Lowball - The Lowest Pair

In lowball, Aces are the lowest card, and Kings are the highest. The "unbeatable" hand is A-2-3-4-5 (a.k.a., "The Wheel"), since straights and flushes do not count. If no player is unpaired at the showdown, the winning hand is the lowest pair.

In lowball, given that a sngle Ace is the lowest card, is a pair of Aces the lowest pair?

Edit: If not, why not?

I never play lowball but I'm 95% sure that's right. (AA would be the lowest pair)

"Low Ball" generally refers to Ace to Five Lowball. Clearly, since you specified that the wheel is the nuts, you're playing Ace to Five as opposed to Deuce to Seven. Therefore, a pair of Aces is lower than any other pair.

The following are excerpts from Robert's Rules of Poker:

Quote: ACE-TO-FIVE LOWBALL

In ace-to-five lowball, the best hand is any 5-4-3-2-A. An ace is the lowest-ranking card. For hands with a pair, A-A beats 2-2. Straights and flushes do not count against your hand.

Quote: DEUCE-TO-SEVEN LOWBALL

In deuce-to-seven lowball (sometimes known as Kansas City lowball), in most respects, the worst conventional poker hand wins. Straights and flushes count against you, crippling the value of a hand. The ace is used only as a high card. Therefore, the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2, not all of the same suit. The hand 5-4-3-2-A is not considered to be a straight, but an ace-5 high, so it beats other ace-high hands and pairs, but loses to king-high. A pair of aces is the highest pair, so it loses to any other pair.
The rules for deuce-to-seven lowball are the same as those for ace-to-five lowball, except for the following differences:
1. The best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 of at least two different suits. Straights and flushes count against you, and aces are considered high only.

Yeah DJ is right.

Yeah, in ace to 5, it's the lowest pair.

And in 2 to 7, it's the highest pair.

Anyone in Vegas interested in playing lowball (and other non-holdem) games can play them at the Imperial Palace (or Quad if they officially made the change) with me Sunday night at 7pm. It's only $3/$6 limit with a $3 max rake, and I think it's a lot more fun than hold 'em. :) I also may be trying to make a $4/$8 dealer's choice (where lowball variants are often called) game on Monday at 6pm at MGM Grand, but that's less definite on my schedule.

Glad to see we're all on the same page here.

This came up dramatically at our home game several years ago. We we're playing five-card stud lowball. Amazingly, on the river, each of the four remaining players got a card that paired one of their up-cards. Everyone checked, and we had to convince the player who had a pair of aces showing that he had won the hand.

Quote: YouCanBetOnThat

Glad to see we're all on the same page here.

This came up dramatically at our home game several years ago. We we're playing five-card stud lowball. Amazingly, on the river, each of the four remaining players got a card that paired one of their up-cards. Everyone checked, and we had to convince the player who had a pair of aces showing that he had won the hand.

That would have been much easier than the home game in which I was involved when we had to convince a guy holding a Pair of Deuces that he lost to a pair of Aces in Low-Ball Seven-Card Stud.