Poker Hand Rankings
- A complete list of poker hand rankings
- Improve your game with one of the most basic pieces of poker knowledge
It is very important that all poker players correctly understand the poker hand rankings. After all, poker is a game of relative strength, you have to beat your opponent’s holding in the current hand only! The list below is in reverse order, the highest ranked poker hands are at the top, getting progressively weaker as you go down.
Poker Hand Rankings #1 – The Royal Flush
This is the strongest possible poker hand and comprises the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the same suit. The royal flush is in fact a “straight flush” with the highest possible cards.
Poker Hand Rankings #2 – The Straight Flush
The straight flush is a 5-card straight that is all of the same suit. The royal flush is the highest and A-2-3-4-5 of the same suit is the lowest straight flush.
Poker Hand Rankings #3 – 4 Of A Kind (“Quads”)
4 of a kind is the next highest poker hand, 4 Aces being the highest “quads” possible – this poker hand is only beaten by a straight flush.
Poker Hand Rankings #4 – The Full House
This hand contains 3 of one card and 2 of another. For example K-K-K-7-7 would be known as “Kings Full of Sevens”. In the event that 2 players have a full house then the player with the highest cards in the “trips” part of the hand will win.
Poker Hand Rankings Continued
Poker Hand Rankings #5 – The Flush
A flush in poker is a hand which contains 5 cards of the same suit. In the event that 2 players have a flush the player with the single highest card will win, if 2 players have an ace-high flush (for example) the next highest card is counted and so on.
Poker Hand Rankings #6 – The Straight
The straight is 5 cards in rank order regardless of suits, for example 6-7-8-9-10. Aces can be used to make both high and low straights. Straights can not wrap from high to low – for example Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight!
Poker Hand Rankings #7 – 3 Of A Kind (“Trips”)
Any 3 of the same cards are called trips. Where 2 players end up with the same trips (in community card games such as Texas Holdem) then the rank of the remaining cards determines the winner.
Poker Hand Rankings #8 – 2 Pairs
We are now getting to the lower end of the poker hand rankings. 2 pairs is beaten by all of the hands mentioned above. Again community card games mean that 2 players may have the same 2 pairs – in this case the player with the highest unpaired card wins.
Poker Hand Rankings #9 – 1 Pair
Any pair will beat a player with only a high card hand. When 2 or more players have 1 pair the ranks of their unpaired cards are used to determine the winner.
Poker Hand Rankings #10 – High Card Only
In the unusual event of no player having a pair or better at showdown then the highest card held determines the winner of the hand. If this card is shared move to the next card down and so on.