Poker Hand Rankings
Poker Hand: A poker hand consists of five cards. The term hand can also refer to the playing session associated with the five cards in question.
Poker Hand Rankings: There are ten different poker hand rankings where high card is the lowest and royal flush the highest.
Ties: When players have equal poker hand rankings the winner will be decided by the rank of the cards that don't contribute to the primary hand ranking. Players can have fully equal hands when using standard poker rules seeing as suits are not used to break ties. |
Below you will find a list of poker hand rankings from low to high.
High Card: Five cards that do not form any of the higher combinations below. The hand contains at least two suits and no cards are matching in rank. When comparing two or more high card hands, the winner is decided by the highest card. Should the highest cards be the same, then the second highest cards are compared and so on.
Pair: A hand with two cards of equal rank. When comparing two or more such hands, the winner is decided by the rank of the pair. Should the rank of the pairs be the same, then the winner is decided by the rank of the other cards. If the highest cards are the same, then the second highest cards are compared and if they also are the same, then the lowest of the three cards are compared.
Two Pairs: A hand with two pairs of different rank. When comparing two such hands, the winner is decided by the highest pair. Should the highest pair be the same, then the winner is decided by the rank of the lower pair. Should the lower pair also be the same, then the winner is decided by the rank of the one remaining card.
Three of a Kind: A hand with three cards of equal rank, also known as triplets or trips. When comparing two such hands, the winner is decided by the rank of the three cards. Should the three cards be the same when comparing two such hands, then the winner is decided by the rank of the other cards. Now you may start protesting seeing as a deck only has four cards of the same rank and this should not be enough for two players. However, in Texas Hold’em the hand is partially made up by so called community cards which are shared by all players, thus making the scenario possible. We will elaborate on this in the next part of the school: Texas Hold'em Rules.
Straight: A hand where all five cards are in a consecutive sequence. The highest card in a straight is called the top card. When comparing two or more straights, the winner is decided by the top card. Please observe that A can both start and end a straight but it can not not occur in any of the three middle cards of the sequence. This means, for example, that the cards Q-K-A-2-3 do not form a valid straight, they just form a simple high card hand. The lowest possible straight is A-2-3-4-5 and the highest possible straight is 10-J-Q-K-A. The top card of the highest possible straight is A, whereas the top card of the lowest possible straight is 5, seeing as the A only counts as a 1 in the straight in question.
Flush: A hand where all five cards are of the same suit. When comparing two or more flushes, the winner is decided by the rank of the highest card. Should the highest cards be the same, then the second highest cards are compared and so on.
Full House: A hand that consists of a pair and a trips. When comparing two or more full houses, the winner is decided by the rank of the trips and should the trips be the same, then the winner is decided by the rank of the pairs.
Four of a Kind: A hand where four of the cards have the same rank, also known as quads.
Straight Flush: Five consecutive cards of the same suit. It is a straight and a flush at the same time.
Royal Flush: This hand is the highest possible straight flush and the highest possible poker hand you can get. It consists of 10-J-Q-K-A with all five of them being of the same suit. No royal flush is higher than another. You can not lose when you have this hand.
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