You must know the order of poker hands to play Texas Hold ‘em and Omaha poker successfully. It won’t take very long to remember the order since there are only 10 different ranks. 3 of the poker hands on our list are very rare, so you only have to worry about 7 more common hands.
This guide will help you avoid making errors and misreading the strength of your hand. We’ll also tell you how to decide the winner if you have the same hand combination as your opponent.
This guide will order the poker hands from weakest to strongest, ending with the best hand in poker, the royal flush.
10. High Card
When your hole cards (the private cards you have) don’t connect with the community cards, you have a high card hand.
The best high card hand is ace-high, the next is king-high, and so on. If you and your opponent both have high card hands, the one with the higher card wins. So if your opponent has a lower high card hand, you win.
9. Pair
A pair is two cards that match, like King + King or 2 + 2.
There are a few different ways to make a pair in poker.
- You have a pocket pair: your hole cards match each other
- A hole card matches with community cards
- There is a pair among the community cards
With unpaired hole cards, you’ll make a pair on the flop about 29% of the time.
8. Two Pair
When there are two sets of pairs, that’s called two-pair.
You can have two-pair by matching both of your hole cards to cards on the board. If there is a pair on the board and one of your hole cards makes another pair, you have made two-pair. The final way to make two-pair happens when there are two pairs on the board, but your hole cards don’t match anything.
There’s about a 2% chance of pairing both your hole cards and making two-pair.
7. Three of a Kind
When you have three matching cards, that’s called three-of-a-kind. There are two ways to make three-of-a-kind.
Set
When players hold a pocket pair, they want to match it with another card among the community cards. The odds of matching a pocket pair with a 3rd card on the flop is 11.8%
Trips
If you hold King-10 and the flop comes 10-Queen-10, you’ve made “trips”. The chances of this happening are 1.35%.
6. Straight
Five consecutive cards make up a straight in poker. Higher straights are stronger than lower ones. For example, a straight from 5 to 9 beats a straight from 3 to 7.
If you are lucky enough to make a straight on the flop, congratulations.
You can expect to flop a straight 1.3% of the time. That percentage only applies to hands with four different ways to make a straight, like connectors. These connectors are hands like 5-4 and J-10, plus all combinations in between.
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5. Flush
When you have 5 cards that all have matching suits, that’s called a flush. The cards don’t need to be consecutive.
The higher cards you have, the higher flush you can make. The best possible flush contains the ace, which is also known as the nut flush.
Flushes are referred to by the highest card in the flush. If the highest card is a King, as our illustration shows, we call it a King-high flush.
As you can see by our example, higher flushes beat lower flushes.
Both opponents have king-high flushes, but one opponent has stronger cards included in theirs. A flush with K♠ Q♠ 8♠ + J♠ 9♠ is stronger than K♠ Q♠ 8♠ + 10♠ 7♠.
4. Full House
A full house is one of the best hands in poker. It’s made by having a mix of three-of-a-kind and one pair, creating a full five-card combination.
If you have a pocket pair, you have the best chance of making a full house (but it’s still unlikely).
The chance of flopping a full house while holding a pocket pair is 0.98%.
3. Four of a Kind
When four cards match in a hand of poker, that’s called four-of-a-kind. It’s one of the best hands and is only beaten by two other hand combinations or a higher four-of-a-kind. Winning is almost guaranteed.
You can also refer to four-of-a-kind as “quads”.
The odds are slim. You can expect to flop four-of-a-kind around 0.0256% of the time.
If you make four-of-a-kind, you have a practically unbeatable hand.
2. Straight Flush
A straight flush is a blend of two hands; a straight and a flush. It’s extremely hard to make this hand combination as the odds are not in your favor.
The chances of flopping a straight flush are obscenely low at just 0.02%. This percentage only applies if you are playing suited connectors, such as Jack-Ten of hearts or 5-6 of diamonds.
It’s possible to make a straight flush with any single card in your hand, but it’s much more likely with suited connectors.
1. Royal Flush
A royal flush is a very specific mix of straight and flush combinations. You’ll need a straight from 10 to Ace, with all cards having the same suit. For example, 10♥ J♥ Q♥ K♥ A♥ is a royal flush.
If you make a royal flush, winning is guaranteed. Don’t be surprised if you haven’t had one yet, the odds are not in your favor.
The chances of flopping a straight flush are extremely low at just 0.005%.
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