Low Poker Hand Rankings: Ace-to-Five vs Deuce-to-Seven vs 8-or-Better

Four of the six THORSE games have a low hand, and they use all three systems between them. The other two, Limit Hold'em and Seven Card Stud, are high only.

In Razz and 2-7 Triple Draw there is no high hand, so the low is the whole game. In Omaha 8 and Stud 8 the low is worth half the pot, and if nobody makes a qualifying low, the high hand takes it all. How that split works, including quartering and counterfeits, is covered in split-pot poker explained.

The three systems agree on one thing: pairs are bad. In ace-to-five and 8-or-better, any no-pair hand beats any pair; in 2-7 that holds only if the no-pair hand isn't a straight or flush. They disagree on the ace, on straights and flushes, and on whether there is a cutoff.

Ace-to-five (Razz)

The ace is the lowest card, straights and flushes do not exist, and there is no qualifier. The only thing that matters is the ranks of your five cards, read from the highest down.

So 5-4-3-2-A is not a straight; it is the best possible hand, called the wheel. Five hearts are not a flush; they are whatever ranks they happen to be. In Razz you pick your best five from seven, and the lowest five-card combination wins the pot even if it is a pair of kings.

Category order, best to worst: no pair, one pair, two pair, three of a kind, full house, four of a kind. Within no-pair hands, the lower top card wins.

Deuce-to-seven (2-7 Triple Draw)

The ace is high only, and straights and flushes count against you exactly as they would in a high-hand game. There is no qualifier.

That changes everything about the small cards. 5-4-3-2-A is not a wheel here; it is an ace-high hand, because the ace is the highest card in the deck and A-2-3-4-5 is not a straight. 6-5-4-3-2 is a straight, which is bad. The best possible hand is 7-5-4-3-2 in mixed suits, called "number one" or "the nuts," because it is the lowest five ranks that do not make a straight.

Category order, best to worst: no pair, one pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush. It is the standard high-hand order turned upside down, with the ace always high.

8-or-better (Omaha 8, Stud 8)

8-or-better uses ace-to-five rules with one extra condition: all five cards must be different ranks of eight or lower. If they are, you have a qualifying low and compete for the low half of the pot. If they are not, you have no low and can only win with your high hand.

Aces are low, straights and flushes do not hurt the low (they can even help your high hand at the same time), and a pair in your five low cards means no low. In Omaha 8 the low must use exactly two hole cards and three board cards. In Stud 8 it is your best five of seven. A nine anywhere in your best five low cards means no low at all.

The best ace-to-five hand and the best 8-or-better hand are the same five ranks, the wheel. The best 2-7 hand skips the ace and the six.

Best ace-to-five and 8-or-better low: the wheel. Suits never matter.

5♣ 4♦ 3♥ 2♠ A♥

Best 2-7 low: number one. The suits must be mixed. The same five ranks in one suit would be a flush, one of the worst hands you can hold.

7♦ 5♦ 4♥ 3♠ 2♦

Worst qualifying 8-or-better low: 8-7-6-5-4. It still wins the low half against anyone with no qualifying low, and it loses to every other qualifying low.

8♠ 7♥ 6♦ 5♥ 4♠

At the other end, the worst possible five-card Razz hand is four kings with a queen, and the worst possible 2-7 hand is an ace-high straight flush. In 8-or-better there is no "worst" low, because anything worse than 8-7-6-5-4 is simply not a low. A nine among your five low cards, a pair among them, or fewer than five different ranks of eight or lower means you have no low. If no player has one, the high hand takes the whole pot.

Read a low from its highest card down, and the first card that differs decides the hand. A low with a smaller top card beats any low with a bigger top card, no matter how good the small cards look.

Players name lows by their top one or two cards: "a seven-five" is 7-5-x-x-x, "an eight-six" is 8-6-x-x-x. In every system a seven beats an eight, an eight beats a nine, and so on (in 2-7, once straights and flushes are ruled out). Here is an ace-to-five comparison that trips up new players.

8♠ 4♦ 3♣ 2♥ A♦

7♣ 6♠ 5♥ 4♣ 2♠

In Razz and 8-or-better, 7-6-5-4-2 beats 8-4-3-2-A, because seven is lower than eight. The four tiny cards under the eight never get looked at. Under 2-7 rules the gap is even wider: the first hand is really A-8-4-3-2, an ace-high hand, while 7-6-5-4-2 is the fourth-best hand in the game.

When the top cards tie, move to the next one.

8♥ 6♣ 5♦ 4♠ 3♥

8♦ 7♠ 4♥ 3♦ 2♣

Both are eight-lows. The second cards are 6 and 7, so 8-6-5-4-3 wins in all three systems. If the second cards also tie, compare the third, and so on. Two lows with identical ranks split, because suits never break a tie.

For 2-7 there is one extra step: before you compare ranks, check for a straight or a flush, because either one drops the hand below every pair. Neither hand above has one. Knowing whether a made eight is worth keeping is the heart of when to stand pat in 2-7 Triple Draw.

Razz and 8-or-better share the same ladder; the only difference is that 8-or-better stops qualifying once an eight-high low is no longer possible, with 8-7-6-5-4 as the last qualifying hand. Print this page from your browser if you want the chart next to you while you practice.

Three reminders for the margin: in the left column suits never matter; in the right column every hand must be in mixed suits, and 7-6-5-4-3 is missing because it is a straight; in 8-or-better, anything with a nine or a pair is not a low.