I ran into a friend of mine yesterday who was jealous because a bunch of our mutual friends were playing Texas holdem Saturday night. She was bummed because she never learned to play poker.
How Strong Is My Preflop Hands in Texas Hold'em? Learning how to assess the preflop hand strength is crucial to hand ranking in Texas Holde'm. Find out the best hands to play from every table position. Download the Top Texas Holdem Starting Hands Although the order of the best poker hands to start with is sometimes contested, this list will give you a rough idea of which hands are stronger than others: 1. Pocket Aces (A A).
I told her it was easy to learn, and the first thing she needed to do was learn about poker hands and poker hand rankings.
And that gave me the subject for my latest blog post. Poker Hands Are Almost Always Made Up of Five Cards
In fact, Im not sure of an exception to this rule. Poker isnt one game, of course, its multiple games that have a couple of things in common:
They have a betting structure where you can decide to continue to play or not
They use five-card hands that usually win based on the standard poker hand rankings The variations are nearly infinite. But one thing most variants have in common is that, no matter how many cards are used in the game, you win the pot if you have the best five-card hand at the end of the hand.
If youre playing Seven-Card Stud, for example, you get seven cards, but you use the best five-card hand you can make to determine the winner.
If youre playing Texas holdem, you have two cards in your hand and five face-up cards that you share with other players. You make the best five-card hand you can using any combination of those seven cards.
If youre playing Omaha, you have four cards in your hand and five face-up cards that you share with the other players. But you still make the best five-card hand that you can, using two cards from your hand and three cards from the community cards. Ranks and Suits
Poker is almost always played with a standard 52-card deck of playing cards. Each card has two attributes:
A rank
A suit
You have four suitsclubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. In each of those suits, you have 13 ranks2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace. The ace is unusual because it can be the highest OR the lowest card. It can rank above the king, but it can also count as a 1. Flushes, Straights, and Straight Flushes
The ranks and suits become important when you have a flush, a straight, or a straight flush.
A flush is just five cards of the same suit. They can all be clubs, diamonds, hearts, or spades, it doesnt matter. If you face an opponent who also has a flush, the player whose flush has the highest ranked card wins. An ace would be the highest card in any flush.
A straight is just five cards where the ranks are in succession. It doesnt matter what suit the cards are, it only matters that the cards are made up of consecutive ranks.
For example, an A2345 is a straight, but so is a 10JQKA.
In the prior example, the ace counts as 1, but in the second, the ace counts as the highest card in the hand, above the king.
If multiple opponents have a straight, the one with the highest card in the straight wins. But if the ace is used as a 1 to make an ace to 5 straight, it counts as a low card for this purpose.
A straight flush is a hand where the cards are all consecutive, AND theyre all of the same suit. Pairs, Trips, Quads, and Full Houses
All the other possible poker hands you can make have nothing to do with consecutive ranks or suited cards. They have to do with how many cards of a specific rank you have.
A pair, for example, is a hand where you have two cards of the same rank and three other cards. If you and your opponent both have a pair, the higher-ranked pair wins. A pair of aces beats a pair of kings, for example.
Two pair is a hand made up of two cards of one rank and two cards of another rank, plus a third card of still another rank. Three of a kind is a hand made up of three cards of the same rank and two other cards.
A full house is a three of a kind with a pair, three cards of one rank and two cards of another. And, of course, four of a kind is four cards of the same rank.
In all these examples, the highest-ranked card determines the winner. The Standard List of Poker Hand Rankings
So far, Ive discussed the various poker hands you can have in relation to the attributes of the cards. I havent given them a ranking. Almost all poker games use the same ranking system.
From best to worst, here are the poker hand rankings:
Straight flush
Four of a kind
Full house
Flush
Straight
Three of a kind
Two pair
A pair
A straight flush always beats four of a kind or anything lower. A four of a kind always beats a full house or anything lower. And so on, through the end of the poker hand rankings list.
The first element of poker strategy any new poker player should master is the poker hand rankings. If you dont know what beats what in poker, you cant possibly make the correct decisions. How These Hand Rankings Are Determined
The poker hand rankings are sorted this way based on the probability youll be dealt such a hand. The less likely it is to get a hand, the more its worth. For example, the probability of getting a four of a kind is 72,192 to 1. The probability of getting a full house, on the other hand, is 4,165 to 1. Thats a dramatic difference.
Also, most poker hand ranking lists include a separate listing for a royal flush, which is just the highest possible straight flush you can have. The only thing that makes it different from any other straight flush is how high your highest card ranks, but we dont break four aces into a separate listing.
So, I dont break a royal flush out into its own listing either. Starting Hand Rankings in Texas Holdem
I could write about poker hand rankings all day, but for now, let me just address starting hands in Texas holdem.
Your starting hand in a game of Texas holdem consists of the two cards you get face down at the beginning of the game. These are the two cards you get to look at before deciding whether to play the hand at all. Basic texas holdem poker rules .
The best possible starting hand in Texas holdem is a pair of aces. Often, a pair of aces can win a hand even if it doesnt improve with the other cards. The rankings continue from there like this:
Pocket aces
Pocket kings
Pocket queens
Ace king suited
Pocket jacks
Pocket 10s
Ace queen suited
Ace king (not suited)
Ace jack suited
King queen suited
This might seem like a hard chart to memorize, but think about it like this These are the best possible starting hands in the game. You should raise with any of them unless you have reason to believe that someone else has a better starting hand. Texas Holdem Poker Ranking Hands
For example, if you have a pair of queens, you should raise with it, unless a couple of stingy players in front of you have already bet and raised. Even then, it often makes sense to raise with the queens. Also, these hands all fall into categories. First are the pairs. Any pair of 10s or higher is a premium starting hand, even though theres a huge difference between pocket 10s and pocket aces.
Then, you have the suited aces. An ace and a king, an ace and a queen, or an ace and a jack are great hands if theyre of the same suit. You have the potential to make the best possible flush, the best possible straight flush, and the best possible straight.
And if you miss those, you still might catch another ace or pair one of the other big cards, in which case, youll have a big pair with the best possible kicker.
Ace king offsuit is prized mostly for its high pair potential, but also for its high straight potential. And king queen suited has lots of potential to make big flushes and straights. Conclusion
Poker hands arent that hard to understand, but if youre a beginner, its probably the first thing you should learn.
Of course, the second thing you should learn is your betting options at various points in the game.
Did you already know everything about poker hand rankings? Did I leave something out? Let me know in the comments. So what are the winning hands in poker?
In most poker varieties, the players use some of the cards they hold and combine them with some of the community cards to form the best possible five-card hand. In Texas Holdem, for example, each player holds two cards, and there are five community cards when all cards are dealt. Each player can use one, two, or even none of his hole cards in combination with the community cards to form the best possible hand. If two or more players hold hands of equal values, they split the pot and share whatever amount is in it.
For example, lets say that there are three players holding
Player A: QQ
Player B: A 10
Player C: 76
And the board is : A QJ 98
For player A, his best possible hand (using both of his hole cards) is three of a kind QQ Q A J
For player B, his best possible hand (using only one of his hole cards) is a straight QJ10 98
For player C, his best possible hand (using none one of his hole cards) is ace high A QJ 98
The value of the hands somehow reflects how difficult or rare it is to form them. In the example above, the straight is the highest ranked hand (also the rarest), so player B wins. Lets take a look at all the hand rankings. Hand Rankings (ordered by increasing value) Hand Example Explanation 10. High card Unrelated and unpaired cards 9. One pair Two cards of the same rank 8. Two pair Two different pairs 7. Three of a kind (or set) Three cards of the same rank 6. Straight Five consecutive cards 5. Flush All cards of the same suit 4. Full house Three of a kind with a pair 3. Four of a kind (or quads) Four cards of the same rank 2. Straight flush Five consecutive cards, all of the same suit 1. Royal flush Ace-High Straight Flush High card
This holding is the lowest possible. It means that you have not paired your cards, and your cards are unrelated, so no straight or flush either. When two or more players have high cards, the one holding the highest cards wins, ace being the highest and deuce the lowest. So, if someone holds has an ace (called ace-high), he wins an opponent having king-high. If the highest card of both players is the same, then the second-highest card counts, and so on. One Pair
Having one pair is the second in value and wins only x-high hands. Between players holding one pair, the one with the highest pair wins. If two players have the same pair, the one holding the highest side card, also called a kicker, wins. Two Pair
Two pair is better than one pair. Between players holding two pair, the one holding the highest pair wins. If two players hold the same high pair, then the second pair counts and then the kicker (the fifth card). Three of a Kind
Holding three of a kind (three cards of the same rank) is wins over two-pair. Once again, the highest three of a kind wins, and if there is a tie, the kickers count (the remaining two cards of the five-card holding). Straight
On top of three of a kind comes the straight. It consists of five consecutive cards. Between players holding a straight, the one with the highest cards wins. Flush Texas Hold'em Poker Hands Ranking
A flush wins a straight. To make a flush, all of the five cards have to be of the same suit. If more than one players have a flush, the one with the highest cards wins. The type of suit ( ) does not play a role in the ranking. Full House
A full house beats a flush. It consists of three of a kind and a pair. Between players having full houses, the one that has the highest three of a kind wins. In a tie, the pair becomes decisive. Four of a Kind
Four of a kind wins a full house. Between players having four of a kind, the one that has the highest four of a kind wins. In a tie, the player with the highest kicker wins the hand. Straight Flush
A straight flush is both a straight (five consecutive cards) and a flush (cards of the same suit). Between players holding straight flushes, the one with the highest cards wins. The type of suit ( ) does not matter for the ranking. Royal Flush
A royal flush is the best possible hand! It is a straight flush with the highest card being an ace. If you hold a royal flush you have nothing to fear Texas Hold'em Poker Hands Ranking Chart
Check out our recommended online poker sites!
How Strong Is My Preflop Hands in Texas Hold'em? Learning how to assess the preflop hand strength is crucial to hand ranking in Texas Holde'm. Find out the best hands to play from every table position. Download the Top Texas Holdem Starting Hands Although the order of the best poker hands to start with is sometimes contested, this list will give you a rough idea of which hands are stronger than others: 1. Pocket Aces (A A).
I told her it was easy to learn, and the first thing she needed to do was learn about poker hands and poker hand rankings.
And that gave me the subject for my latest blog post. Poker Hands Are Almost Always Made Up of Five Cards
In fact, Im not sure of an exception to this rule. Poker isnt one game, of course, its multiple games that have a couple of things in common:
They have a betting structure where you can decide to continue to play or not
They use five-card hands that usually win based on the standard poker hand rankings The variations are nearly infinite. But one thing most variants have in common is that, no matter how many cards are used in the game, you win the pot if you have the best five-card hand at the end of the hand.
If youre playing Seven-Card Stud, for example, you get seven cards, but you use the best five-card hand you can make to determine the winner.
If youre playing Texas holdem, you have two cards in your hand and five face-up cards that you share with other players. You make the best five-card hand you can using any combination of those seven cards.
If youre playing Omaha, you have four cards in your hand and five face-up cards that you share with the other players. But you still make the best five-card hand that you can, using two cards from your hand and three cards from the community cards. Ranks and Suits
Poker is almost always played with a standard 52-card deck of playing cards. Each card has two attributes:
A rank
A suit
You have four suitsclubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. In each of those suits, you have 13 ranks2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace. The ace is unusual because it can be the highest OR the lowest card. It can rank above the king, but it can also count as a 1. Flushes, Straights, and Straight Flushes
The ranks and suits become important when you have a flush, a straight, or a straight flush.
A flush is just five cards of the same suit. They can all be clubs, diamonds, hearts, or spades, it doesnt matter. If you face an opponent who also has a flush, the player whose flush has the highest ranked card wins. An ace would be the highest card in any flush.
A straight is just five cards where the ranks are in succession. It doesnt matter what suit the cards are, it only matters that the cards are made up of consecutive ranks.
For example, an A2345 is a straight, but so is a 10JQKA.
In the prior example, the ace counts as 1, but in the second, the ace counts as the highest card in the hand, above the king.
If multiple opponents have a straight, the one with the highest card in the straight wins. But if the ace is used as a 1 to make an ace to 5 straight, it counts as a low card for this purpose.
A straight flush is a hand where the cards are all consecutive, AND theyre all of the same suit. Pairs, Trips, Quads, and Full Houses
All the other possible poker hands you can make have nothing to do with consecutive ranks or suited cards. They have to do with how many cards of a specific rank you have.
A pair, for example, is a hand where you have two cards of the same rank and three other cards. If you and your opponent both have a pair, the higher-ranked pair wins. A pair of aces beats a pair of kings, for example.
Two pair is a hand made up of two cards of one rank and two cards of another rank, plus a third card of still another rank. Three of a kind is a hand made up of three cards of the same rank and two other cards.
A full house is a three of a kind with a pair, three cards of one rank and two cards of another. And, of course, four of a kind is four cards of the same rank.
In all these examples, the highest-ranked card determines the winner. The Standard List of Poker Hand Rankings
So far, Ive discussed the various poker hands you can have in relation to the attributes of the cards. I havent given them a ranking. Almost all poker games use the same ranking system.
From best to worst, here are the poker hand rankings:
Straight flush
Four of a kind
Full house
Flush
Straight
Three of a kind
Two pair
A pair
A straight flush always beats four of a kind or anything lower. A four of a kind always beats a full house or anything lower. And so on, through the end of the poker hand rankings list.
The first element of poker strategy any new poker player should master is the poker hand rankings. If you dont know what beats what in poker, you cant possibly make the correct decisions. How These Hand Rankings Are Determined
The poker hand rankings are sorted this way based on the probability youll be dealt such a hand. The less likely it is to get a hand, the more its worth. For example, the probability of getting a four of a kind is 72,192 to 1. The probability of getting a full house, on the other hand, is 4,165 to 1. Thats a dramatic difference.
Also, most poker hand ranking lists include a separate listing for a royal flush, which is just the highest possible straight flush you can have. The only thing that makes it different from any other straight flush is how high your highest card ranks, but we dont break four aces into a separate listing.
So, I dont break a royal flush out into its own listing either. Starting Hand Rankings in Texas Holdem
I could write about poker hand rankings all day, but for now, let me just address starting hands in Texas holdem.
Your starting hand in a game of Texas holdem consists of the two cards you get face down at the beginning of the game. These are the two cards you get to look at before deciding whether to play the hand at all. Basic texas holdem poker rules .
The best possible starting hand in Texas holdem is a pair of aces. Often, a pair of aces can win a hand even if it doesnt improve with the other cards. The rankings continue from there like this:
Pocket aces
Pocket kings
Pocket queens
Ace king suited
Pocket jacks
Pocket 10s
Ace queen suited
Ace king (not suited)
Ace jack suited
King queen suited
This might seem like a hard chart to memorize, but think about it like this These are the best possible starting hands in the game. You should raise with any of them unless you have reason to believe that someone else has a better starting hand. Texas Holdem Poker Ranking Hands
For example, if you have a pair of queens, you should raise with it, unless a couple of stingy players in front of you have already bet and raised. Even then, it often makes sense to raise with the queens. Also, these hands all fall into categories. First are the pairs. Any pair of 10s or higher is a premium starting hand, even though theres a huge difference between pocket 10s and pocket aces.
Then, you have the suited aces. An ace and a king, an ace and a queen, or an ace and a jack are great hands if theyre of the same suit. You have the potential to make the best possible flush, the best possible straight flush, and the best possible straight.
And if you miss those, you still might catch another ace or pair one of the other big cards, in which case, youll have a big pair with the best possible kicker.
Ace king offsuit is prized mostly for its high pair potential, but also for its high straight potential. And king queen suited has lots of potential to make big flushes and straights. Conclusion
Poker hands arent that hard to understand, but if youre a beginner, its probably the first thing you should learn.
Of course, the second thing you should learn is your betting options at various points in the game.
Did you already know everything about poker hand rankings? Did I leave something out? Let me know in the comments. So what are the winning hands in poker?
In most poker varieties, the players use some of the cards they hold and combine them with some of the community cards to form the best possible five-card hand. In Texas Holdem, for example, each player holds two cards, and there are five community cards when all cards are dealt. Each player can use one, two, or even none of his hole cards in combination with the community cards to form the best possible hand. If two or more players hold hands of equal values, they split the pot and share whatever amount is in it.
For example, lets say that there are three players holding
Player A: QQ
Player B: A 10
Player C: 76
And the board is : A QJ 98
For player A, his best possible hand (using both of his hole cards) is three of a kind QQ Q A J
For player B, his best possible hand (using only one of his hole cards) is a straight QJ10 98
For player C, his best possible hand (using none one of his hole cards) is ace high A QJ 98
The value of the hands somehow reflects how difficult or rare it is to form them. In the example above, the straight is the highest ranked hand (also the rarest), so player B wins. Lets take a look at all the hand rankings. Hand Rankings (ordered by increasing value) Hand Example Explanation 10. High card Unrelated and unpaired cards 9. One pair Two cards of the same rank 8. Two pair Two different pairs 7. Three of a kind (or set) Three cards of the same rank 6. Straight Five consecutive cards 5. Flush All cards of the same suit 4. Full house Three of a kind with a pair 3. Four of a kind (or quads) Four cards of the same rank 2. Straight flush Five consecutive cards, all of the same suit 1. Royal flush Ace-High Straight Flush High card
This holding is the lowest possible. It means that you have not paired your cards, and your cards are unrelated, so no straight or flush either. When two or more players have high cards, the one holding the highest cards wins, ace being the highest and deuce the lowest. So, if someone holds has an ace (called ace-high), he wins an opponent having king-high. If the highest card of both players is the same, then the second-highest card counts, and so on. One Pair
Having one pair is the second in value and wins only x-high hands. Between players holding one pair, the one with the highest pair wins. If two players have the same pair, the one holding the highest side card, also called a kicker, wins. Two Pair
Two pair is better than one pair. Between players holding two pair, the one holding the highest pair wins. If two players hold the same high pair, then the second pair counts and then the kicker (the fifth card). Three of a Kind
Holding three of a kind (three cards of the same rank) is wins over two-pair. Once again, the highest three of a kind wins, and if there is a tie, the kickers count (the remaining two cards of the five-card holding). Straight
On top of three of a kind comes the straight. It consists of five consecutive cards. Between players holding a straight, the one with the highest cards wins. Flush Texas Hold'em Poker Hands Ranking
A flush wins a straight. To make a flush, all of the five cards have to be of the same suit. If more than one players have a flush, the one with the highest cards wins. The type of suit ( ) does not play a role in the ranking. Full House
A full house beats a flush. It consists of three of a kind and a pair. Between players having full houses, the one that has the highest three of a kind wins. In a tie, the pair becomes decisive. Four of a Kind
Four of a kind wins a full house. Between players having four of a kind, the one that has the highest four of a kind wins. In a tie, the player with the highest kicker wins the hand. Straight Flush
A straight flush is both a straight (five consecutive cards) and a flush (cards of the same suit). Between players holding straight flushes, the one with the highest cards wins. The type of suit ( ) does not matter for the ranking. Royal Flush
A royal flush is the best possible hand! It is a straight flush with the highest card being an ace. If you hold a royal flush you have nothing to fear Texas Hold'em Poker Hands Ranking Chart
Check out our recommended online poker sites!
