Before we get started, these are some basic poker rules that apply to most all poker games. First of all,
poker
is a 5 card game. You may play in games that have 7 cards or 9 cards or whatever, but you always use only the best
five cards to make your best poker hand. So these basic poker hand rankings apply to Texas Holdem, 5 card
draw, seven card
stud, etc.
Within each grouping, the
rank of all five of your cards will determine the winner. For example, if my opponent and I both have 1 pair, then whoever's pair is higher wins (ie - AA beats KK). If my opponent and I both have a straight, whoever's
straight is higher wins.
In the event of a tie, let's say a
pair of aces or an ace high
flush, you always look at all five cards for the tie-breaker.
For example, let's say I have an ace high
flush and so does my opponent.
Well, then we look at the second card. If we
both have an ace, king high
flush, then we look at the third card, and so on.
With 13 different cards and 4 suits, for 52 cards total, there is a total of 2,598,960 different possibilities of hands! Ever wonder why you never hit that
straight flush? Well there are only 40 different straight flushes (including royal flushes) which means 40 out of over 2.5 million possibilities, for a grand total of a 0.00154% chance.
Four of a kind is still rare, but over 15 times as likely, with 624 different combinations and a 0.024% chance. You have to play a lot of poker to be dealt those hands!
The rules of poker are pretty simple, this ranking or order of poker
hands determines the winner, with the Royal
Flush being the best hand (*note - this assumes no wild cards, ie - 5 Aces). Check out the order of poker hands below. I've included pictures of the poker
hands so you can see what each hand looks like:
Poker Hands Ranking
Those are the rankings of poker hands, from best to worst.
To the right, we'll make sure you understand the rank and order of these poker hands.
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