Low-Ball
(Draw Poker - Low hand wins)
Lowball was written in Turbo Pascal on a Tandy 1000.
Files on Disk:
LOWBALL.COM - Main program
LOWBALL.DOC - Documentation
The game of Lowball is usually played as a Pass & Out game. This means that
before the draw you must either open the pot or drop out of further action
unless the pot has been opened prior to your turn. Most of the Lowball games
are played with a fixed betting limit which could range from a $2 table up to
$400 and even more. This fixed limit means that all bets are whatever that
table limit is. If you are playing at a $4 table, then all bets before and
after the draw will be in increments of $4. This will be a $20 limit game.
In this game of Lowball, the Ace is counted as low, and straights and flushes
don't count. The Joker is also placed in the deck and usually called the Bug.
The Joker counts as the lowest card in your hand as long as it hasn't paired
one that you currently have, in which case it would be the next higher card.
The best hand of 5-4-3-2-A (known as a wheel) does not beat the hand of
5-4-2-A-Bug. These are tie hands. When tie hands occur, the pot will be
split between the two players holding those tie hands.
The club makes money by charging the players to play at the table. Some take
a rake off each pot after the showdown as done in the Nevada Casinos. This
is usually between 5 and 10 percent. The California Card Clubs charge you
by the hour. The hourly charge depends on the game you're playing at. The
lower limit table rates are less than the higher limit tables. Lowball will
charge you $4 an hour for the privilege of attempting to win the computers
money. Hands are dealt at a fairly fast pace and range from 30 to 40 hands
an hour. Seeing that the computer game is going to be faster than the play
at the clubs, you will be charged $2 for every 15 hands dealt out.
Each player will ante up $2 at the start of each hand. There will not be
a Blind and Straddle game as in most of the California Clubs. The dealer
of each hand will be marked with a button to identify the current dealing
position. Cards are dealt out according to the dealers position. The dealer
is always last to act and action always starts with player first dealt to.
The computer hands are played with the thought in mind that all the players
are fairly good players. Decisions are made depending on position of the
dealer, opening position, raised pots, how you play your hands, and players
left to act. There will be a total of 7 players in this game. You are one of
the players, the computer will play the other 6. The object is the same as it
is in any other form of gambling... TO WIN! If you can't beat these six
other players, I doubt that you would do well in playing in clubs.
I'm not going to say much about what type of hands your opponents play or
their betting habits. Thats entirely up to you to figure out. You are playing
against some of the best players around. They'll play their hands according
to whatever it takes to win with the exception of cheating.
When you make a decision on drawing a card or playing a hand pat, thats it!
No mistakes are to be made on your part. If you do discard a wrong card or
play a hand pat when you didn't mean to... its tough! Its played this way
in the clubs, so think before you act.
Prior to dealing each new hand, you have the option of either quitting or
turning the Pause option toggle either ON or OFF. This will stop the action
prior to each players turn for a closer look at each of the players moves.
Pressing the <SpaceBar> will continue to the next player involved in the pot.
After pressing the Pause option, dealing starts without the need to press
<D> for deal next hand.
If you get caught bluffing... YOU LOSE! (A little humor never hurts)
You are encouraged to send your comments or suggestions to:
Raymond M. Buti
P.O. Box 21081
Castro Valley, Ca. 94546
