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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 -