Lowball players sometimes do not get the most advantage from their hands because they do not understand the concept of a protected bet. From The Official Dictionary of Poker:
protected bet
(n phrase) A bet made in a situation such that it is likely to win or lose a pot based on the comparative value of a hand, without having to introduce the complication of bluffing. For example, in a hold'em game, Norman, an aggressive player, has been betting the flop and the turn with two spades on the board. You flopped middle pair, and intend to call all the way. Behind you sits Sue, a player capable of raising with less than the best hand, even a bluff; she will, of course, also raise with the best hand. Another spade comes on the river. Norman bets and you call. Normally, you would be worried about Sue, because when you just call, if she raises and reopens the betting, you'll have trouble calling if Norman reraises. But Sue has exactly one big bet left. Because she cannot raise, your call was a protected bet.
That is just one example. Many more exist.
In a straight limit lowball game, Jeannie goes almost all in before the draw, leaving herself one bet. Perhaps she puts the last bet in; perhaps she calls the last bet. It doesn't matter. What matters is that she now has exactly one bet left. She has a pat hand. Sam draws one card; clearly, he is drawing to a good hand. Jeannie checks, Sam bets, and Jeannie calls. Sam shows a 9-6 and Jeannie shows down 8-7-6-5-3. What was the point of passing? She was going to call no matter what Sam did. If Sam had caught a 10, however, he would not have bet, and Jeannie would have cost herself a bet. It has no bearing on this situation whether Sam ends up with the best hand; if he makes his hand, he's going to call if Jeannie bets, and he's going to bet if she checks. Since Jeannie has only one bet, she can't be raised. I can understand passing if she has two bets left, not wanting to face a raise, but I can't understand passing with only one bet left. The only explanation I have is that Jeannie is so conditioned to losing that she thinks if she puts in all of her chips, she is destined to lose. Or, she somehow thinks that checking will induce a bluff from the one-card draw. But, of course, Sam knows better than to bluff. He knows that the pat hand will always call, which is why he bet the 9-7 after being checked to. But Sam would call with any 10 or better, hoping to catch Jeannie in a desperation play. What's the point here? That having one bet left causes the bet made by the holder of the pat hand to be a protected bet. She cannot lose any more than the one bet, and has a good chance of winning.
Here's another example, also from straight limit lowball: Bob, a fairly tight player, opens early. Jim raises, and Bob calls. They draw. Bob takes one and Jim stands pat. After the draw, Bob has exactly two bets left. He bets, and Jim calls. Bob shows 7-6-4-2-A and Jim proudly shows his 7-4-3-2-A. I always figuratively scratch my head when I see this. I can somewhat follow Jim's reasoning, but it doesn't make sense. He thinks that Bob is so tight, he had to be drawing to a monster. Thus, if he bets, he has to have that monster. It's certainly true that Bob probably has a 7 or better, but so what? The range of hands that Bob could have goes all the way from a wheel to 7-6-5-4-3. Because of the sevens rule, you have to include the entire range; that is, Bob cannot pass if he makes a rough 7. In that range there are 21 hands. Jim's hand is No. 7. That is, of the hands that Bob is likely to have, six win, 14 lose, and one ties. Thus, the odds are better than 2-to-1 in favor of Jim's hand being better than Bob's. He should raise. It's understandable that if Bob has three or more bets left, Jim might not want to raise, because Bob would certainly reraise with a good 6. Jim might not want to give Bob odds with his 7-4. In fact, some lowball strategies advise not raising solid players with anything worse than a straight 6. But that doesn't matter here. Jim's raise, if he wants to make it, is a protected bet. Bob has only two bets. He can only call the raise. He cannot reraise. Yes, he might have Jim's hand beat, but Jim is enough of a favorite that he must raise. But, all the time, I see people not raise in this situation. And the odds in Jim's favor are actually better than 2-to-1, because Bob, as tight as he is, might still bet a smooth 8, and he also might bet some bluffs. That is, the number of losing hands that Bob would bet outnumber those that beat Jim by more than 2-to-1.
Protected bets: An important concept in lowball – and any other form of poker.