When it comes to winning a poker game, we all know how important it is to know how to handle our cards properly. Even if you have all the luck in the world, you could not win the game if you don’t know when to play for which hand. This is where a thorough understanding of all of poker’s hands and their rankings is essential. Only then will you be able to create the greatest poker hands feasible at the time and win the pot. We’ve outlined all of the different sorts of poker hands you should be aware of and the poker card sequence.
Poker Hand Rankings
Let’s look at the official poker hands rankings now that we know how to make a hand in Texas Hold ’em poker. The hands described below are in order of best to worst, starting with the best poker hand, the royal flush.
- Royal Flush
This is the finest poker hand, but it’s extremely unusual to see — some of the top players in the world have never seen one. When a player receives 10-J-Q-K-A, it forms a straight, all in the same suit.
- Straight Flush
This is similar to a royal flush, except it can be any card value. A straight flush would be 7-8-9-10-J, all of which are in the same suit. Another hand you’re unlikely to see in a game is this one.
- Full house
A full house, also known as a full boat, is a hand with three of a type and a pair in it. Our sample hand is sometimes described as a “full house, Kings full of 9s.” In the same manner that the ranking criteria for two pair hands apply, a full house with the higher-ranking three of a kind always defeats a full house with the lower-ranking three of a kind, regardless of the rank of the paired component. Hence our example hand wins in a showdown with QQQAA.
- Flush
A flush, like a straight, is a five-card combination in which all of the cards are of the same suit but do not create a straight. Our example shows an Ace-high flush, whereas QJT72 represents a Queen-high flush.
- Three-of-a-Kind
This occurs when you have three cards with the same value in your hand. The remaining two cards will be distinct from one another. 8-8-8-J-A is an example of the hand.
- One pair
The pair of hands comes next. One pair of hands, consisting of a single pair plus three other unpaired cards, accounts for 42% of all potential hand combinations. If both players have one pair in a showdown, the hand with the higher pair wins, or the highest non-paired card wins if both hands have the same pair.
- High card
This is the lowest rung on the ladder. A high card hand, also known as a no pair hand, is one in which all five cards have distinct card rankings (such as), are not consecutive, and do not share the same suit. This may appear to be a lot to memorize, but the core concept is simple: a high card hand is the least coordinated of our hand rankings and has the lowest value since it is weaker than the other nine.
When two players both have high hands, how do you decide who wins? To select a winner, compare their highest-ranking cards: if someone holds an Ace, as in the example above, and their opponent’s top card is a Queen, the first person wins with “Ace high.” If the game ends in a tie, compare their next highest card, and so on, until a winner is decided. If both hands are similar, there is no winner, and the players share the prize.