limit and pot-limit lowball rules that cover ace-to-five.

WSOP bracelet history (PokerNews): a $2,500 no-limit ace-to-five draw in 1982 (Billy Baxter, 39 entries), another in 1983 with joker (David Angel, 37 entries), and a $5,000 event in 1986 with joker and rebuys (Mike Cox, 32 entries). BARGE ran the no-limit format of California lowball as a bounty tournament in 2021. Big-bet A-5 is a niche that survives mostly in WSOP history, the live-action rules and the occasional special event.