Hand Ranking
From LowballWiki
The highest-ranked lowball hands are those that form poor normal poker hands. But there is some variation in how to determine this. The most common hand rankings for lowball are called "ace to five" (A-5) and "deuce to seven" (2-7), named after the best hand in each system.
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[edit] Ace to Five
In Ace to Five ranking, the ace counts as the lowest card, and straights or flushes are ignored. Ace-deuce-three-four-five in any suits is the best possible hand, or "wheel". To determine which of two unpaired hands in the better, first examine the highest card in each--- low card wins. If both have the same high card, break ties by using the next-highest, and so on. A234K loses to T89JQ, because the latter is Q-high while the former is K-high. Pairs are worse than unpaired hands, with AA234 as the best possible paired holding, followed by two pair, trips, and full houses, with quads as the lowest-rank hand. KKKKQ is the worst possible hand.
Ace to Five is usually the ranking used for split-pot games, because it allows the same hand to be used for both high and low. A-5 is also the hand ranking used for Razz and California Lowball, and sometimes for Triple Draw Lowball.
Although A-5 is the simplest ranking, it is not always straightforward to identify the best 5-card low in Razz or Omaha/8. For example, the Razz hand 222333K ranks as 2233K (one of the better two-pair hands), not 2223K (trips). The razz hand 4455999 beats 2277788 because the former is ranks as two pair, fives and fours (despite the presence of trips nines) while the latter is sevens-up.
[edit] Deuce to Seven
Deuce to Seven ranking preserves more of the structure of the normal poker ranking, by including straights and flushes. Aces are always high cards, so a deuce is the lowest rank instead. The best possible hand is deuce-three-four-five-seven, not all of the same suit. 23456 is a straight, and A2345 is ace-high. Hands are compared highest-rank first, as in A-5. Just as straights and flushes beat pairs and trips in normal poker, straights lose to paired hands in 2-7 ranking. The worst possible hand in 2-7 is a royal flush.
Deuce to Seven is the hand ranking commonly used for Triple Draw Lowball and for Kansas City Lowball. It is sometimes used to rank the middle hand in Chinese Poker.
[edit] Other Rankings
Deuce to Seven and Ace to Five differ in two respects: whether aces are low or high, and whether straights and flushes count. It is possible to construct rankings that explore the other two possibilities long these axes. In Ace to Six (A-6) ranking, the ace is low, but straights and flushes count, so the best possible hand is A2346 (not all suited). This is the ranking used in London Lowball.
The other possible ranking with these parameters is Deuce to Six (2-6) in which the ace is high but straights and flushes are ignored, so 23456 of any suit is the best hand. This variation is not used in any common lowball game.
Deuce to Seven is not a true inversion of the normal poker ranks because of the rule that the ace is always high. The "true inversion" ranking (in which the ace is high, but both A2345 and TJKQA count as straights) is not currently used in any popular lowball game.
Another potential variation is to rank lowball hands starting with the bottom card instead of the top. This is a common misconception among new players, particularly in Omaha Hi-Lo. With this ranking, A2345 (the best "ace-low") is still the best hand, but A89TJ beats any hand without an ace, such as 23456 (the best "deuce-low").
[edit] Further Resources
See Wikipedia entry on lowball or Wikipedia entry on hand rankings for a further explanation.
[edit] Short explanation of hand ranks
| Ace is low | Ace is high | |
|---|---|---|
| Ignore flushes and straights | A-5 | 2-6 |
| Flushes and straights are bad | A-6 | 2-7 |
[edit] Hand Rank Comparison
| Hand rank | 2-7 | A-5 | A-6 | 2-6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 75432 | 5432A | 6432A | 65432 |
| 2 | 76432 | 6432A | 6532A | 75432 |
| 3 | 76532 | 6532A | 6542A | 76432 |
| 4 | 76542 | 6542A | 6543A | 76532 |
| 5 | 85432 | 6543A | 7432A | 76542 |
| 6 | 86432 | 65432 | 7532A | 76543 |
| 7 | 86532 | 7432A | 7542A | 85432 |
| 8 | 86542 | 7532A | 7543A | 86432 |
| 9 | 86543 | 7542A | 75432 | 86532 |
| 10 | 87432 | 7543A | 7632A | 86542 |
| 11 | 87532 | 75432 | 7642A | 86543 |
| 12 | 87542 | 7632A | 7643A | 87432 |
| 13 | 87543 | 7642A | 76432 | 87532 |
| 14 | 87632 | 7643A | 7652A | 87542 |
| 15 | 87642 | 76432 | 7653A | 87543 |
| 16 | 87643 | 7652A | 76532 | 87632 |
| 17 | 87652 | 7653A | 7654A | 87642 |
| 18 | 87653 | 76532 | 76542 | 87652 |
| 19 | 95432 | 7654A | 8432A | 87653 |
| 20 | 96432 | 76542 | 8532A | 87654 |
| 21 | 96532 | 76543 | 8542A | 95432 |
| 22 | 96542 | 8432A | 85432 | 96432 |
| 23 | 96543 | 8532A | 8632A | 96532 |
| 24 | 97432 | 8542A | 8642A | 96542 |
| 25 | 97532 | 8543A | 8643A | 96543 |
| 26 | 97542 | 85432 | 86432 | 97432 |
| 28 | 97543 | 8632A | 8652A | 97532 |
| 29 | 97632 | 8642A | 8653A | 97542 |
| 30 | 97642 | 8643A | 86532 | 97543 |
