Poker Hands
Poker hands win or lose according to their strength (assuming you get to the showdown) so knowing where various poker hands appear in the official poker rankings is essential. If you don’t know which poker hands are strongest and which poker hands are weakest, you could make the common beginner’s mistake of overplaying your hand and end up losing some or all of your chip stack. To avoid this situation, we advise you to take a look at the official poker rankings below, memorise the different types of poker hands and play accordingly. By all means go all-in if you have a Royal Flush (because it’s the best of all poker hands) but don’t do the same if you only have one pair and you think someone else has two pair.
Official Poker Rankings
Listed in order from the lowest hand to the highest hand:
- A hand without a pair, straight, or flush, valued only by its highest card
- One Pair - Two cards of the same rank
- Two Pair - Two cards of one rank and another two cards of another rank
- Three of a Kind - Three cards of the same rank
- Straight - Five cards in a sequence, but not in a single suit
- Flush - All five cards are in the same suit, but not in a sequence
- Full House - Three cards of the same rank and two cards of another rank
- Four of a Kind - Four cards of the same rank
- Straight Flush - All five cards in sequence and in the same suit
- Royal Flush - A, K, Q, J, and 10 all of the same suit
If two or more players hold hands of the same ranking then the winner is decided by virtue of their highest card. No suit is higher than any other and suits are never used to decide who has the best hand.
Page Last Updated: 16/07/2008 16:53:29
