2008 WSOP, Day 24: Lowball

Just about noon here. Event No. 40, the Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) event is about to get underway. F-Train and I are covering this one.

Went over to McCarran this morning and picked up the lovely Vera Valmore. Very nice to have her here. She’s currently wandering the Rio until we’ll reunite during the dinner break.

Did manage to get back over to the Gold Coast last night for some more bowling fun with California Jen, Karridy, SitNGo Steve, Ryan, Pokerati Dan, and Mean Gene. Karridy bowled the night’s best game, which started with strikes on four of the first five frames. I managed to squeeze out a spare in the tenth frame of the last game to establish a new personal high of 101 in the Pokerati Bowling Series.

I mentioned how I’d talked a bit with Tom Schneider about terminology for Deuce-to-Seven. The best hand in Deuce-to-Seven Lowball (also known as Kansas City lowball), is 7-5-4-3-2. That hand can, says Tom, be called a “wheel.” I know some reserve that term for A-2-3-4-5 (and use it in a variety of games), but that’s what a wheel is in 2-7 Lowball. Of course, A-2-3-4-5 is simply ace-high in 2-7 lowball, as aces are always high in this game. (Straights and flushes count against you, too.)

Also, like in Razz and other low games, you can refer to hand being “smooth” or “rough” hand, e.g., an 8-7-5-4-2 is a “rough eight” whereas an 8-5-4-3-2 is a “smooth eight.”

Tom also said the best hands are sometimes referred to more simply among the players, i.e., the best hand, the 7-5-4-3-2, is a “number one,” the second best, 7-6-4-3-2, a “two,” and the third best, 7-6-5-3-2, a “three.” Kind of reminds me of that story about the guys in prison passing around a joke book and after several years they’ve all memorized all of the numbered jokes. So every now and then a guy would just say “Seventy-Six” and everyone would laugh.

Doubt I’ll bother with the “one,” “two,” and “three” stuff, as that could simply confuse readers, I’d think. (Or me.) I have a feeling that with three draws and four rounds of fixed limit betting, this may well become a bit tedious to report in the usual fashion. But the event ought to draw a lot of name pros and interesting personalities, so I imagine there will still be a lot to write about.

As always, you can go follow along over at PokerNews.