Handy Poker Hand Ranking Guide

Poker is one of the most popular casino games, both on brick-and-mortar and on online casino websites. It is also a very complex games with lots of betting and winning rules, and the game itself has some variations on how to be played. However, most of these variations follow only one pattern of poker hand rankings.

The major variants of poker include Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Five Card Draw, and Seven Card Stud. If there are two or more poker players that have not folded until the end of the card dealing and betting on their hands, there will be a showdown among them, and depending on the rank of their hands, there is one, and possibly more than one, winner. How are the hands ranked? There are nine (9) poker hand categories, and starting from the lowest ranked, they are as follows: High Card, One Pair, Two Pair, Three of a Kind, Straight, Flush, Full House, Four of a Kind, and Straight Flush.

In all variants of poker, each of the cards are ranked individually, with 2 having the lowest rank. The rank goes up with the number until number 10, then followed by Jack, Queen, King, and the Ace card with the highest rank of all individual cards. Card suits have no effect in ranking though, such as an Ace of Diamonds is ranked equal with an Ace of Spade. Likewise, card suite also have no effect on the rankings of the poker hand categories.

The lowest hand category that a poker player can get is the High Card, in which no two or more cards have the same rank, the five cards do not form a consecutive sequence, and all five cards contains more than one suit. The winner between two or more High Card hands is determined by the card with the highest rank. If they have the same highest ranked card, the next highest is compared, and so on until there is a difference. If there is no difference, then they are tied and the pot is divided among them. High card is also termed as “no-pair”, and it is described by the highest ranked card (such as a “King high” if the highest rank is a King). It has the highest probability (approximately 50%) of being dealt to a poker player.

When a poker player obtains one pair of cards that have the same rank and the other three are all non-paired (called the kickers), then his hand falls to the One Pair category, in which it beats any High Card poker hand. The winner among more than One Pair hands is determined by the rank of the pair. If more than one have the same pairs, then the kickers in each hand will determine the winner, applying the same rule as the High Card poker hand. The probability that a poker player is dealt with a One Pair hand is approximately 42%.

If a poker hand contains two cards of similar rank, and two cards of another similar rank, and one kicker, then the hand is classified as a Two Pair, and it beats any One Pair poker hand. It is described by the higher of the two pairs, which can be followed by the other pair optionally. For example, a Two Pair hand which has a pair of Aces and another pair of Queen and any kicker can be described as “Aces and Queens”, “Aces over Queens”, or just “Aces up”. The higher-ranked pairs in each hand will be compared to determine the winner among the other Two Pair hands. If the higher-ranked pairs of the players are similar, the other pair will be compared, and if they are still similar, then the kicker will determine the winner. If there are still no differences, then they are tied. The probability of a poker player being dealt with a Two Pair is approximately 4.8%.

When three cards in a poker hand have similar ranks, and the other two are non-pair, then the player's hand is called a Three of a Kind, or Trips in other terms. It beats any Two Pair hand and ranks lower than Two Pair. The ranks of the cards that appear thrice in each hand are compared to determine the winner. The possibility that there can be two Three of a Kind poker hands with the same rank of their triples is only available to poker games with wild cards or community card games such as Texas Hold'em, and the winner will be determined by the ranks of the kickers of each hand. A poker player have an estimated 2.1% chance of being dealt with any Trips poker hand.

A poker hand that contains five ranks of consecutive sequence in more than one card suit is classified as a Straight, and it beats any Trips and lower hand ranks. In this poker hand, an Ace card can play either a high (such as Ace-King-Queen-Jack-10) or a low (such as 5-4-3-2-Ace, a “5-high straight” or commonly known as a “wheel”, which is lower in rank compared to a Straight consisting of 6-5-4-3-2), but not both at the same time (such as 3-2-Ace-King-Queen, which in this case is just an “Ace-high high card”). The highest-ranked card is used to describe a Straight, such as “King-high straight” or “straight to King” if the hand consists of the cards King-Queen-Jack-10-9 of more than one card suit, and is compared with the other Straight's highest-ranked card to determine the winner among more than one Straight hands. If the ranks are similar, then they are of equal value, and card suit is not used to separate them. There is an estimated 0.39% possibility of a poker player being dealt with a Straight hand.

If all five cards of a poker hand belongs to only one suit (either spades, clubs, diamonds, or hearts), and if they do not form a consecutive card rank sequence, then it is classified as a Flush, and it beats any Straight poker hand and those lower than Straight. It is also described by the highest-ranked card, which can also be followed by the next-ranked card if necessary. For example, a Flush which contains the cards 10-7-6-4-3 of clubs can be described as “10-high flush” or “10-7-high flush”. The highest-ranked cards in more than one Flush poker hands are compared to pick the winner. The next highest ranks are then compared if the highest cards are similar, and so on until there is a difference. If all five ranks are similar with the other Flush, then they are tied. Card suit is not used to differentiate their rankings. A poker player has a chance of approximately 0.20% to be dealt with a Flush.

A Full House (also termed as Full Boat) is a poker hand that contains three cards of similar ranks and a pair. It beats any Flush and lower hand rankings. It is described by the rank of the triple followed by “full”, or the words “full of” and then the rank of the pair (such as “Aces full of Kings” or “Aces full” in case of a hand which contains triple Aces and a pair of Kings). The rank of the triple determines the winner among more than one Full House poker hands. In case of poker games with wild cards and in Texas Hold'em, it is possible for two Full House hands to have the same triple, and the pair is used to pick the winner. A Full House poker hand has approximately 0.14% chance of being dealt to a player.

If a poker hand contains four cards all in one card rank, and a card kicker of another rank, it is known as a Four of a Kind or Quads, and it beats any Full House or lower poker hand ranks. Quads with higher ranks beats other lower-ranked quads. It is possible in Texas Hold'em and poker games with wild cards to have more than one players with similar-ranked quads. Therefore, their kicker will be compared, and if they are also equal in rank, then they are tied. A poker player has only 0.024% estimated chance of obtaining a Four of a Kind hand.

The highest ranked poker hand category is the Straight Flush. As the name suggests, it is a combination of a Straight and a Flush, in which the hand consists of all five cards in one suit and forms a consecutive sequence of individual card rankings. Similar to a Straight poker hand, the Ace card can play either high (such as Ace-King-Queen-Jack-10 of spades, an “Ace-high straight flush”) or low (such as 5-4-3-2-Ace of hearts, a “5-high straight flush”, or commonly called as a “steel-wheel”) and not both at the same time. Any “Ace-high straight flush” is also called a “royal flush”, and has the highest rank of all standard poker hands. The highest ranked card of a Straight Flush hand is compared with the others, and if they have similar ranks, then they are tied and the pot money is divided among them. Being the highest ranked poker hand category, a Straight Flush is the rarest poker hand that can be dealt, with only 0.0015% of appearing.

Luck in obtaining high-ranked poker hands is vital in your gameplay to ensure a win. But strategy plays the most important part in winning your poker games, for you can still win even though you have the lowest-ranked poker hand of all. Just stay cool, do your best in bluffing, and most of all, always keep wearing your poker face.

Image Credits:
Covenanthousepa.org (http://www.covenanthousepa.org/events/events.htm)
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poker_hands)