Pyramid poker Pyramid poker Pyramid poker is a simplified version of pai gow poker, where instead of seven cards, three cards are dealt face down. It uses a standard 52-card deck without jokers. The hand rankings are just like in poker except that aces are always high. The dealer deals the player and himself 3 cards, which is arranged into a 2 card hand and a 1 card hand which should be smaller than the 2-card hand. There are no straights or flushes in the 2-card hand, and a higher ranked hand wins in both the hands. In order to win, both
Lowball (poker) hands with pairs tie, kickers are used just as in high poker (but reversed): 3-3-6-4-2 defeats 3-3-6-5-A. This is called ace-to-five low because the lowest (and therefore best) possible hand is 5-4-3-2-A, called a "wheel". The next best possible hand is 6-4-3-2-A, followed by 6-5-3-2-A, 6-5-4-2-A, 6-5-4-3-A, 6-5-4-3-2, 7-4-3-2-A, 7-5-3-2-A, etc. When speaking, low hands are referred to by their highest-ranking card or cards. Any nine-high hand can be called "a nine", and is defeated by any "eight". Two cards are frequently used: the hand 8-6-5-4-2 can be called "an eight-six" and will defeat "an eight-seven" such as 8-7-5-4-A. Another