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Are A2345 Straights permitted?

If so, where are they permitted/not permitted(full-tilt, pokerstars, wsop)?

Edit: I can't find anywhere in the official WSOP rules where it says anything about it, the correct answer REQUIRES a citation.

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    If only there was a way to find whatever piece of trash, downvoted this serious question.
    – GlassGhost
    Commented Mar 4, 2014 at 23:56
  • This question might lead somebody thinking that somewhere it could be that A2345 is not a straight. A2345 - is ALWAYS straight or straight flush.
    – Worker
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 11:52
  • @MinimeDJ There are millions of card game variants. I'm certain there is some variant of poker that doesn't allow it, I'm just looking for a(n) authoritative citation.
    – GlassGhost
    Commented Mar 6, 2014 at 12:52
  • @TacticalCoder If there is something impertinent or wrong with my question, please point it out. I asked a very serious question, that defines winning conditions.
    – GlassGhost
    Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 7:01
  • So who wins A2345 straight Or 23456 straight
    – user3750
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 15:45

5 Answers 5

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There's not really an "official rules of poker" out there. Asking for a citation for this is like asking for a citation to the rule that states a flush beats a straight. However, the WSOP.com site does have a page on hand ranking :

http://www.wsop.com/how-to-play-poker/hand-ranking.asp

And in it, the WSOP official site states "In Poker, the Ace is the highest card and the 2 card (Deuce) is the lowest. However, the Ace can also be used as a low card, with the value of 1."

The only games that aren't going to count aces in wheel straights or allow aces to be used as a low card are generally going to be lowball games (2-7 Triple Draw, Badeucey, Badacey, Razz, etc). Lowball games can sometimes have crazy rules, even in official card room settings (like not allowing check-raises, or not allowing you to check a made 8).

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  • My bad I was looking under the section that said "straights" not "ranks".
    – GlassGhost
    Commented Mar 13, 2014 at 6:26
  • Kansas City" (i.e. deuce-to-seven) lowball is the only game I know of that does not consider the wheel a straight. It is A-5 high. In "California" (ace-to-five) lowball, straights don't exist, so it is meaningless to say whether it is or is not. In Pai Gow Poker as played in Nevada (but not California), wheel beats a K-high straight, but loses to Broadway. In over 30 years as a player and 10 as a casino floorman, I have never encountered a Poker-like game that had straights but didn't allow the wheel (even 3-card poker, for example, allows A-2-3).
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 18:31
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I am an online player and can guarantee you that every major online poker room considers A2345 a straight. The reason it is so hard to find a citation is because it is considered common knowledge (so if there exists a poker room where A2345 is not a straight, the designers clearly just didn't know the rules).

Here is a list of reputable organizations' rulebooks that have a clause for the rule:

EDIT: I stand corrected. After some more research I found out that the straight rule applies only for the more conventional poker games (hold-em, 5 card draw etc.) There are variations like Ace-to-five low (you can find them here) that do not consider A2345 a straight. That said, rules don't depend on the room or casino where you play but rather on the game you are playing.

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  • "Kansas City" (i.e. deuce-to-seven) lowball is the only game I know of that does not consider the wheel a straight. It is A-5 high. In "California" (ace-to-five) lowball, straights don't exist, so it is meaningless to say whether it is or is not.
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 18:22
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While I have no experience with any on-line sites, I've never seen a casino poker game where A2345 wasn't a straight. On the other hand, KA234 is never a straight.

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It's called a "wheel straight" (every single poker website on which I played accepted wheel straight) and although I don't find it in the rules, it's mentioned in several PDFs accessible from the site wsop.com.

You can google, for example, for (using site: to restrict the search to wsop.com):

site:wsop.com "wheel straight"

And you'll find, among other sentences, the following one:

"Stu Ungar won his third and final WSOP Main Event in 1997 after his Ace-Four beat John Strzemp's Ace-Eight, when a river deuce gave Ungar the wheel straight and the victory"

I didn't know that Stu Ungar won his last Main Event with a wheel straight. That is kinda cool!

And, obviously, if you can win a Main Event with that hand, I'd say that the hand is legit and that the source is authoritative enough ; )

For the little story he had:

A♥ 4♣ vs A♠8♣

on the final board:

flop: 5⋄ A♣ 3♥ turn: 3⋄ river: 2♠

Here's a Youtube video showing that last hand:

Stu Ungar's wheel straight winning WSOP Main Event in 1997

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  • Sad that from such an authoritative poker institution that the closest thing we have to an actual clause in the official rules regarding the rule, is a historical citation. I will add your citation in the accepted answer.
    – GlassGhost
    Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 6:44
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A2345 is always a straight. Online, in casinos, and everywhere

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    ...except in deuce-to-seven lowball, where it is A-5 high. That is, it loses to any K-high, beats any other A-high, pair. etc.
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 18:19

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