What is the worst hand in poker, and should you always fold it? Common poker wisdom suggests that you should fold weak starting hands, but, as I’ll explain, that’s not always the case.
For example, the worst hand in one poker variant isn’t always weak in another. In fact, there are spots where playing the cards can be profitable. Let’s unpack these points by looking at the worst hands in poker.
Worst Hand in Texas Hold’em
In general, the worst hands in Texas Hold’em are:
- Disconnected Cards, e.g., 7♠2♣ or 8♠3♥
More specifically, the worst hand in Texas Hold’em is 2-7, closely followed by 2-8, 3-8, 2-9, and 2-6. These hands are bad in almost all contexts. Being suited makes them slightly better, but often not good enough to play.
Therefore, in most situations, you’ll fold these hands before the flop. However, because poker is a situational game, there are times when you might be able to play the worst poker hands.
You will face these testing hands anywhere you play, be that in a casino or at the best online poker sites.
Before explaining that, let’s look at why 2-7 off-suit is the worst hand in poker.
Why is 7-2 the Worst Hand in Poker
7-2 is the worst hand in poker because it contains two low-ranked, disconnected cards. In fact, when you look at the hand rankings in poker, 2 and 7 are as disconnected as they could be.
- This means they’re not close enough to form a hand like a straight, flush or full house. Additionally, the paired hands you make won’t be particularly strong.
- The cards exist in isolation, rather than working together. To demonstrate this, compare it to a hand like 10♥J♥, where you only need three cards to hit a straight or a flush.
- If you want to win with 7-2, it will usually require a lot of luck – like hitting multiple sevens.
Put simply, 2 and 7 are the lowest two cards you can have that don’t allow you to make a straight. That’s why 7-2 is the worst hand in poker.
How to Play 7-2 in Texas Hold’em
Once you’ve learned how to play Texas Hold’em, you’ll begin getting the dreaded 7-2.
The obvious thing to do with 7-2, as it is with all of the worst hands in poker, is to fold. However, there are times when playing 7-2 in Texas Hold’em can be profitable.
Granted, there aren’t many spots where it’s worth playing. However, during my time at the tables, I’ve played 7-2 in the following situations:
To Win a Bounty
You might have seen poker pros, including Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey, playing the 7-2 game on shows such as High Stakes Poker. The premise is simple: win a pot with 7-2 and show the table to win a bounty from every player.
You don’t typically get this in online games. However, if it’s available, you could make a case for playing the worst starting hand in poker.
To Tilt Opponents
I can recall a few occasions where I’ve raised with 7-2 pre-flop from late position with the intention of exploiting a weak player.
The key to bluffing with 7-2 is having a tight image and position on your opponents. After that, raise and bet as if you’ve got a monster. Finally, if you win, flash the bluff to send your opponents into a spin.
Worst Poker Hand in Seven-Card Stud
The worst hands in Seven-Card Stud are:
- Disconnected Cards, e.g., 3♣7♠J♥
- Low Cards, e.g., 2♣5♦7♠
Seven-Card Stud is very similar to Hold’em in terms of what the worst poker hands are. The general rule for this variant is to avoid low cards that aren’t close in rank or suit.
Why Disconnected Cards Are the Worst Hand in Seven-Card Stud
Disconnected cards are particularly poor starting hands in Seven-Card Stud because they offer little chance of making a straight. If we look at the ranking of poker hands, straights are basically in the middle of the pack.
This means they’re easier to make than a lot of hands but often strong enough to win showdowns. Therefore, if you reduce your chances of making straights by playing disconnected cards, you’re reducing your overall equity in hands.
Another thing to consider is that Stud is a Limit game. This makes it harder to bluff people. So, unless you’ve got a great read on someone, it’s not a good idea to play the worst hand in Stud poker.
How to Play Disconnected Cards in Seven-Card Stud
I’ll typically fold low-value disconnected cards such as 3♣7♠J♥ in Stud. The only reason to play the worst poker hand in Stud is if you’re heads-up against a weak player.
One-on-one showdowns allow you to play a wider range of hands. This is because the odds of your opponent having anything strong are lower than they would be if you’re facing seven people.
However, I’d still urge caution in these situations. Only play the worst starting hand in poker if your opponent is prone to folding a lot.
Worst Poker Hand in Omaha
The worst hands in Omaha are:
- Four-of-kind, e.g., 2♦2♣2♠2♥
- Three-of-a-kind, e.g., 3♦3♣3♠K♣
- Four suited cards, e.g., A♦10♦7♦3♦
- Disconnected cards, e.g., A♣10♦8♠4♥
Omaha, perhaps more than any other poker variant, is a game of combinations. For this reason, connecting cards are extremely powerful.
Conversely, cards that aren’t connected are the worst hands in poker when you’re playing Omaha.
Why Four-of-a-Kind is the Worst Hand in Omaha
There are a lot of weak poker hands in Omaha. Ask any skilled player, and they’ll tell you to avoid starting hands that contain danglers. In this context, danglers are disconnected cards.
- For example, 4♣5♠6♥J♦ looks better than it is. Three of the four cards – 4♣5♠6♥ – are closely connected, but the J♦ isn’t.
- The J♦ is a ‘dangler’ because it’s not adding anything to the straight potential of the other cards.
- If, however, the J♦ was the 7♦, it would be a strong starting hand.
As weak as these hands are, they’re not the worst hand in poker when you’re playing Omaha. The worst starting hand in Omaha is four-of-a-kind. Why? Because you have to play two of your four hole cards.
That means the best hand you’ve got with four-of-a-kind is a pair. And, because there are only four matching cards in the deck, you can’t improve to a set or quads after the flop. Therefore, you’ve got a pair and little chance of making anything better. Even if you do improve to a hand like two pair or a full house, that inevitably means a scary board for your hand.
How to Play Four-of-a-Kind in Omaha
Of all the weak starting hands you get at the casino or best Omaha poker sites, four-of-a-kind in Omaha is the very worst. Unless you’ve got four aces and want to bluff because no one else can have an ace-based hand, I would fold four-of-a-kind.
Worst Hand in Razz Poker
The worst hand in Razz Poker is:
- King-high hands, e.g., K♥J♣9♥
Razz is a lowball game, which means you want to avoid the type of high-value hands that win pots in variants such as Hold’em and Omaha. In this game, low-value straights are the best hands.
Why King-High is the Worst Hand in Razz Poker
The worst hand in poker if you’re playing Razz is anything containing a king. Why a king when aces rank higher? Because aces are always low in Razz, which means kings rule the rankings.
The value of Razz hands always defaults to the highest-ranking card. Therefore, even if you’ve got 2♣3♣4♦5♠K♠, it’s still weak because of the king.
How to Play King-High in Razz Poker
It’s hard to make a case for playing any starting hands that contain high-ranking cards. However, if you’re in a particularly tight game, there’s value in raising weak starting hands from a late position.
- The caveat here is that two of your three starting cards must have a low rank. So, in my previous example, a starting hand such as 2♣3♦K♠ could be a decent bluffing hand.
- This is based on the fact that you’ve got two low-ranking cards, which makes it harder for someone else to have them.
But, and this is important, you need the right table dynamics. If you’re out of position, facing tough players, or in the middle of a wild game, stick to the basics and play strong starting hands.
Worst Poker Hand in Five-Card Draw
The worst hands in Five-Card Draw are:
- Non-paired hands, e.g., 2♣7♦9♠Q♦5♣
- Rainbow hands, e.g., 4♣7♦9♥J♠2♣
- Disconnected hands, e.g., 2♦8♥4♣Q♣A♠
What is the worst starting hand in poker when you’re playing Draw? Based on math, the worst poker hand is the same as Hold’em, i.e., 2-3-4-5-7 for a seven-high hand (just like 7-2). However, if you dig a little deeper, there are some other worthy candidates for worst Five-Card Draw hands.
Why Non-Paired Hands Are the Worst Hand in Five-Card Draw
You only have five cards to work with in Five-Card Draw, which means you can’t afford any deadwood. Pairs in your first five cards are great because you’ve already got a ranked hand before the draw.
Other strong starting hands contain four to a straight or four to a flush. This means you’ve got four of the five cards required to make a straight or flush.
The weakest hands don’t contain a pair or any connected cards. Let’s say you start with 2♦8♥4♣Q♣A♠. You could hold the Q♣ and A♠ and draw three cards, but the odds of making anything of note are long.
Many players in this spot would hold the two high cards and draw the rest, but some would even draw five new cards.
Let’s do some quick math to see how likely you are to draw a potentially winning hand, such as a pair and flush, with five new cards:
- There are 1,098,240 ways to draw a pair out of 2,598,960 possible five-card combinations. This means you’ve got a 42% chance of hitting a pair with five new cards. Pairs can win at a showdown, but they’re not particularly strong.
- There are 5,108 ways to draw a flush out of 2,598,960 possible five-card combinations. If you divide 5,108 by 2,598,960 and multiply it by 100, you get 0.19. This means you’ve got a 0.19% chance of hitting a flush with five cards.
Those aren’t great odds and prove the point that you need connected cards to make strong hands in Five-Card Draw.
How to Play Non-Paired Hands in Five-Card Draw
The beauty of Five-Card Draw is that it can be played as a Pot Limit or No Limit game. Therefore, if you can tell a believable story, it’s possible to bluff with the worst poker hand.
Let’s say you raise before the draw with 2♦8♥4♣Q♣A♠ and decide to take one new card.
Your opponent might think that you’ve got a strong draw or a made hand. You continue the aggressive line after the draw and, hopefully, force your opponent to fold.
Worst Hand in Poker: Key Points
The fact is, 2-7 is the worst hand in poker for the most common game type, which is Texas Hold’em. But every variant has its own set of weak hands.
What I’ll point out, however, is that connections matter. If you look back through the worst poker hand in each variant, you’ll notice that the common theme is connection. Specifically, the more disconnected the cards in terms of rank and suit, the worse the starting hand is.
Keep this in mind when you’re assessing the relative value of a starting hand in any variant, and you won’t go too far wrong.
Bluffing with the worst hand in poker is possible, but only if the table dynamics are suitable. If not, stick to the best starting hands in poker and play them aggressively.