One of the most complex parts of playing poker games is knowing all the different types of hand you can have. More importantly than knowing what the hands are, you need to know what they all mean and which one to aim for in order to win.
So, we’ll be taking you through all of the different poker hands from best to worst so you know whether or not you’re on to a winner.
Poker hand rankings
- Royal flush
The best hand you can get in poker games is called a royal flush. This hand is made up of a 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace and they all need to be of the same suit. That means that every card has to be either all clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades, otherwise it’s not a royal flush.Â
When you’re playing poker, this is the one and only hand that you can get where it can end the game in a tie. In the rare case that two people on the table manage to get a royal flush, the money pot at the end has to be split down the middle.
- Straight flush
The next highest hand you can get in poker is a straight flush. This hand has five consecutive cards of the same suit. It’s not like a royal flush where you need to have a king, queen or jacks but the higher the cards the better – just in case another person has a flush too.
An example of this hand would be a 10, 9, 8, 7 and 6 of hearts. If someone had a hand made up of a jack, 10, 9, 8 and 7 of clubs, they would be the winner as the jack is higher than the 6.
- Four of a kindÂ
The next hand as we move down the list is four of a kind. In this hand, you would have four cards of the same rank but they don’t have to be the same suit, as well as an extra random card of any rank.Â
For example, you could have four queens and a 6. If you have four queens, then no one else around the table could also have a queen as you have them all. This means that there are no others on the table and so no royal flush is available for them to beat your hand.
However, they could have a straight flush that trumps your and, in that case, they would win. The chances of this are slim so it’s still worth going all in if this is the hand you have.
- Full house
Next on our list of poker hands is a full house. In this hand, you will have three matching cards of one rank alongside two more matching cards of a different rank. This hand sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is.
For example, for a full house hand, you could have three kings and two 7s. The same rank of card will of course all be different suits, but there could be some matching suits across the two different ranks of cards.
- Flush
Now we have a flush – much like the royal flush but without all of the royal cards. This hand is the hand that contains any five cards of the same suit, so you can see the similarities with the royal flush.Â
Only in this case, the rank and sequence don’t matter, the only thing that matters is that they are all from the same suit. An example of this hand would be a 10, 8, 5, 4 and 3 of hearts.
- StraightÂ
Now we have a straight and this hand has five cards of consecutive rank but they are all from different suits. It’s different to a flush because the cards need to be consecutive and the suits are all different.
An example of this hand would be a 3 of hearts, 6 of clubs, 8 of spades, 10 of diamonds and a jack of clubs.
- Three of a kindÂ
A three of a kind hand does exactly what it says on the tin, this is when you have three cards of the same rank, plus two random cards that don’t fit with any of the others.
- Two pairÂ
A two pair hand is another one that is pretty self explanatory, this contains two cards of one rank, alongside two other cards of different rank from the first pair, plus one random card.
- PairÂ
A pair is when you have two cards of the same rank, as well as three other random cards.
- High card hand
The last and least desirable of the card rankings is the high card hand. This is when none of the cards are in the same rank or suit and none of them run consecutively.
Now you know all of the poker hands, the only thing left to do is put them into practice!
