Does a Straight Wrap Around in Poker? The K-A-2-3 Rule
No. A straight is five cards in consecutive rank, and the sequence does not loop past the ace. The ace can be the top card of 10-J-Q-K-A or the bottom card of A-2-3-4-5, but it cannot be in the middle: Q-K-A-2-3 and K-A-2-3-4 are nothing at all. This is true in Hold'em, Omaha, stud and every standard variant, in every cardroom. Wrap-around straights exist only as a house rule in a few home games, usually called around the corner, and only if everybody agreed to it before the cards were dealt.
The rule, stated exactly
A straight is five cards of consecutive rank. The ranks run 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, and they do not join up into a circle. The ace is the only card allowed to change ends, and it can only be at one end at a time. That gives exactly ten possible straights in a standard deck, from the wheel to Broadway, and nothing else counts.
- •A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest straight, usually called the wheel or a bicycle. The ace plays as a one.
- •10-J-Q-K-A is the highest straight, usually called Broadway. The ace plays above the king.
- •Q-K-A-2-3 and K-A-2-3-4 are not straights. They are not anything in particular: the hand is whatever else it happens to be, which is usually ace high or a pair.
- •The wheel counts because the ace plays as a one, not because the sequence loops. That is a rule about the ace, and the ace is the only rank with the privilege.
Why the sequence does not loop
Because the ranks are an ordered list, not a cycle, and every other hand ranking depends on that ordering. A straight beats three of a kind and loses to a flush partly because there are exactly 10,200 five-card straights in a 52-card deck. Allowing the sequence to wrap would add three more shapes (J-Q-K-A-2, Q-K-A-2-3, K-A-2-3-4), which would make straights more common and would break the ranking order that the rest of the game is built on. The ace being allowed to play low is not an exception to that: it is what makes the wheel a straight at all, and it is the reason the ace is the only rank that appears at both ends of the list.
- •One ace, one end. In a single hand the ace is either the high card or the low card of the straight, never a bridge between the two.
- •It is the same in every game. Hold'em, Omaha, seven-card stud, razz, draw: the ranks do not loop in any of them.
- •The ace-low rule does affect lowball. In games where the worst hand wins, the ace is the lowest card, which is why the best possible low is A-2-3-4-5.
Six consecutive cards: which five play?
A poker hand is always exactly five cards, so when six or seven consecutive cards are available you use the best five. Six in a row does not beat five in a row, because a six-card straight is not a hand: it is a five-card straight with a spare card that does nothing. With 5-6-7-8-9-10 in play the hand is 6-7-8-9-10, ten high, and it would tie against any other player whose best five cards are the same ranks.
- •The highest five win. From 5-6-7-8-9-10 the hand is 6 through 10, not 5 through 9.
- •The spare card is not a kicker. A straight uses all five of its cards, so there is nothing left over to break a tie with.
- •Omaha still needs exactly two hole cards. You must use two from your hand and three from the board, so a run on the board does not automatically play: you need two of your four cards in the straight.
Around the corner, and other house variants
Some home games play a variant in which the sequence does loop, letting K-A-2-3-4 count as a straight. It goes by names like around the corner or round the corner, and it is a house rule rather than a form of poker you will find in any cardroom. If your group wants it, the rule has to be agreed and written down before the cards are in the air, along with where the resulting hand sits in the ranking order, because the usual ranking has no place for it. The sane answer is not to play it: the standard rule is simpler, everyone already knows it, and nothing about the game is improved by adding three straights.
- •Write it down or do not play it. A hand ranking somebody discovers during a showdown is an argument, not a rule.
- •Decide where it ranks. Most versions rank a wrap-around below the wheel, which means it beats three of a kind and loses to every normal straight. That is a decision, not a fact.
- •Short deck is different, and still does not wrap. In 36-card short deck the deuce through the five are removed, so the lowest straight is A-6-7-8-9 with the ace playing low. The variant changes which straights exist; it does not make the ranks loop.
Where the confusion comes from
Three places, and all three are worth knowing about because they come up in the same argument. First, the ace genuinely does play at both ends, which sounds like looping if nobody has explained it. Second, several card video games implement their own hand rules, and some of them do allow a wrapping straight, so players arrive at a real table with the wrong model. Third, the phrase that gets repeated is aces can go high or low, which is true, and people extend it to aces can be in the middle, which is not.
- •A straight flush follows the same rule. A-2-3-4-5 of one suit is the steel wheel, a legitimate straight flush, and the lowest one. Q-K-A-2-3 of one suit is just a flush.
- •A royal flush is 10-J-Q-K-A suited. There is no other royal, because there is no higher straight to make one from.
- •Both players can have the same straight. Straights tie more often than any other made hand, and a tie splits the pot.
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Frequently asked
Does a straight wrap around in poker?
No. The ranks do not loop, so Q-K-A-2-3 and K-A-2-3-4 are not straights in any standard poker game. The only flexibility is that the ace can be the top card of 10-J-Q-K-A or the bottom card of A-2-3-4-5.
Is K-A-2-3-4 a straight?
No. It is ace high with no pair unless something else in the hand makes it better. A few home games play an around the corner variant in which it counts, but that is a house rule that has to be agreed before the deal, and no cardroom uses it.
Can an ace be high and low in the same hand?
No. It is one or the other. A-2-3-4-5 uses the ace as a one; 10-J-Q-K-A uses it above the king. There is no hand in which a single ace does both, which is exactly why the sequence cannot wrap.
Does a 6-card straight beat a 5-card straight?
No, because a six-card straight is not a poker hand. Every hand is exactly five cards, so with six consecutive cards available you play the highest five. From 5-6-7-8-9-10 the hand is 6-7-8-9-10, and it ties with anyone else holding the same five ranks.
What is the lowest straight in poker?
A-2-3-4-5, with the ace playing low. It is called the wheel or a bicycle, and it loses to every other straight, including 2-3-4-5-6. In short-deck poker, where the deuce through the five are removed, the lowest straight is A-6-7-8-9.
What is the highest straight in poker?
10-J-Q-K-A, called Broadway. All of it in one suit is a royal flush, which is the reason there is only one royal: there is no higher straight to build one from.
Do two players with the same straight split the pot?
Yes. If the best five cards of each player are the same ranks, the pot is split, and suits never break the tie in Hold'em or Omaha. Straights are the made hand most likely to end in a split, because so much of the hand comes from the shared board.
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