Introduction
Are you interested in learning how to play poker? If so, you’re not alone. Poker is one of the most popular card games in the world. And while it may seem daunting at first, once you learn the basics, it’s actually quite easy to pick up.
In this blog post, we’ll be covering everything you need to know about how to rank poker hands. We’ll start with the basics of hand ranking and then move on to the different types of poker. By the end of this post, you’ll be ready to sit down at a table and start playing the Download Poker App!
How to rank poker hands – a beginner’s guide.
The basics of hand ranking
In poker, there is a standard order of hands from highest to lowest: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, High Card. The higher the hand, the better.
A Royal Flush is the highest possible poker hands ranked and is made up of an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten all in the same suit. A Straight Flush is any five cards in the order that are all in the same suit. Four of a Kind means you have four cards of the same rank (for example 8s). A Full House means you have three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank (for example Js over 3s). A Flush means you have five cards all in the same suit (for example 5 hearts). A Straight means you have five cards in order but not necessarily in the same suit (for example 7-8-9-10-J). Three of a Kind means you have three cards of one rank (for example Kh-Kd-Kc). Two Pair means you have two sets of two cards with different ranks (for example 9h-9c & As-Ad). One Pair means you have two cards with matching ranks (for example 4d-4h). High Card means you don’t have any other combination so your highest card will be used to determine the winner (for example Ace high would beat king high and so on down the line).
The different poker hands
There are 10 different types or categories of poker hands that you can make using a standard 52-card deck – these are as follows from highest to lowest value:
1) Royal flush
2) Straight flush
3) Four of a kind
4) Full house
5) Flush
6) Straight
7) Three of a kind
8 )Two pair
9) One pair
10) High card
How to compare poker hands
When two or more players have the same hand, the highest card(s) in the hand determines the winner. For example, if two players both have a Flush with Ace high, then the second highest card in their hand would be used to determine the winner – so player A would win if their second highest card was a King and player B would win if their second highest card was a Jack. If those were also the same, then it would go to the third highest card and so on until a winner is determined.
If two players have a Straight flush, the player with the highest flush wins. So for example, 8-9-10-J-Q of Hearts would beat 5-6-7-8-9 of Spades.
If two players have Four of a Kind, then the player with the higher Four of a Kind wins – so for example 4-4-4-4 of any suit beats 2-2-2-2 of any suit. If they happen to have the same Four of a Kind (for example 3-3-3–3), then it goes down to who has the higher 5th card known as ‘kicker’ (in our example that would be an Ace).
