Poker Hands What Beats What - Good Poker Hand Guide with List of Poker Hands in Order

Poker standard 52-card deck is made up of four suits: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. Each suit has thirteen ranks. Ace is the highest-ranking card, then go the king, queen, jack, and ten through deuce, in descending order. But an ace can be used as the lowest-ranking card for a low straight or a low hand.

Hand rankings depend upon the order of probability to appear in the hands of the players. That is why the rarer the hand, the more valuable it is.

These are the rankings in descending order:

Royal flush

Simply an ace-high straight flush (more details below) and is best possible hand in poker. There are only four of them - A-K-Q-J-T of the same suit.

Straight flush

Five sequenced cards, all of the same suit, such as 8-7-6-5-4 or Q-J-T-9-8.

Four-of-a-kind

Four-of-a-kind, is made up by a five-card hand with four cards of any rank, plus one unrelated card, such as 7-7-7-7-3. Of course, the higher the rank of these four-of-a-kind, the better the hand.

Full house

Three cards of any given rank and a pair of another. The rank of a full house is determined by the three-card grouping. For example, J-J-J-4-4 is better than T-T-T-5-5

Flush

Any five cards of the same suit make a flush, these cards should not have to be sequenced. If there are two or more flushes at showdown, the winning hand is determined by the rank order.

Straight

Five sequenced cards, not of the same suit. A 9-high straight beats a 6-high straight.

Three-of-a-kind

Three cards of the same rank plus two unrelated cards, also called trips or a set.

Two pair

Two cards of one rank, two cards of another, and one unrelated.

If two players each have two pair, the highest ranking pair held shows the winner. If the same high pair, the rank of the second pair is used to determine the winner. If both hold the same two pair, the rank of the unrelated sidecard determines the winner. If all elements are the same players split the pot.

One pair

One pair is two cards of one rank and three unrelated cards.

No pair

No pair is five unrelated cards. The rank order shows the winner. For example, A-K-8-7-3 and Stan has A-J-8-7-3 then A-K beats A-J.

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