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LOWBALL.DOC
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1989-11-06
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LOWBALL POKER
Version 3.OO
CGA or Monochrome
(C) Copyright 1986,87,88,89
by
Raymond M. Buti
All Rights Reserved
United Innovations Plus
Post Office Box 21081
Castro Valley, Ca. 94546
(415) 886-0958
TERMS
This software is distributed as ShareWare. What this means is,
you a granted free license to use, copy and distribute this
software as often as you wish so long as the following
restrictions have been met:
1 - When distributing this software, it must be in its
original unmodified form. The ARCed or Compressed .EXE
version of this software will only be distributed to
Bulletin Board Systems and computer information exchanges,
i.e. The Great American Dream Machine (415)-581-3019, GEnie,
Delphi, The Source, Compuserve etc.
2 - Prior written consent from United Innovations Plus must be
obtained before a fee or charge is made for copying or
distribution, with the exception of the computer information
exchanges as mentioned above.
3 - This software shall not be included with other programs,
goods, services, etc. without prior written consent from
United Innovations Plus with the exception of the computer
information exchanges as mentioned above.
REGISTRATION AGREEMENT
United Innovations Plus requires you to register this software
if you plan on using it. Registered users will receive the
latest version with all options available, full support and
notification of later releases. Please note that not all
options and functions are available with this Shareware
release. To register your copy of this software, please use the
Registration Form and make checks payable to United
Innovations Plus.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROGRAMS ON DISK ............................................ 1
PROGRAMS REQUIRED TO RUN LOWBALL ............................ 1
LOWBALL RULES ............................................... 2
LOWBALL GAMES ............................................... 3
Pass & Out ............................................. 3
Blind .................................................. 3
Straddle ............................................... 4
STARTING LOWBALL ............................................ 4
PLAYING SCREEN .............................................. 4
MAIN OPTIONS ................................................ 5
F1 Deal ................................................. 5
F3 Setup Menu ........................................... 5
F5 Stats ................................................ 5
Current Hands ...................................... 6
Total Hands ........................................ 6
House Take ......................................... 6
Total House Take ................................... 6
Carryover To Next Pot .............................. 6
F8 High Scores .......................................... 6
ALT-N New Player ........................................ 7
F10 Quit ................................................ 7
PLAY OPTIONS ................................................ 7
Bet ..................................................... 7
Fold .................................................... 7
Call .................................................... 7
Raise ................................................... 8
Pass/Check .............................................. 8
DISCARDS .................................................... 8
Alt-O Show Odds .................................... 8
SETUP MENU .................................................. 9
- i -
SETUP OPTIONS ............................................... 9
Display Shuffling ....................................... 9
Sliding Screens ......................................... 9
Show Card Movement ...................................... 9
Card Movement Speed ..................................... 9
Snow Removal ............................................ 10
Sound ................................................... 10
Fast Play When Folding .................................. 10
Display Bets ............................................ 10
Display Cards Drawn ..................................... 10
Save High Games ......................................... 10
Type Of Game ............................................ 10
Change Playing Position ................................. 10
Change Card Colors ...................................... 11
Double Bet After Draw ................................... 11
Pause For Player Action ................................. 11
HIGH SCORES ................................................. 11
SHAREWARE VERSION ........................................... 12
OTHER PROGRAMS .............................................. 12
REGISTRATION FORM ........................................... 13
- ii -
PROGRAMS ON DISK
The following is list of file names that you should have on your
distribution disk.
File Name File Description
Lowball .Exe - The main program for Lowball Poker.
Lowball .Doc - The documentation for Lowball Poker.
LoStart .Bat - A batch file to read the documentation,
print the documentation and install Lowball
on a Hard Drive.
LoRead .Com - Used by LoStart.Bat
LoReply .Com - Used by LoStart.Bat
LoIntro - Used by LoStart.Bat
LoPrt - Used by LoStart.Bat
LoHd - Used by LoStart.Bat
LoReg - Registration Form
Low30S .Arc - Shareware Version of Lowball Poker
PROGRAMS REQUIRED TO RUN LOWBALL
The only file required to play Lowball is LOWBALL.EXE. Be sure
you are in the same directory or drive where LOWBALL.EXE
resides.
- 1 -
LOWBALL RULES
The game of Lowball Poker is played with a fifty-three card
deck, consisting of a standard deck of playing cards with one
joker. This form of Lowball is also known as California
Lowball. The rank of cards are from the King (High) to an Ace
(Low). The joker is wild and used as the lowest card in your
hand so long as it doesn't make a pair. If your lowest card was
a 2 and you had the joker in your hand, the jokers value would
count as an Ace. If you also had an Ace in your hand, the joker
would then become a 3, etc. If you have the joker in your hand,
DO NOT DISCARD THE JOKER. This card will only help your hand.
In most forms of poker, you are trying to get the highest hand.
In Lowball, your goal is to beat your opponents by trying to get
the lowest hand. A complete reverse of what is normally played
in high poker. The best hand is a 5-4-3-2-A known as a wheel or
bicycle. Straights and flushes do not count. Some variations
of Lowball count straights and flushes against you.
The dealer will shuffle the cards and the player to the dealers
right will cut the cards. The dealer deals out five cards, one
at a time starting with the first player to the dealers left.
There are eight players in this game. A betting round starts
with the first player to the dealers left. On the first round
of betting, you must either bet or you are forced to fold your
hand. If nobody bets (opens), then the last player to act wins
the pot which will consists of the antes.
Once the pot has been opened, the remaining players will have a
choice of either to call (place in the pot the amount the opener
put in), raise (place in the pot the amount the opener put in
plus the amount of your raise), or fold (toss your hand away and
resign from further action and forfeiting any money currently in
the pot). You are playing at a $20 limit table. All bets are
$20. When raising, you must raise $20.
After the first round of betting, starting with the first player
to the dealers left, each player will discard from 1 to 5 cards
from his hand or play his hand pat (stay with what you have).
The dealer will then burn the top card from the remaining
portion of the deck. This is done by dealing the first card
into the center of the table. The dealer will then deal each
player replacement cards from the unused portion of the deck.
So what happens if all 8 players stay in the pot and draw 3
cards each? We have 8 players times 5 cards which equals 40
cards. We have 12 cards remaining in the unused portion of the
deck and 1 burned card. Now we have 8 players drawing 3 cards
each which is another 24 cards to be dealt from a deck only
containing 12 cards of which only 11 are playable (the bottom
card is never dealt). How is this possible? In casinos and
card clubs, all players discard their cards first, before the
new cards are dealt. While dealing the replacement cards and
when the deck is down to one card (not a playable card), all the
discards including the last card are reshuffled and the dealer
- 2 -
continues to deal the players their remaining cards. If this
was not done, you couldn't play with 8 players. This doesn't
happen too often unless your playing in a home game for pennies.
Once all the players have their new cards, the another betting
round takes place. This time you may check (make no bet, but
stay in the pot), bet, raise, re-raise. A pot may only be
raised 5 times in each round of betting. Once the betting
action is over, the remaining players in the pot will show their
hands and the player with the lowest hand will win the pot. In
the event of a tie between 2 or more players, the pot will be
split among the winners. If the pot cannot be divided up
equally in dollars amounts, the extra couple of dollars will be
left in the pot for the winner of the next pot.
Those interested in learning more about Lowball should purchase
a book on Lowball Poker. The best way to learn the game is to
dig deep into your pocket and pull a few bills and charge over
to your nearest card club and say, "Deal me in sucker". It
won't take long before you find out who the sucker is.
LOWBALL GAMES
Lowball can be played in a few different variations. Not all
forms of Lowball are supported in this game. This game will
support 3 of the most widely played forms. The following is a
description of forms of Lowball currently available with this
version.
Pass & Out
All players ante $2 and must either bet or fold before the draw.
The first player to the dealers left is first to act.
Blind
All players ante $2 and must either bet or fold before the draw.
The first player to the dealers left places a bet ($20) in the
pot before the cards are dealt. This is considered a blind bet,
meaning the player is opening the pot without looking at his
cards. A marker will be place by that player indicating he has
the blind. The first player to the blinds left is first to act.
This makes the blind last to act before the draw but first to
act after the draw.
The blind game is intended to create a little action. After
all, wouldn't you want to call a player that bets without
looking at his cards?
Before the draw, starting with the first player to the blinds
left, must either call the blind bet, raise or fold. When its
the blinds turn to play and the pot has only been called, he has
no further action because he is already in the pot. On the
other hand, if the pot was raised, he may call, re-raise or
- 3 -
fold. Not supported in the version is what as known as a "live
blind". A live blind means that if the pot was not raised
before the draw, then the blind has the option of raising
himself by placing an addition bet in the pot.
Straddle
In this form of Lowball, none of the players ante. Instead, 3
players put in a straddle bet. The first player to the dealers
left puts in $5, the next player puts in $5, and the next player
puts in $10. This amount adds up to the minimum bet of the
limit game you are playing. A $4 limit game would have the
straddle at $1, $1 & $2; a $10 limit game would be $2, $3 & $5;
a $200 limit game would be $50, $50 & $100. The players that
have placed the straddle bets will have markers placed in front
of their playing positions.
This game also creates action. You have 3 players with partial
bets in the pot already. This makes it a little easier for them
to call. If they don't call, they lose the straddle.
The first player to act before the draw is the first player to
the left of the big straddle and play continues clockwise.
After the draw, action starts with the first player to the
dealers left.
STARTING LOWBALL
From your DOS prompt, type Lowball and press ENTER. Your
monitor will display the opening screen. After a few seconds,
or until you hit a key, you will be asked for your name. You
must enter something when asked. If you don't like your name,
enter anything you want. Lowball will save your playing
statistics to a file associated with what you enter. If you
answered "Cool Joe", then a file will be created called
COOLJOE.LOW. Each time you play Lowball, that file will be read
and your past history will be available for you to cry over.
Once you have entered your name, the screen will clear and you
will be placed in the playing screen, ready to show the dumb
computer players your stuff.
NOTE: After you have enter your name, you will not be required
to do so in the future. If a player, other than yourself wishes
to play, you may change players names by pressing ALT-N from the
main playing screen. You will be allowed to enter from 1 to 21
characters for your name. The first 8 characters will be used
to create a file containing your playing statistics.
PLAYING SCREEN
The playing screen will display the playing positions of the
players. These are positioned in a circle to represent a poker
table. The top center of your screen will show a card labeled
- 4 -
P1, representing player #1. The player positions are numbered
from P1 to P8 in a clockwise manner starting at the P1 position.
The center of the screen displays the pot. As Lowball is
played, the pot will naturally increase as bets are made.
The upper left part of the screen will show your current
standings during the course of play. The upper right side will
show your total standings. The total standings are saved after
each game in the file created when you entered your name at the
start of Lowball.
The left side of the screen will show the limit of the game you
are playing. The right side will show the form of Lowball your
are currently playing. The game limit may not be changed with
this version. It is possible that a future version will allow
various limits or a table stakes game.
Near the bottom of the screen, the following will be displayed:
F1 Deal F3 Setup F5 Stats
F8 High Scores ALT-N New Player F10 Quit
These are the main options you currently have available. These
options are displayed when you first start Lowball and at the
end of each hand.
MAIN OPTIONS
F1 Deal
To start playing Lowball, you may either press the F1 key or the
ENTER key. Before the cards are dealt to each player, all
players must either ante, place the blind or place the straddle
bets depending on what form of Lowball you are playing. A
marker will be placed by the dealer along with the deck of
cards. The dealer will deal out five cards to each player
starting with the first player to his left.
F3 Setup Menu
Pressing the F3 key will display the Lowball Setup Menu. This
will allow you to change many of the options available with this
version of Lowball. When you quit playing, any changes made
will be saved so they are available to you the next time you
play.
F5 Stats
Pressing the F5 key will display each players current standings.
This screen is displayed in the same order as the playing
screen. The profit, pots won, and pots each player was involved
in will be shown below each players number. These figures
represent the current game only.
- 5 -
The center of this screen will show the current hands dealt,
total hands dealt, house take, total house take, and any
carryover from the pot.
Current Hands
The current hands are the amount of hands dealt during each game
you play.
Total Hands
The total hands will show all the Lowball hands that have been
played.
House Take
The house take is the amount of money collected by the house.
The house will collect money from each player for the privilege
of playing at their club or casino. This is usually done each
half hour by a pit boss or club employee. In this $20 limit
game, you are charged $2 at the end of every 15 hands. Some
clubs rake a percentage from each pot rather than collect time.
This form of collection is not supported in this version.
Total House Take
This will display the total amount of money taken in from all
the hands played.
Carryover To Next Pot
This will always show a zero amount unless the hand previously
played could not be split amount the winners. If that is the
case, the amount is shown in order for all the figures to
balance out.
The last line of this screen will display your complete history
taken from your file on disk.
To exit this screen and return to the playing screen, just press
the ENTER key.
F8 High Scores
Pressing the F8 key will bring up a screen showing the top 15
Lowball players. The following will be shown on this screen:
Rank Players Name Winnings Hands Date
The first column will show the numbers 1 to 15 which represents
the top players winnings to the 15th. highest players winnings.
The players name will accept from 1 to 21 characters.
The winnings is the amount of money you have won for one session
of Lowball. This is not a total of all your winnings.
- 6 -
The hands that are displayed will also be for the same session
of Lowball played. This is not a total of all your hands
played.
The date displayed will be the date you achieved your winnings.
Lowball will not ask you for the date. You must have set the
date from Dos when you first booted up your computer.
When you are finished looking at this screen, press ENTER to
return to the main screen.
ALT-N New Player
Pressing the ALT and N key together will allow you to change
a players name. This should be used when a friend wants to
play. Rather than having your friend screw up your high
winnings with his bad playing habits, press ALT-N and your
statistics will be saved, then your friend can enter his name.
This would be the same thing as quitting the game then starting
over again.
F10 Quit
When you press the F10 key, you will quit Lowball and be
returned to your Dos prompt. All high scores, player
statistics, and necessary files are then saved.
PLAY OPTIONS
Once you have pressed either F1 or the ENTER key to deal a hand,
your playing options will appear below your playing position.
These options will vary slightly depending on the round of
betting you are currently in. The options will be:
Bet Fold Call Raise Pass/Check
Press the first letter of one of the options that appear below
your playing position. These options will only appear when it
is your turn to act.
Bet
Pressing B will place the minimum bet in the pot for you.
Fold
Pressing F will fold your hand. This will erase your hand from
the screen and you will forfeit and further action in the pot.
Call
Pressing C will call any bets or raises previously made by other
players. The correct amount of money will be placed in the pot.
- 7 -
Raise
Pressing R will raise the pot the maximum limit of the game.
A raise simply means you are calling all bets and adding
another bet into the pot.
Pass/Check
Pressing the P key will pass or check your hand. Passing a hand
means you do not want to bet at this time. You still remain in
the pot and have the option to later call if a bet or raise has
been made by any other players. You will not be able to raise
after you pass or check.
NOTE: Please do not write me telling me that passing and
checking are different. Normally, pass means you are tossing
your hand away. To check would mean you plan an sticking around
a while to see what the other players are doing. Who cares what
it means, as long you hold onto your cards, you can say anything
you want. You can even say "I think I'll fold". When the
player to your left throws his hand away, you then can say,
"Nah... I think I'll raise". I am assuming the player to your
left is smaller than you.
DISCARDS
When it's your turn to discard, a pointer (arrow) will point to
the first card in your hand. The last line on your screen will
show the following options:
L/R Arrows Move Cursor U Arrow Mark Card
Alt-O Show Odds END Discard
Move the pointer using the Left and Right arrow keys until it's
under the card you wish to discard, then press the Up arrow key.
The card will be marked with an "x". Continue marking the cards
you wish to discard then press the END key. When you press the
END key, the marked cards will be discarded from your hand.
Pressing the Up arrow on a previously marked card will erase the
"x" and the card will not be discarded. If you wish to play
your hand pat, just press the END key without marking any cards.
Alt-O Show Odds
Pressing Alt-O will clear your screen and display the odds
against being dealt a pat hand, drawing one card and drawing two
cards. The odds against making a hand drawing 3 or more cards
will not be shown. In most cases, if you plan on drawing 3 or
more, I would suggest you play Keno instead of Lowball. To exit
this screen, press any key and you will be returned to the same
place you were prior to viewing the odds.
NOTE: The odds being displayed assume that all one and two card
draws have discarded a face card. The odds would naturally
fluctuate dependending on what cards have been discarded.
- 8 -
SETUP MENU
The Setup Menu is reached by pressing F3 from the Main Options.
A new screen will appear displaying the following options:
1 Display Shuffling On
2 Sliding Screens On
3 Show Card Movement On
4 Card Movement Speed 20
5 Snow Removal Off
6 Sound On
7 Fast Play When Folding Off
8 Display Bets Off
9 Display Cards Drawn Off
0 Save High Games Off
A Type Of Game Pass Out
B Change Playing Position 5
C Change Card Colors
D Double Bet After Draw Off
E Pause For Player Action Off
These are the default settings that come with Lowball. These
options may only be changed while in the Setup Screen. Any
changes made are always saved when you quit and return to DOS.
In order for this to happen, you must be logged onto the drive
or directory where LOWBALL.EXE resides.
SETUP OPTIONS
1 - Display Shuffling
You have the option to display the shuffling of the cards or you
may wish to play a faster game by not viewing the shuffling.
This may be changed with this option.
2 - Sliding Screens
While going from one screen to another, the screens will
slide open. If this causes snow or you would rather not see it
happen, you may turn it off with this option.
3 - Show Card Movement
The movement of the cards are displaying while they are being
dealt to their respective positions. If you would rather not
see this, you may set this option to Off.
4 - Card Movement Speed
If option 4 above is On, your cards will be dealt and moved
around the table at the default speed setting of 20. This means
nothing until you actually see the cards in motion. If you
press this option 7, you will be able to change the speed
setting for the card movement speed. The bottom of your screen
will display the following options:
- 9 -
LEFT/RIGHT Arrows ENTER F10
Use your LEFT/RIGHT Arrow keys to decrease or increase the speed
setting. Press the ENTER key if you want to see the effect the
speed setting has on the card movement. When you are satisfied
with the setting, press the Function 10 key when your done.
5 - Snow Removal
Use this option if you are experiencing snow.
6 - Sound
If you wish to turn of the sound, change this to OFF.
7 - Fast Play When Folding
When this option has been changed to ON, whenever you fold your
hand, all remaining action will be played at the fastest speed.
This is useful if you have the game playing at a slow pace and
wish to get it over with as soon as possible when you've folded.
8 - Display Bets
When this is set to ON, the lower part of your screen will
display the amount of money each player has in the pot. This
includes the ante each player has placed in the pot.
9 - Display Cards Drawn
When this is set to ON, as each player discards from his hand,
the number of cards drawn will be displayed next to the players
hand. This will only be visible if you are playing the game at
a slower speed. If the game is played too fast, everything will
be a quick flash and unreadable.
0 - Save High Games
If you want to save your high scores to disk, be sure this
option is On.
A - Type Of Game
Each time you press the letter "A", you will toggle the type of
game you wish to play. You have the option of playing Pass &
Out, Blind or Straddle.
B - Change Playing Position
If you think you can play better from a different playing
position, press the letter "B" to toggle through the 8 different
playing positions. When you return to the game, you will have
swapped playing positions with the other player.
- 10 -
C - Change Card Colors
Pressing the letter "C" will bring you to a screen which will
allow you to change the card colors. The top portion or
your screen will display a row of cards, face down. Below
that row will be another row, face up. The lower portion of
your screen will display the following:
Card Back Card Face
F1 Border Foreground Color F4 Border Foreground Color
F2 Border Background Color F5 Border Background Color
F3 Pattern Color F6 Face Color
ALT-D Restore Default Colors
Pressing the Function keys, F1 through F6 will change the two
card rows to the available colors allowed with each function
key pressed. Pressing ALT-D will restore the card colors to
their default colors. When you are satisfied with the color
changes, press the ENTER key and you will be returned to the
Setup Screen. These changes are saved when you quit playing
Lowball. Be sure LOWBALL.EXE resides in the drive or
directory from where you first started the game.
D - Double Bet After Draw
Pressing the letter "D" will allow double bets after the draw.
Normally in this limit game, your bets are always $20. With
this options set to ON, your bets after the draw will be $40.
E - Pause For Player Action
When this options is set to ON, action will pause with each
player until you press the spacebar.
HIGH SCORES
This screen is viewed by pressing the Function 8 key from the
Main Options. If you have option 0 in the Setup Menu set to On,
you will be able to view the top fifteen players. The screen
will display the players name, winnings, hands played and date
the winnings was recorded.
The bottom line on your screen will show your total standings
taken from you statistics file.
- 11 -
SHAREWARE VERSION
The ShareWare version of Lowball does not support all of the
options that are available in the Registered version. These
have purposely been left out and are available to Registered
users only. After you have played Lowball for a reasonable
time, we ask for your support by sending in your
registration. Registered users will receive the latest
Registered Version.
OTHER PROGRAMS
* Shareware programs will run on CGA or Monochrome
ALL REGISTERED VERSIONS run on either CGA or
Monochrome unless otherwise noted.
CASINO/GAMBLING GAMES
*Lowball Poker Draw Poker Baccarat
Roulette *Blackjack Connoisseur *Chuck-a-Luck
*Holdem Poker *Knock Poker *Red Dog
SOLITAIRE GAMES
*Pyramid *Poker *Osmosis
*Accordion Baker (VGA Only)
OTHER GAMES
*SuJu *Pig
UTILITIES
DCS EU Kill DX CDate
- 12 -
REGISTRATION FORM
Registration entitles the user to full support, upgrade
notifications, discounts on all programs and future programs.
Lowball Poker
Version 3.00 Registration
Registration Fee 5 1/4" disk $15.00 _______
Registration Fee 3 1/2" disk $17.00 _______
All 22 Shareware versions on 5 1/4" disks $ 8.00 _______
All 22 Shareware versions on 3 1/2" disks $10.00 _______
Foreign orders add $ 5.00 _______
Total $ _______
Name _______________________________________________________
Address _______________________________________________________
City _____________________________ St. ______ Zip __________
Computer System ________________________________________________
Please check one: MONO____ CGA____ EGA____ VGA____
Where did you acquire this version of Lowball Poker
________________________________________________________________
Comments & Suggestions
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
United Innovations Plus
Make checks payable to: Post Office Box 21081
Castro Valley, CA 94546
- 13 -
