The Worst Hand in Poker (And Why You Should Always Fold It)

The worst starting hand in Texas Hold’em is 7-2 offsuit.

Poker players universally consider 7-2 offsuit the worst starting hand in Texas Hold’em because it offers no flush possibility and extremely limited straight chances.

You start with a random hand that almost never connects well with the five community cards.

This hand fails on every strategic level.

The ranks (7 and 2) are very low, which means even if they pair up, the resulting hand is usually too weak to win a showdown. (Even when you pair one card, you usually end up with one pair and a weak kicker.)

Against most other hands, including face cards or higher pairs, you are drawing thin from the start.

Many hands are bad, but they're not worse than what we've described so far.

Hands like 8-3 offsuit or 9-4 offsuit are poor hands, but they still have slightly better straight potential. For example, 8-3 offsuit can make two different straights, whereas 7-2 offsuit can only make one.

Even two lowest cards that are close together (2 and 3) can form more hand combinations than 7-2. For all of these reasons, experienced players rank 7-2 offsuit below most other hands.

If the board runs out perfectly, you can still make a straight, two pair, or even a full house. In rare cases, players win big pots with 7-2 at the World Series of Poker because opponents never expect it.

That does not make it a good hand. It only makes the winning hand memorable for beating the odds.

New players often overplay weak hands. In online poker or live games, beginners see two cards and want to gamble, not realizing how bad those cards really are or how rarely such hands win over the long run.

They ignore how starting hand strength affects long-term results.

Playing 7-2 from the small blind or big blind often leads to calling ranges that bleed chips slowly.

The correct strategy is simple, no matter whose poker tips you're reading.

In almost all situations, you should fold 7-2 offsuit before the flop. Statistically, 7-2 offsuit has extremely low equity—only about a 35% chance to win against a random hand, the worst of any starting combination—so it will lose to almost any other hand on average.

Saving chips is part of winning poker. Don't bleed them out for pride or for fun.

Bad hands are part of the game’s balance. If every starting hand were strong, poker would not reward skill.

Weak hands force players to make decisions, read other players, and manage risk. Knowing the worst hand in poker helps players make better choices.

We created this article in conjunction with AI technology, then made sure it was fact-checked and edited by a HowStuffWorks editor.