Every poker game needs rules of hand rankings to determine a winner. Most games, including Texas Hold’em, use the standard high-card formula of straight flush all the way down to high card. Outlined below are the classic poker hand rankings for high-card games like Texas Hold’em, Stud, Omaha, and 5-card draw. You therefore need to know the ranking of poker hands, ie, what beats what. In Texas Hold’em, players make the best hand using their two hole cards and the five community cards. A poker hand must consist of five cards, and it does not matter how many of your hole cards you use.
Every poker player knows that the Royal Flush is the strongest poker hand, but where do all of the other poker winning hands rank? Here is a comprehensive list of poker hands in order from highest to lowest ranking. If you are new to the game of poker, learning the different poker hands is a great first step in learning how to beat your opponents with the cards you are dealt.
#1 Royal Flush
The strongest poker hand is the royal flush. It consists of Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, all of the same suit, e.g. diamonds, spades, hearts, or clubs.
#2 Straight Flush
The second strongest hand in poker is the straight flush. It is composed of five consecutive cards of the same suit. If two players have a straight flush, the player with the highest cards wins.
#3 Four-of-a-kind
A four-of-a-kind is four cards of the same rank, e.g. four Aces. If two players have four-of-a-kind, then the one with the highest four-of-a-kind wins. If they have the same (if four-of-a-kind is on the board), then the player with the highest fifth card wins, since a poker hand is always composed of five cards.
#4 Full House
A full house is a combination of a three-of-a-kind and a pair. If two players have a full house, then the one with the highest three-of-a-kind wins. If they have the same one, then the pair counts.
#5 Flush
Five cards of the same suit make a flush. If two players have a flush, then the one with the highest cards wins.
#6 Straight
Five consecutive cards are called a straight. If two players have a straight, the one with the highest cards wins.
Rank Order Of Poker Hands Chart
#7 Three-of-a-kind
A three-of-a-kind is composed of three cards of the same rank. If two players have the same three-of-a-kind, then the other cards, or both cards, determine the winner, since a poker hand is a always composed of five cards.
#8 Two-pair
Two-pair hands are, of course, composed of two pairs. If two players have two-pair, the rank of the higher pair determines the winner. If they have the same higher pair, then the lower one counts. If that is also the same, then the fifth card counts.
#9 Pair
A pair is composed of two cards of the same rank. Since a poker hand is always composed of five cards, the other three cards are so-called “kickers”. In case two players have the same pair, then the one with the highest kicker wins.
#10 High card
If you don’t even have a pair, then you look at the strength of your cards. If there are two players at showdown who don’t have a pair or better, then the one with the highest cards wins.
Any of the PalaPoker.com games use the standard rank of hands to determine the high hand.
However, at PalaPoker.com we also play “split pot” games, like Omaha Hi-Lo8 and Stud Hi-Lo8, in which the highest hand splits the pot with a qualifying (“8 or better”) low hand; therefore, we must also be familiar with:
Low Poker Hands List:
This method of ranking low hands is used in traditional Hi/Lo games, like Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud Hi/Lo, as well as in Razz, the ‘low only’ Stud game.
Note that suits are irrelevant for Ace to Five low. A flush or straight does not ‘break’ an Ace to Five low poker hand. Aces are always a ‘low’ card when considering a low hand.
Please also note that the value of a five-card low hand starts with the top card, and goes down from there.
#1 Five Low, or “Wheel“: The Five, Four, Three, Deuce and Ace.
Rank Order Of Poker Hands Printable
In the event of a tie: All Five-high hands split the pot.
#2 Six Low: Any five unpaired cards with the highest card being a Six.
In the event of a tie: The lower second-highest ranking card wins the pot. Thus 6,4,3,2,A defeats 6,5,4,2,A. If necessary, the third-highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
#3 Seven Low: Any five unpaired cards with the highest card being a Seven.
In the event of a tie: The lower second-highest ranking card wins the pot. If necessary, the third- highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie.
#4 Eight Low: Any five unpaired cards with the highest card being an Eight.
In the event of a tie: The lower second-highest ranking card wins the pot. If necessary, the third-highest, fourth-highest and fifth-highest cards in the hand can be used to break the tie. An Eight Low is the weakest hand that qualifies for low in Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud Hi/Lo.
Best Poker Hands In Order
Check back here as you are learning the game of poker for a list that details the poker hands order. Sign up today to start winning real money!
High card by suit and low card by suit refer to assigning relative values to playing cards of equal rank based on their suit. No standard ranking of suits exists for card games and not all games incorporate a suit ranking feature. When suit ranking is applied, the two most common conventions are:
- Ascending alphabetical order: clubs (lowest), followed by diamonds, hearts, and spades (highest). This ranking is used in the game of bridge.
- Alternating colors: diamonds (lowest), followed by clubs, hearts, and spades (highest). Similar to alphabetical ranking in that the two highest rankings are occupied by the same two suits (hearts and spades) in the same relative position to one another, but differing in the two lowest rankings, which while occupied by the same two suits (clubs and diamonds) have their relative position to one another swapped. This ranking is sometimes used in the Chinese card game Big Two or Choh Dai Di.
Poker[edit]
Most poker games do not rank suits; the ace of clubs is just as good as the ace of spades. However, small issues (such as deciding who deals first) are sometimes resolved by dealing one card to each player. If two players draw cards of the same rank, one way to break the tie is to use an arbitrary hierarchy of suits. The order of suit rank differs by location; for example, the ranking most commonly used in the United States is not the one typically used in Italy.
Cards are always compared by rank first, and only then by suit. For example, using the 'reverse alphabetical order' ranking, the ace of clubs ranks higher than any king, but lower than the ace of diamonds. High card by suit is used to break ties between poker hands as a regional variance,[1] but more commonly is used in the following situations, as well as various others, based upon the circumstances of the particular game:
- Randomly selecting a player or players.
- To randomly select a player to deal, to choose the game, to move to another table, or for other reasons, deal each player one card and the player with high card by suit is selected. Multiple players can be selected this way.
- Assigning the bring-in.
- In games such as Seven-card stud, where the player with the lowest-ranking face-up card is required to open the first betting round for a minimal amount, ties can be broken by suit. In such low stud games as razz, the player with the highest-ranking upcard must post the fractional bet.
- Awarding odd chips in a split pot.
- In High-low split games, or when two players' hands tie, the pot must be split evenly between them. When there is an odd amount of money in the pot that can't be split evenly, the odd low-denomination chip can be given to the player whose hand contains the high card by suit. (This solution is not necessary in games with blinds, in which case the odd chip between high and low is awarded to the high hand, and the odd chip between a split high or split low is awarded to the first player following the dealer button.)
- Breaking ties in a chip race
- During poker tournaments, a chip race is used to 'color up' large numbers of smaller-denomination chips, and a modified deal is used to assign leftover chips. Ties in the deal are broken by suit.
Rank Order Of Poker Hands Free
Contract bridge[edit]
In bridge, suit rank during the bidding phase of the game is by ascending alphabetical order.
During the play of the cards, the trump suit is superior to all other suits and the other suits are of equal rank to each other. If there is no trump suit, all suits are of equal rank.
References[edit]
- ^'Rules of Card Games: Poker Hand Ranking'. www.pagat.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2018.