Hand
Rankings
The deck used in most
Internet poker is a standard 52-card deck with no wild cards
or jokers. It has four suits: spades, hearts, diamonds,
and clubs. There are thirteen ranks in each suit.
The ace is the highest-ranking card, followed by the king,
queen, jack, and ten through deuce, in descending order.
In split-pot games, an ace is also used as the lowest-ranking
card for forming a low straight or a low hand. In such "split"
games, an ace is like two cards in one; it's simultaneously
the highest and lowest card in the deck. Because of this
unique dual attribute, an ace in your Omaha/8 or 7-stud/8
hand is a decided advantage.
Hand rankings are
arranged in order of probability. The rarer the hand, the
more valuable it is, so the higher it's ranked. Here are
the rankings. in descending order from highest to lowest:
Royal flush:
A royal flush is simply an ace-high straight flush (see
below). It's the best possible hand in poker. There are
only four: A?K?Q?J?T?; A?K?Q?J?T?; A?K?Q?J?T?; and A?K?Q?J?T?.
You can go a lifetime and never get one - but we hope you
do!
Straight flush:
This thrilling holding is made up of 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, or quads,
is a five-card hand containing four cards of any rank, plus
one unrelated card, such as 9?9?9?9?3?. The higher the rank,
the better the hand. For example, four queens beats four
deuces.
Full house:
Three cards of any given rank, along with a pair of another,
comprise a full house. The rank of a full house is determined
by the three-card grouping, not the pair. A hand like J?J
?J ?4?4? is referred to as "jacks full of fours."
If you held 4?4?4?J?J?, it would be called "fours full
of jacks."
Flush:
Any five cards of the same suit make a flush. The cards
do not have to be sequenced - if they were, you'd have a
straight flush. If there are two or more flushes at showdown,
the winning hand is determined by the rank order. For example,
an ace-high flush is better than one that is king-high
Straight:
Five sequenced cards, not of the same suit, make a straight.
If there's more than one straight, the high cards in each
sequence determine the winning hand. A nine-high straight
beats a six-high straight.
Three-of-a-kind:
Three cards of the same rank plus two unrelated cards is
called three-of-a-kind. Sometimes you'll hear players refer
to it as trips, or a set. If your best five-card hand was
K?K?K?2?4?, you could call it "a set of kings,"
or "trip kings." It's all the same hand.
Two pair:
Two cards of one rank, two cards of another, and one unrelated
card make two pair. If two players each have two pair, the
highest-ranking pair held by either one determines which
hand is superior. If each player has the same high pair,
the rank of the second pair determines the winner. If both
hold the same two pair, the rank of the unrelated side card,
or kicker, determines the winner. If both players have identical
hands, they split the pot - that's pretty rare.
One pair:
One pair is two cards of one rank and three unrelated cards.
If two players hold the same pair, the highest side card
determines the winning hand.
No pair:
No pair is five unrelated cards, with the rank order determining
the winner. For example, if Rick has A-K-8-5-3 and Stan
has A-J-T-7-3, Rick wins. (A-K is higher than A-J.)
