Kansas City Lowball
A single-draw version of Deuce-to-Seven lowball: five cards, one draw, and the lowest hand wins, with aces high and straights/flushes counting against you.
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Each player is dealt five cards face down, all hidden. A betting round follows the initial deal.
Draw: players may discard any number of cards (zero to five) and draw replacements once, followed by a single final betting round — unlike Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw, there is only one draw here, not three.
Hand ranking uses "Deuce-to-Seven" low, the same as triple draw: aces count high only (the worst possible low card), and straights and flushes count against the hand rather than helping it. The best possible hand is 7-5-4-3-2 of at least two suits.
Showdown: after the single draw and final betting round, the lowest-ranked hand among remaining players wins.
Strategy notes: With only one draw instead of three, starting-hand standards are much tighter than in triple draw — players generally need to already be close to a made low hand (one or two cards away at most) to justify continuing, since there's no second or third chance to improve.
Common house rules
Jokers as a bug
Some home tables add a single joker to the deck as 'the bug' (usable only as the lowest unpaired rank needed to complete a hand), a common variation on traditional Kansas City Lowball tables historically.
Confirm 2-7 vs A-5 before dealing
Because there are two very different single-draw lowball traditions (Deuce-to-Seven 'Kansas City' and Ace-to-Five 'California'), always confirm which ranking the table is using before the deal — they produce very different correct strategy.
Blinds instead of antes
Many modern home games run Kansas City Lowball with two blinds (like Hold'em) instead of antes from every player, speeding up the deal and keeping the forced-bet structure consistent across a mixed dealer's-choice rotation.
Related games
Based on shared category, origin, and rules that reference each other.
California Lowball
The classic single-draw lowball game: five cards, one draw, lowest hand wins using Ace-to-Five ranking where straights and flushes don't count.
Learn the rules →Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw
A five-card draw lowball game with three separate draw rounds — the lowest hand wins, and straights, flushes, and aces all count against you.
Learn the rules →A-5 Triple Draw
Ace-to-Five lowball played with three separate draw rounds instead of one, giving players up to three chances to improve toward the best possible hand, the wheel (A-2-3-4-5).
Learn the rules →Anaconda
Also known as Pass the Trash: every player gets seven cards, passes several away in stages, then rolls their final hand out one card at a time.
Learn the rules →