A-5 Triple Draw

62.1 The triple-draw procedure, with ace-to-five hands

A-5 Triple Draw is dealt and played like 2-7 Triple Draw: one 52-card deck with no joker, a button and two blinds, five cards each, then bet, draw, bet, draw, bet, draw, bet. Tables are usually seven players or fewer (61.2). Only the reading of hands at the showdown is different.

Source: BARGE rulebook, Ace-to-5 Triple Draw; COMAR 36.05.06.21 (Maryland, 2015 draft), which covers both forms; pagat.com, Triple Draw.

62.2 Usually fixed-limit, with the bet doubling after the second draw

The usual structure is fixed-limit: the small bet before the first draw and after it, the big bet (twice the small bet) after the second and third draws, as in 61.7. BARGE notes it is sometimes played pot-limit. Raise caps are the house's (61.8).

Source: BARGE rulebook, Ace-to-5 Triple Draw, "Dealing Procedure" and note.

62.3 Drawing, the reshuffle and all-in players work as in 2-7

Who acts first (61.9), drawing in turn (61.10), drawing any number or standing pat (61.11), the reshuffle when the deck runs out (61.12) and all-in players drawing (61.13) are the same in A-5. The New Jersey and Maryland regulations cited there apply one triple-draw procedure to both rankings.

Source: N.J.A.C. 13:69F-14.12B(f)–(l); COMAR 36.05.06.21 H–K (Maryland, 2015 draft).

62.4 The ace is low, and straights and flushes don't count

Your hand is the five cards you hold after the third draw. The ace counts as the lowest card, and straights and flushes are ignored, so 5-4-3-2-A of one suit is still the best possible hand. Unpaired hands compare from the highest card down: 7-5-4-3-2 beats 7-6-3-2-A, because the second card (5 against 6) decides. Any unpaired hand beats any pair, and among pairs the lower pair wins, so a pair of aces beats a pair of twos. The full ranking is Hand rankings.

Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 11, "Ace-to-Five Lowball", introduction; pagat.com, California Lowball; COMAR 36.05.06.21 K(6) (Maryland, 2015 draft).

62.5 There is no qualifier: the lowest hand wins, even a pair

A-5 Triple Draw is low only. Unlike the eight-or-better games (Pots), there is no qualifying hand and no high half: the lowest hand at the showdown wins the whole pot, whatever it is. If the last two players hold a pair of kings and a pair of aces, the aces win.

Source: N.J.A.C. 13:69F-14.12B(l); COMAR 36.05.06.21 K(2) (Maryland, 2015 draft).

62.6 Which exposed cards must be kept before the draw

The ace-to-five exposed-card rules come from single-draw California lowball, and Robert's Rules gives two versions:

1. (a) Fixed-limit: a card of seven or lower exposed before the draw must be kept; a card above seven is replaced after the deal.
2. (b) No-limit and pot-limit: only an ace, 2, 3, 4 or 5 must be kept; any other card is replaced. Robert's Rules suggests this stricter rule may be the better one in limit play too.

On the draw itself, an exposed card is never taken (61.16(c)). Triple-draw rooms set their own version; the TDA leaves draw-game irregularities to the house.

Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 11, "Ace-to-Five Lowball" rule 3, "No-limit and Pot-limit Lowball" rule 2(a), and Section 16, "Explanations" discussion 8; TDA 2026 Rules (Version 1.1), Rule 37-A.

62.7 Check-raising

Limit California lowball traditionally bans the check-raise: Robert's Rules forbids it in limit ace-to-five unless players are told otherwise, and BARGE says the same of limit California lowball. Triple draw is usually played with check-raising allowed. Because the custom differs, a home game should say which it plays.

Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 11, "Ace-to-Five Lowball" rule 2; BARGE rulebook, Limit; BARGE rulebook, California Lowball.

62.8 Where it's played

A-5 Triple Draw is less common than the 2-7 version; pagat.com calls 2-7 perhaps the more popular. It appears mostly in mixed games: the WSOP's Dealer's Choice list includes it beside 2-7 Triple Draw and Badugi (mixed games are Mixed games).

Source: pagat.com, Triple Draw; PokerNews, Dealer's Choice rules.

62.9 The California lowball tradition: single draw and the joker

Ace-to-five lowball began as a single-draw game, California lowball, and that game has customs triple draw usually drops:

1. (a) The joker. California lowball is dealt with a joker (the bug), which becomes the lowest card not already in your hand. Robert's Rules assumes the joker is in use unless the room posts otherwise; with 8-6-4-A and the joker, the joker plays as a 2.
2. (b) The sevens rule. In limit California lowball, a player who checks a seven-low or better after the draw and holds the best hand wins only what was in the pot before the draw.

Triple-draw A-5, by contrast, is normally played without a joker. A home game adding one to A-5 Triple Draw is playing a house rule.

Source: Robert's Rules of Poker v11, Section 11, "Ace-to-Five Lowball" rules 1 and 4, and Glossary, "California lowball"; BARGE rulebook, California Lowball; BARGE rulebook, Ace-to-5 Triple Draw; pagat.com, California Lowball.

62.10 Badacey

Badacey is a five-card triple draw with a split pot: half goes to the best ace-to-five hand and half to the best four-card badugi made from four of the five cards, with the ace low (Badugi). The spelling varies: BARGE and Maryland's draft write "Badacey," while PokerNews' list of the WSOP's 2014 Dealer's Choice games spells it "badacy."

Source: BARGE rulebook, Badacey; COMAR 36.05.06.21 L(2) (Maryland, 2015 draft); PokerNews, Your guide to the inaugural WSOP Dealer's Choice event (2014).