Texas Hold Em Card Ranking

You are not going to be very successful at playing Texas Hold Em if you don’t understand which hands are good and how they rank. Five cards make up a poker hand. In Texas Home Em players combine their two hole cards with five community cards and form the best card ranking hand that they possibly can.

Hand Ranking:

·         High card: If no one has a pair or better, whoever has the highest card wins that hand. The cards rank from the deuce being low to the Ace being high. If more than one player shares the same high card, then whoever has the second highest card wins the hand.

·         Pair: A pair is a hand with two matching cards. If more than one player has a pair and no one has anything with a higher hand ranking, then we look at who has the highest pair wins. A pair beats a high card.

·         Two Pairs: Two pairs is a hand with two sets of pairs. If two players each have two pairs whoever has the highest pair wins. Two pairs beat a high card and pair hand.

·         Three of a Kind: A three of a kind hand is a hand where a player has three cards that match in their hand. If more than one player has three of a kind, then whoever has the highest-ranking three of a kind wins. Three of a kind beats a high card, pair and two pairs hand.

·         Straight: A straight hand is a hand where the hands consecutively rank in order such as two, three, four, and five. Aces count as either the low or the high card. It is rare for more than one player to have a straight in a hand, however if it does occur whoever has the higher-ranking straight hand wins. A straight beats a high card, pair, two pairs and three of a kind hand.

·         Flush: A flush hand occurs when all five cards are of the same suit; for example, all five cards are hearts. A flush beats a high card, pair, two pairs and three of a kind.

·         Full House: A full house is a hand that contains three of a kind and a pair. An example of a full house hand would be jack, jack, four, four, four. A full house beats a high card, pair, two pairs, three of a kind and flush.

·         Four of a kind: A four of a kind is when you get all four of a suit such as all four eights. Four of a kind beats a high card, pair, two pairs, three of a kind, flush and full house.

·         Straight Flush: A straight flush combines a straight and a flush. A sample of a straight flush would be four of diamonds, five of diamonds, six of diamonds, seven of diamonds, and eight of diamonds. Four of a kind beats a high card, pair, two pairs, three of a kind, flush and full house. A straight flush beats a high card, pair, two pairs, three of a kind, flush, and four of a kind.

·         Royal Flush: A royal flush is a high card straight flush. A sample of a royal flush 10 is of diamonds, Jack of diamonds, Queen of diamonds, King of diamonds, and Ace of diamonds. Royal flushes are extremely rare. The odds of getting a royal flush are one in 50,000 hands. A royal flush beats everything else.

You can find more information on card ranking at www.pokerstars.co.uk