Never count your money when you are sitting at the table… Playing poker is fun, especially if you are winning. But to win in a game of poker you definitely need to know your poker hands and how they are ranked among themselves, so you know whether you are holding a winning hand.
Poker Hands To Remember
To help you with keeping the different hands in order you should memorize this list, as these are some – or more accurately – most of the hands that you will encounter during a game of poker. The following poker hands implies that you are playing a poker game with 5 cards, for example a game of Texas Hold’Em.
Poker Hands List
Five of a kind
Five of a Kind is the highest poker hand you can have. The hand consists of five cards of the same rank, regardless of color. If two players – or more – has five of a kind the player with the highest card on hand wins. So if one player has five of a kind in fours and another player has in Queens the player with the Queens wins. It goes without saying that a player can only get five identical if there are wild cards in the game.
Royal Flush
A Royal Flush consists of Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 suited, in the same colour. The infamous Royal Flush is also known as the royal straight flush, because the cards are consecutive in order. The Royal Flush is the best poker hand you can get without the use of wild cards.
Straight Flush
Straight Flush is a combination between a straight and a flush as described below. The straight is a hand of five cards in sequence, while the flush is five cards of the same suit. With a straight flush, you show five cards of the same suit in sequence. A straight flush could be a 7-8-9-10-Jack in same suit. A straight flush is a strong hand.
Four of a Kind
Four of a kind is simply four cards of same rank, regardless of color, for example. 9-9-9-9. The fifth and final card may be crucial if more players have four of a kind as this fifth card will determine the winner of the game. – atleast if no one has a straight flush or even better.
Full house
The socalled full house is a combination of three identical cards and a pair. For example three 6′s and two 9′s would build a full house. If there are more than one full house in a round you will have to look at the three cards. The player with the highest card number in his three cards wins the round.
Flush
As described above, the flush is just five cards of the same suit. The highest card determines the game if there are more hands showing a flush in the same round.
Straight
Just as descibed above, the straight simply consists of five cards, but unlike the flush the straight consist of cards in sequence. The suit is indifferent in a straight.
Three of a kind
A very common hand is the combination of three identical cards. Remember that three identical cards can turn into a full house, which is a much more powerful combination than just the three of a kind-hand.
Two pairs
You can also get two pairs, and therefore have the fifth card “in surplus”. Two couples could be 6-6 and King-King. Hands with two pairs are frequently occurring. If more players are showing two pairs the player with the highest pair wins the round. As a natural result, if two players have the same highest pair, the player whose second pair is highest ranked wins.
Couples and High Card
These two hands are the lowest ranked and should not be considered winning hands unless a game turns out as unusual as the come. A pair is simply two cards of same rank. Finally, you can have a situation where no player has achieved any combinations! The pot goes to the player with the highest card on hand. Again, the second highest card becomes essential if multiple players have the same highest card and so on. In the unlikely situationwhere two or more players have the exact same combinations, the pot is split equally between the players.