5-card single draw 8-or-better: Does this exist?
I found a pdf from a card room claiming to offer this game:
This variation of five card draw allows both the high hand and low hand to win. If the winning hands belong to different players the pot is split with the odd chip going to the high hand. At [Place] it is played with an 8 qualifier, meaning a player must have five cards 8 or below without pairing to qualify for low. The highest low hand allowed is 8-7-6-5-4.
Is this a viable form of poker? With the 8 qualifier it seems like it would never be a good idea to try drawing to a low hand. (They mention elsewhere that in their draw games, any number of cards can be drawn; does this improve the dynamic?) I'm curious if this game actually exists or if it's some kind of copy-paste error.
2 Replies
This sounds like Archie. Archie is five card triple draw hi-lo split. You must make an 8 or better to win low, and there is also a qualifier to win the high (usually a pair of 9s or higher). It is a great game, and you should usually be playing starting hands that are going for low, but which also have potential to make a straight or a flush to also win the high. If this version is single draw with no qualifier for high, then yes, you should probably be going for high most of the time.
I play in the place that invented Archie, we used to also play limit triple draw 8 or better (so same qualifier Greg mentioned for low, but no qualifier for high), its an ok game. Archie sorta took over. We also used to play triple draw hi/lo with no qualifier, sort of a silly one but can be interesting.
