There are many different ways to rank the hands in poker, but most people use the standard ranking that goes from high card to straight flush. The hands are ranked as follows: high card, one pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush.
The high card is the hand with the highest card in it, and the straight flush is the hand with the Lowest cards in it.
The most important thing to remember when ranking hands is that the higher the rank, the better the hand is. The best hand you can have is a royal flush, which is a straight flush with an ace high.
The worst hand you can have is a high card, which is just a single high card.
One pair hands are ranked by their highest card first and then their second highest card. For example, if you had Ace-King-Queen-Jack-9, your hand would be considered Ace-King-Queen-Jack high.
If you had Ace-King-Queen-Jack-8, your hand would be considered King-Queen-Jack high.
Two pair hands are ranked by their highest pair first and then their second highest pair. For example, if you had Ace-King-Queen-Jack-9, your hand would be considered Ace-King high.
If you had Ace-King-Queen-Jack-8, your hand would be considered King-Queen high.
Three of a kind hands are ranked by their highest card first and then by their second and third highest cards. For example, if you had Ace-King-Queen-Jack-9, your hand would be considered Ace high.
If you had Ace-King-Queen-Jack 8 7 , your hand would be considered King high.
A straight is a hand that contains five cards in sequence but not of the same suit. Aces can be either high or low in a straight. For example, if you had Ace -2 -3 -4 -5 , your hand would be considered low because the ace is being used as a 1 . If you had 10 -J -Q -K -A , your hand would be considered high because the ace is being used as a 14 .
Straights are ranked by their highest card first and then by their Lowest card. So if you had 10 -J -Q -K -A , your hand would be considered 10 J Q K A . But if you had J Q K A 10 , your hand would still be considered J Q K A 10 because it’s still a higher straight than 10 9 8 7 6 .
A flush is any five cards of the same suit regardless of rank or sequence. Flushes are ranked by their highest card first and then by their Lowest card.
So if you had 10 9 8 7 6 all of clubs , your hand would be considered 10 9 8 7 6 . But if you had J 10 9 8 7 all of clubs , your hand would still be considered J 10 9 8 7 because it’s still a higher flush than 10 9 8 7 6 .
A full house contains three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank such as 3 3 3 2 2 . Full houses are ranked by their highest triplet first and then by their highest pair. So if you had 4 4 4 A A , your hand would beat 3 3 3 K K because 4s are higher than 3s regardless of what the pairs are. However, if both full houses have triplets with the same rank such as Q Q Q 2 2 vs J J J A A , then they’re broken down to pairs to see who wins (QQQAA vs JJJAA).
In this case since both pairs are Aces (AA), we go back to kickers to determine who wins (QQQAA vs JJJAA). Since both have 5 kickers (A), we go back to who has the next best kicker which in this case is a Queen (Q). Therefore QQQAA wins over JJJAA because it has a higher top pair (QQ) despite having lower second pair (JJ). .
A four of a kind contains four cards of one rank such as 4 4 4 4 A . Four of a kinds are ranked by their quads first and then by their kicker. So if you had 4 4 4 4 A , your hand would beat 3 3 3 3 K because quads always win regardless of what the kicker is. However, if both players have quads with the same rank such as 9 9 9 9 Q vs 9 9 9 9 J , then we go back to kickers to determine who wins (9999Q vs 999JJ).
In this case since both pairs are Jacks (JJ), we go back to who has the next best kicker which in this case is a Queen (Q). Therefore 9999Q wins over 999JJ because it has a higher top kicker (Q) despite having lower second kicker (J).
In conclusion, when ranking poker hands from best to worst, the order goes: Royal Flush > Straight Flush > Four of a Kind > Full House > Flush > Straight > Three of a Kind > Two Pair > One Pair > High Card.
