Rules, Rankings and More

If you enjoy playing the lower end of the poker hand ranking, then these helpful poker rules will assist you in learning how to do so.

There are many poker variations out there to be played. Whilst many of them require you to learn their unique poker rules, others require you to learn a specific set of hand rankings. Such variations are those that play using a low poker hand, and here you will be able to learn all that you need about low poker hand rankings, including the ranking itself, possible hands, and associated poker rules:

Poker variations that use a low hand ranking can be either high-low games such as Omaha High-Low, or low hand games only, such as Razz and Lowball. Basically, players must build their hands in the exact same way as they otherwise would, only in the reverse order – that is, to aim for the lowest possible cards and not the highest. Low hand rankings can be pursued according to three kinds of poker rules:

1. "Deuce-to-Seven"
2. "Ace-to-Six"
3. "Ace-to-Five"

Before we tackle these poker rules, the first thing to learn is that of qualifying; in many low hand poker games, the player must achieve certain prerequisites in order to be able to have their hand even be recognized as a legitimate low hand. These prerequisites are:

• Low hands must not have any pairs, e.g.: A, 2, 4, 4, 5
• Low hands must not have any card(s) worth more than eight, e.g.: A, 2, 3, 5, 9
• In the case that no player qualifies for the low hand in a high-low poker game, then the entire pot is awarded to the high hand.

Deuce-to-Seven Poker Rules:
Deuce-to-Seven poker rules count Ace as the highest ranking card, and include straights and flushes in the ranking as winning hands. This means that the best possible low hand that a player can achieve is 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and all standard poker hand rankings are simply reversed in order.

Ace-to-Six Poker Rules:
The poker rules of Ace-to-Six low hand rankings are the same as in Deuce to Seven, only that the Ace is counted as the lowest ranking card. Therefore the best possible hand is unsuited A, 2, 3, 4, 6.

Ace-to-Five Poker Rules:
The Ace-to-Five Poker Rules are the most commonly used. They don't include straights and flushes, and counts Ace as the lowest ranking card. The best possible low hand is thus A, 2, 3, 4, 5.