Poker is an incredibly popular card game that has been around for centuries. It is a game of skill, strategy, and a little bit of luck.
One of the most important things you need to know in order to play poker successfully is the rankings of the different hands. In this tutorial, we will go over how to remember poker rankings so that you can improve your chances of winning.
Firstly, it is important to understand that there are 10 different hands in poker, ranked from highest to lowest. These are:
1. Royal flush
2. Straight flush
3. Four of a kind
4. Full house
5. Flush
6.
Straight
7. Three of a kind
8. Two pairs
9. One pair
10. High card
To help remember these rankings, it can be helpful to break them down into smaller groups.
The first group consists of the top two hands – the royal flush and straight flush. The royal flush is made up of five cards all in the same suit (spades, hearts, diamonds or clubs) and includes the ace, king, queen, jack and ten cards in that suit.
The straight flush is also made up of five cards all in the same suit but instead forms a sequence such as 9-8-7-6-5.
Both these hands are incredibly rare so you won’t see them often but they’re worth remembering because they have such high value.
Next up are four-of-a-kind and full house which can be easier to remember by looking at how many matching cards there are within your hand.
Four-of-a-kind consists of four cards with matching values plus one other card (also known as a ‘kicker’). For example: four jacks plus any other card.
Full house consists of three cards with matching values plus two more cards with matching values (not necessarily the same as your first three). For example: three kings and two aces.
Flush, straight, and three-of-a-kind can be remembered by the patterns that form within the cards.
A flush is five cards of any value all in the same suit. For example: 2-4-7-Jack-King all in hearts.
A straight is five cards in sequence but not necessarily in the same suit. For example: 9-8-7-6-5 all in different suits.
Three-of-a-kind is simply three cards with matching values plus two other cards that don’t match. For example: three queens and any other two cards.
The final group consists of two pairs, one pair and high card. These are often called ‘non-ranking’ hands because they don’t have as much value as the hands listed above.
Two pairs consists of two sets of matching values plus one other card. For example: two jacks, two fives and any other card.
One pair is just one set of matching values plus three other random cards. For example: a pair of queens plus a 9, 8 and 2.
Finally, high card is where you have no matching pairs or sequences within your hand so it’s just valued based on what your highest card is. For example: Ace-King-Jack-5-3 (ace being the highest).
In conclusion, poker rankings can be difficult to remember at first but by breaking them down into smaller groups and understanding how to form each hand it becomes easier over time. Remember to practice frequently with friends or online to help solidify these rankings in your memory!
