You Don’t Have to Play Your Cards.

They’re yours. That doesn’t make them useful.

You’ve been dealt two kings. Terrible news. But those kings aren’t glued to your final hand.

In regular Hold’em Low, you use any five of your seven available cards: your two hole cards and the five shared board cards. You can use both hole cards, one, or neither. The game automatically selects your lowest combination.

Two kings. Zero obligation.

Your lowest five are 7-5-4-3-2. All five come from the board. Both kings sit this one out.

That’s the best possible final Hold’em Low hand: 7-5-4-3-2 in mixed suits.

But everyone still in the hand can use that board too. Nobody can beat it. You split the pot among the eligible players.

You escaped the kings. You did not invent exclusive ownership of the board.

Sometimes you use one

Your two replaces the board’s nine. Your lowest five are again 7-5-4-3-2. You use one hole card and four board cards. The king contributes absolutely nothing.

Sometimes you use both

Use both hole cards with the five, four, and three. That makes 7-5-4-3-2. Leave both board kings out.

There’s no requirement to keep a pair just because it appears among your seven cards.

Five cards still have to count

You can’t throw away everything inconvenient. If your seven cards are 2-2-2-2-3-3-3, every five-card selection contains at least three of one rank. You’re stuck with a full house. Your lowest choice is 2-2-2-3-3.

Likewise, if all seven cards have the same suit, you can’t escape a flush.

Look at the whole set of seven. Your starting cards matter only when they help make your lowest five.

Try it yourself in the three-step Hold’em Low lesson.