A Quick Refresher for Your Poker Hands

A Quick Refresher for Your Poker Hands

There are a number of different ways that the game of poker can be played. However, there are things that are common between the different gaming types, one of which is the hand rankings that are applied to the final results. This is a good place to start your poker education and the hand rankings are given below.

Royal Flush: A royal flush is the highest poker hand that can exist without the use of wild cards. A royal flush occurs when a player obtains the sequence of 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace with all five cards in a matching suit.

Straight Flush: The straight flush is the second highest hand in any poker game that does not include wild cards. In a straight flush, there are five cards in appropriate sequence with all five cards belonging to the same suit. Ace can be high or low in the formation of the sequence, although it does represent an absolute endpoint at both ends of the rank spectrum.

Four of a Kind: When a player has all four cards of the same rank in any poker deck, they have four of a kind.

Full House: A full house occurs when a player has three cards of one rank and two of another in their hand.

Flush: A flush occurs when a player has five cards of the same suit in their hand. This is different from both the straight flush and the royal flush because in a regular flush the cards do not have to be in any particular order or connected whatsoever as long as they are all of the same suit.

Straight: A straight occurs when a player has five cards that are in sequential order, with Ace being either high or low in this scenario. A straight is different from both a straight flush and a royal flush because in a regular straight, the cards do not have to be of the same suit for the hand to be valid.

Three of a Kind: A player has three of a kind when they have three cards of the same rank in their hand.

Two Pair: A player has two pair when they have two sets of two cards with the same rank in their hand. For example, if a player has two threes and two fours, they would count as having two pair. Two fives and two fives is not two pair, since that would be four of a kind (see above).

One Pair: A player that has any card repeated once in their hand has a pair.

High Card: If a player does not have any of the other hands listed in the above list, then the highest card in their hand represents the overall strength of that hand.

All of these hands are standard poker hands ranked in the standard order and are applicable to any game of poker that you play. If there are ties (i.e. if two players have three of a kind and there are no higher hands in play), then the ties are settled by giving the win to the person with the highest ranking cards in their hand. The ranking starts with the part of their hand that is actually a poker hand and then continues onto extra cards if a tie still exists.