Poker Hand Rankings Explained

Learning the Poker Hand Rankings is perhaps the most important step for a beginner. It is impossible to play well if you don’t know what you hold in your hand and whether it is likely to win.

Poker Hand Rankings. To play poker skillfully, it is important to understand the concept of poker hand rankings online. You will come across most players looking at each decision in reading a hand as a separate unit. But this is a big mistake, for; each and every poker hand you play will have an affect on the course of the entire game. High Hand Rankings. There are 10 different high hand rankings in Poker. These are detailed below with number 1 being the best poker hand possible and number 10 being the lowest ranking hand. You’ll never not know the winning poker hand again! This is the highest poker hand. It consists of ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all in.

To start with you should ensure you understand the High Hand Rankings, as this is used in the most popular variants of poker such as Texas Holdem.

The Poker Hands. Here’s a ranking chart of the Poker hands. The chart lists the rankings with an example for each ranking. The examples are a good reminder of the definitions. The highest ranking of them all is the royal flush, which consists of 5 consecutive cards in one suit with the highest card being Ace. There is only one such hand in. Poker Hand Rankings - Texas Holdem Starting Hands Chart. At the bottom of this page is a comprehensive listing of Texas Hold'em starting hands based on their EV (expected value). Expected value is the average number of big blinds this hand will make or lose.

Some variants, such as Razz Poker have a different aim and use the Low Hand Ranking, and some other variants use both the high and the low hand rankings splitting the pot between the players with the best high hand and the best low hand.

The Low Hand Rankings are also explained below however you only need to learn and understand these if you decide to play a poker variant that uses it. If you simple want to play Texas Holdem then you can ignore the Low Hand Rankings.

High Hand Rankings

There are 10 different high hand rankings in Poker. These are detailed below with number 1 being the best poker hand possible and number 10 being the lowest ranking hand. You’ll never not know the winning poker hand again!

1. Royal flush

   This is the highest poker hand. It consists of ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all in the same suit. As all suits are equal, all royal flushes are equal.

2. Straight flush

   Five cards of the same suit in sequence – such as J 10 9 8 7. In the event that two players both hold straight flushes, the one containing the higher top card is ranked higher.

   An ace can be counted as low or high, so 5 4 3 2 A is a straight flush, but its top card is the five, not the ace, so it is the lowest type of straight flush. The cards cannot “turn the corner”: eg: K A 2 3 4 is not valid.

3. Four of a kind

   Four cards of the same rank – such as four queens. The fifth card can be anything. This combination is sometimes known as “quads”.

   In the event that two players both hold four of a kind, the one with the higher set of four cards is ranked higher.

4. Full house

   This consists of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank – for example three sevens and two tens (colloquially known as “sevens full” or more specifically “sevens on tens”). When comparing full houses, the rank of the three cards determines which is higher.

   For example J-J-J-5-5 beats 9-9-9-A-A. If the threes of a kind were equal, the rank of the pairs would decide.

5. Flush

   Five non sequential cards of the same suit. When comparing two flushes, the highest card determines which is ranked higher. If the highest cards are equal then the second highest card is compared; if those are equal too, then the third highest card, and so on.

   For example K-J-9-3-2 beats K-J-7-6-5 because the highest and second highest cards are the same, but with the 3rd highest card the nine beats the seven.

6. Straight

   Five cards of mixed suits in sequence – for example Q J 10 9 8. When comparing two straights, the one with the higher ranking top card is better.

   Ace can count as high or low in a straight, with A-K-Q-J-10 being the highest possible straight and A-2-3-4-5 being the lowest possible straight. The cards cannot “turn the corner” eg: K-A-2-3-4 is not valid.

7. Three of a kind

   Three cards of the same rank plus two other cards. This combination is also known as Trips or a Set. When comparing two threes of a kind the hand in which the three equal cards are of higher rank is better.

   So for example 5-5-5-3-2 beats 4-4-4-K-Q. If the three of a kind are of the equal rank then you have to compare the higher of the two remaining cards in each hand, and if those are also equal then the lower card is compared.

8. Two pairs

   A pair is two cards of equal rank. In a hand with two pairs, the two pairs are of different ranks (otherwise you would have four of a kind), and there is an odd card to make the hand up to five cards.

   When comparing hands with two pairs, the hand with the higher highest pair wins, irrespective of the rank of the other cards – so J-J-2-2-4 beats 10-10-9-9-8 because the jacks beat the tens. If the higher pairs are equal, the lower pairs are compared, so that for example 8-8-6-6-3 beats 8-8-5-5-K.

   Finally, if both pairs are the same, the odd cards are compared, so Q-Q-5-5-8 beats Q-Q-5-5-4.

9. Pair

   A hand with two cards of equal rank and three other cards which do not match these or each other.

   When comparing two such hands, the hand with the higher pair is better – so for example 6-6-4-3-2 beats 5-5-A-K-Q. If the pairs are equal, compare the highest ranking odd cards from each hand; if these are equal compare the second highest odd card, and if these are equal too compare the lowest odd cards.

   So J-J-A-9-3 beats J-J-A-8-7 because the 9 beats the 8.

10. High card

    Five cards which do not form any of the combinations listed above. When comparing two such hands, the one with the better highest card wins. If the highest cards are equal the second cards are compared; if they are also equal the third cards are compared, and so on. So A-J-9-5-3 beats A-10-9-6-4 because the jack beats the ten.

Study these poker hand rankings well and you will find that you get to know them off by heart in no time as you play more and more. It’s important that you know the underlying rules behind the game you are playing and is the first step on your learning curve.

Low Poker Hand Ranking

There are many variants of Poker where the object is not to get the highest poker hand, but in fact the lowest poker hand. These include, but are not limited to Razz, Omaha Hi Lo poker, Stud Hi Low (Eight or Better) and others.

Remember when looking at the low hand rankings to always read your cards from the highest to lowest to avoid misreads and to get the quickest read on the strength of your hand.

The strongest low hand is the hand which has the lowest high card, if the high card is equal then it comes down to the lowest 2nd high card, if they are equal it carries on to the 3rd high card and continues, so for example 7-5-4-2-A beats 7-5-4-3-A because even though the first 3 high cards (7-5-4) are equal the 4th high card of the first hand is a 2 and is lower than the 3 in the second hand. (Don’t worry it’ll soon click when you read the hand rankings below!)

Note: Suits are irrelevant in low hands so it does not matter if the cards are all the same suit or not – Flushes are ignored for the purposes of low hands.

Top 10 Poker Low Hands

Rank 11 to 40 Low Poker Hands

11. 7-6-3-2-A
12. 7-6-4-2-A
13. 7-6-4-3-A
14. 7-6-4-3-2
15. 7-6-5-2-A
16. 7-6-5-3-A
17. 7-6-5-3-2
18. 7-6-5-4-A
19. 7-6-5-4-2
20. 7-6-5-4-3
21. 8-4-3-2-A
22. 8-5-3-2-A
23. 8-5-4-2-A
24. 8-5-4-3-2
25. 8-6-3-2-A
26. 8-6-4-2-A
27. 8-6-4-3-A
28. 8-6-4-3-2
29. 8-6-5-2-A
30. 8-6-5-3-A
31. 8-6-5-3-2
32. 8-6-5-4-A
33. 8-6-5-4-2
34. 8-6-5-4-3
35. 8-7-3-2-A
36. 8-7-4-2-A
37. 8-7-4-3-2
38. 8-7-5-2-A
39. 8-7-5-3-A
40. 8-7-5-3-2

Unless you decide to focus on learning a game that uses the low hand ranks then you are probably best to just ignore them for the moment while you get to grips with the simpler High Hand Rankings that are used in Texas Holdem, which is the variant that we recommend beginners learn to play first.

Now that you understand the objective and hands you are trying to achieve, we can now move on to learning about the actual rules and procedure involved in playing the most popular variants of poker.

Table Of Contents

Do you want to know what beats what in poker? Use the official poker hands rankings chart and seem them from best to worst!

Whether you play live at your local casino or card room, you have your home game going, or you prefer the online action at websites like PokerStars, 888Poker, or partypoker, you need to learn the order of poker hands from best to worse.

Use the list of poker hands below to know what beats what in poker.

Commit this poker hands ranking list to memory today and print it if you need it (there's a button for it at the bottom). Knowing the correct poker hands rank is key to start making winning poker hands.

Poker Hands From Best To Worst

Poker Hands From Best To Worst

Not Sure What Beats What in Poker?

Many consider poker less of a gambling game than other casino games. For that to be true, players need to improve their understanding of game play and the strategy required to be a winning player.

The first step toward learning how to play poker is to learn the poker hand rankings.

Most poker players have these rankings memorized, which allows them to think about other things at the table when deciding the best way to play their hands.

The good news is these hand rankings tend to be the same among a wide variety of poker variants, whether it is Texas Hold'em, Omaha, seven-card stud, or other games.

All of those games use the same traditional poker hand rankings that were first developed way back in the 19th century when five-card draw first started to be played.

On this page, you find a complete list of poker hand rankings going from the highest possible hand (the Royal Flush), down to the lowest hand in which there is no pair among the five cards.

Hand rankings in poker correspond to the likelihood of making such hands.

A royal flush, consisting of the cards ranked ace through ten all being the same suit, is extremely rare — in fact, some players go their entire lives without making a royal flush.

A regular straight flush with any five consecutive cards of the same suit is a little less rare, four of a kind occurs slightly more frequently, and so on.

Notice that a full house is ranked higher than a flush.

That's because a full house comes just a little less frequently than a flush, thereby making it the higher-ranked hand of the two.

Additional readings for beginners:

• Poker Tips: A collection of tips 'to bring your game from 'meh' to amazing' created to help beginners become better players.
• Texas Hold'em Strategy: a complete manual to read as soon as you start to remember what beats what in poker.
• Poker starting hands chart: the only article you need to read to learn how to use your cards to the fullest.

Understanding Winning Poker Hands

Players new to the game of Texas hold'em often struggle, at least at first, with what the best poker hands are.

Once they have read this easy-to-digest guide that will no longer be the case.

The aim of Texas hold'em is to make the best five-card poker hand at showdown.

You can win without having to show your cards if you force someone to fold before the river. Nonetheless, for the purpose of this article, we'll pretend that we've gone to showdown and need to know what beats what in poker.

Winning Poker Hands: What Are The Best Hands In Poker?

First up is the weakest possible holding you can make in poker, a hand that can still win you the pot, although the likelihood of that happening decreases in a pot involving multiple players.

We are of course talking about high card.

As the name suggests, you don't even hold a pair here and instead are using the highest card among the five you are playing.

Example:

You have and the board has come .

Your best five-card hand would be where you would hold queen-high.

Next up is one pair, one of the more common Texas hold'em hands and one that will win you plenty of pots.

Example:

You have and the board comes .

Your five-card hand is — you have a pair of aces. Nice poker hand!

One place higher up on the poker hands chart is two pair.

Example:

You have and the five community cards are .

Your best five-card hand at showdown is or two pair, tens and nines.

One note of warning on this specific poker hand: if you are verbally declaring your hand, try to announce the higher pair first as to help avoid confusion.

Good Poker Hands

Now we're getting into the realm of the best poker hands because once you make three-of-a-kind (sometimes called a set or trips), you are much more likely to win the pot than with any of the previously mentioned hands.

Example:

Your five-card poker hand is — you have three-of-a-kind kings, often a very powerful hand in hold'em.

To beat three-of-a-kind you're going to need at least a straight.

A straight is five consecutive cards where at least one of them is a different suit from the others.

Example:
Should your hand read you would hold a six-high straight.

If someone held a seven-high straight, then that player would win the hand.

There are two straights that have nicknames that are worth remembering.

A wheel is a straight that runs from ace-to-five, and a Broadway straight — the strongest straight — runs from ten-to-ace.

A flush is one of the most powerful Texas hold'em hands because it is only beaten by a handful of others.

Any hand that that has five cards of the same suit is a flush.

Aces are always high when it comes to flushes, which means a hand such as beats .

There are few hands that can beat a flush — one that does is a full house. Also called a 'boat,' a full house is when your five-card hand is made up of three of a kind plus a pair.

Example:

With you have kings full of deuces, while is fives full of queens.

When it comes to full houses, the higher three of a kind determines which hand wins, so in this case 'kings full' would beat 'fives full.'

The Stronger Hands in Poker

The next three holdings are so rare that if you hold them, you can almost guarantee that they are winning poker hands.

Four of a kind is the minimum holding you'll need to beat someone with a full house.

Again, as the name suggests, four of a kind means having four cards of the same rank.

Example:

is four-of-a-kind tens and an extremely powerful holding.

Your only way to beat four of a kind, or 'quads' as they are often called, is to hold either a straight flush or a Royal Flush.

The former is five consecutive cards all of the same suit, so would be an eight-high straight flush and practically unbeatable.

If you manage to make (or the same holding in any of the other three suits), you have a Royal Flush and the only way to lose the hand would be to fold by accident!

Poker Hands Probability

If you are into numbers (most poker players are), you might be wondering about the probability of poker hands.

We said that she platers might go entire lives without ever getting the highest hand in poker but, looking at the numbers, what are the odds of a Royal Flush?

In this section of our complete analysis of the poker hand ranking and what beats what in poker, you get a clear overview of the probability of poker hands.

How to calculate the probability of poker hands?

When you know that there are 52 cards in play and 2,598,960 possible combinations, the calculation is easy.

You just need to divide the number of possibilities to build a specific poker hand by the number of total poker hands.

Let's run a few examples:

What are the odds of a Royal Flush? 0.000,001,539
(4/2,598,960)

What are the odds of a Straight Flush? 0.000,015,39
(40/2,598,960)

Use the table below to calculate the probabilities of all poker hands.

Absolute Value vs. Relative Value of Poker Hands

It should be noted also that while poker hand rankings never change, sometimes circumstances can make a good hand less valuable and a poor hand more valuable.

In other words, when it comes to poker hands there's a difference between absolute value (reflected in the list of poker hands above) and relative value.

For instance, in a game of Texas hold'em, if you have two pair that might seem like a good hand.

But if your opponent keeps betting into you and it's possible he could have a straight or flush, your two pair is no longer looking so good.

Meanwhile, if you have just one pair but your opponent keeps checking to give you a free play at the pot, you might well have the strongest hand and should bet your hand.

The 'absolute' value of your hand may not be great, but in that case the 'relative' value very well could be.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that in some games like razz, deuce-to-seven triple draw, Badugi, and others you might encounter when playing online poker, the hand rankings listed below do not apply.

These hand rankings are for regular or 'high-card' games, not 'lowball' games with alternate hand rankings.

Poker Hand Rankings F.A.Q.

What is the order of poker hands?

As shown in the poker hand rankings chart, the order of poker rankings (from the highest to the lowest) is: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, High Card.

What is the best hand in poker?

The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker. To have a Royal Flush, you need an Ace, a King, a Queen, a Jack, and a 10. All the cards that compose the hand need to be of the same suit.

What beats what in poker?

As you can see in our poker hand rankings chart, the hands in poker follow a clear hierarchy.

In a game of poker, the hand rankings work as follows:

• a pair beats a high card;
• a two pair beats a one pair;
• a three-of-a-kind beats a two pair;
• a straight beats a three-of-a-kind;
• a flush beats a straight;
• a full house beats a flush;
• a four-of-a-kind beats a full house;
• a straight flush beats a four-of-a-kind;
• a Royal Flush beats a straight flush.

The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker, so no one other hands beat this one.

What is a straight in poker?

You have a straight when all the five cards that compose your poker hand are consecutive ones. E.g. 5-6-7-8-9.

If the cards are of the same suit, you have a straight flush, which is a considerably stronger hand compare d to the simple straight.

What beats a straight in poker?

Although many see the straight as a stronger hand, there are many other poker hands that beat it.

The list of hands that beat a straight includes:

• a flush;
• a full house;
• a four-of-a-kind;
• a straight flush;
• a Royal Flush.

What beats a flush in poker?

The list of hands that beat a flush includes:

• a full house;
• a four-of-a-kind;
• a straight flush;
• a Royal Flush.

What beats a full house in poker?

The list of hands that beat a full house includes:

• a four-of-a-kind;
• a straight flush;
• a Royal Flush.

What is the highest suit in poker?

All the suits in poker have the same value. In some games, different suits can be assigned different values.

When that happens, the value is as follow (from the lowest to the highest): clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. In that case, spades is the highest suit.

How many poker hands are there?

The total number of poker hands in a game of poker is 2,598,960. Since a game of poker uses a 52-card deck of French cards, there are 2,598,960 different possible combinations (aka. poker hands).

What hands to play in poker?

The type of hands to play in a poker game depends on the game you play and other factors like your position in the hand, your stack, and the action at the table.

In a famous poker strategy article, professional player Jonathan Little shared which hands to play in poker and how to play marginal hands.

Poker Hand Rankings Explained Week 9

Can you make three pairs?

Although it is possible to hold a pair in your hand and then have another two pair appear among the five community cards, you can only use a total of five cards to make your poker hand, so you don't win anything for three pairs.

Which is better, a set or trips?

They are both essentially the same hand because they are both three of a kind.

The terminology 'set' is used when you have a pair as your hole cards and then catch another one of those cards on the board.

'Trips' is when there is a pair on the board and you have another of those cards as one of your hole cards.

Sets are easier to disguise than trips so many consider them to be a better hand, although they both rank the same.

What is a chopped or split pot?

Poker Hand Rankings Explained Chart

If you and an opponent have the same five-card poker hand, then the pot is divided equally between you.

Say you have and your opponent has , and the board comes .

You both would be playing the same five-card hands in terms of their value (A-J-T-8-3), and so would split the pot.

If there is four of a kind on the board, who wins?

Because the aim is to make a five-card poker hand, whoever has the highest fifth card in this case wins.

If the board reads and you have in your hand and your opponent has , then you win because you hand is 7-7-7-7-A and your opponent's is 7-7-7-7-K.

You would also win even if your opponent holding was in this example.

Poker Hand Rankings Explained College Basketball

Are the suits ranked in Texas hold'em?

No, they are not. Some poker variants have different ranks for suits, but hold'em is not one of them.

Why did my 4-4-4-T-T lose to my opponent's 7-7-7-8-8?

As mentioned earlier, it is the three-of-a-kind element of a full house that dictates the winner.

Poker Hand Rankings Explained College Football

If you're new to the game and want a reference of all of Texas hold'em hands, you can keep this page open or you could always download and print our poker hands ranking chart and keep it next to you while you're playing poker.

Useful Poker Tools

• Poker Odds Calculator: Add your cards to the calculator to discover your chances to win the hand.
• How to use PokerStars Tools to Your Advantage: As a beginner, this article can save your life! Let us show you how you can use all the tools available on the PokerStars client to become an outstanding poker player!

Must Have Rooms

Home to the biggest tournaments online, these rooms also have the largest player base, great bonuses, tons of action and the best software. If you don't have accounts here, you are missing out on the best that online poker has to offer.

PartyPokerplatinum

Up to $30 of Free Play

RATING

9.9 ★

Key features

• Excellent mobile poker games
• Lots of free and real-money action
• One of the most trusted brands in online gaming