Lowball

Lowball was an early type of railway signal which indicated danger or a need to stop. The ball signal was a light or indicator suspended from a rope, that could move upwards and downwards, held by a weighted ball. The lowball signal was indicated when the weighted ball, and therefore signal, was at the end of its rope in the low position, indicating stop.

It can also refer to:

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See also

Lowball (poker)

Lowball or low poker is a variant of poker in which the normal ranking of hands is inverted. Several variations of lowball poker exist, differing in whether aces are treated as high cards or low cards, and whether or not straights and flushes are used.

Low-poker ranking

Lowball inverts the normal ranking of poker hands. There are three methods of ranking low hands, called ace-to-five low, deuce-to-seven low, and ace-to-six low. The 'ace-to-five' method is most common. A sub-variant within this category is 'high-low poker', in which the highest and lowest hands split the pot, with the highest hand taking any odd chips if the pot does not divide equally. Sometimes straights and/or flushes count in determining which hand is highest but not in determining which hand is lowest, being reckoned as a no-pair hand in the latter instance, so that a player with such a holding can win both ways and thus take the entire pot.

Lowball variants

The most popular forms of lowball are ace-to-five lowball (also known as California lowball), and deuce-to-seven lowball (also known as Kansas City lowball). Ace-to-five lowball gets its name because the best hand at that form is 5-4-3-2-A. In ace-to-five lowball straights and flushes do not prevent a hand from being low. You win by simply having the five lowest cards. Deuce-to seven lowball gets its name because the best hand at that form is 7-5-4-3-2 (not of the same suit).