There are many poker hands used in games like Omaha or Texas Holdem or other poker-based casino games. While you don’t need to be a master of every single hand, it’s always good to familiarize yourself with them!
If you’ve just started to play poker and want a quick run-through of the different hands, this article covers everything you need to know. These poker hand rankings classify the strength of the different hands that you can play.
They are also an essential aid for all in-game decision-making whether you’re playing in an online casino like Fanduel.com or a brick-and-mortar casino.
Here’s a quick guide to understanding the different hands in poker. We’ve ranked them in order at your convenience.
Table of Contents
Royal Flush
If a tie occurs, the highest rank at the top of the sequence will win. But if a player has a royal flush, there’s no question that they will wind up victorious!
As its name suggests, the royal flush is the strongest and best hand possible in a game of poker. It’s also the most unbeatable top hand. You have a royal flush when you have an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and a 10 all from the same suit.
The overall odds of getting this hand are 649,740 to one. However, the chances you will pull a specific royal flush is around 2,698,960:1. You’re almost five times more likely to be struck down by lightning than you are to achieve the same royal flush hand twice!
Straight Flush
A straight flush involves having five cards (all playable) that are in numerical order in the same suit. It can only be beaten by a straight royal flush or another type of straight flush such as that with higher-ranking cards. It’s a pretty rare hand to have in a game of poker, especially for a beginner. The chance of getting a straight flush stands at around 72,192:1.
Four Of A Kind
The four-of-a-kind hand, or ‘quads,’ consists of four cards of equal value in addition to another card referred to as a side card. This hand consists of the same card in all four suits, with the five-card hand completed by the highest card among the others that are on the table or in your hand.
If two players share the same Four of a Kind then the fifth card will be the decider of who wins the pot. The bigger the card, the better! The chances of getting this hand are 4,164:1.
Full House
Also known as a full boat or a full hand, a full house hand contains three cards of one particular suit and a separate pair of the same rank card in two suits. If more than one player achieves a full house then the winning hand will be the one with the higher or overall highest value three-of-a-kind cards. The overall odds of drawing a full house is 693:1.
Flush
You have a flush hand if all five cards are of the same suit. The thing that characterizes this hand is that the cards aren’t typically in a sequence – like a king-ten-high flush. It usually ranks below a full house but above a straight hand but its overall ranking is determined by the highest straight card and not the suit. The odds of achieving a flush hand are roughly 508:1.
Straight
A straight is a poker hand that contains five cards in sequence. The suits don’t matter when making a straight, and the highest card usually determines the strength of the hand. It is often good enough to win the pot in the majority of poker games.
Drawing Ace-to-five is the lowest possible straight while drawing ten-to-ace is the highest. In a standard 52-card deck, the odds of drawing a straight are 254:1.
Three Of A Kind
The odds of drawing a three-of-a-kind hand is around 46.3:1. The three-of-a-kind hand contains five cards in total. Three of these cards are of the same rank and two of the cards are not of the same rank. The two highest cards available besides the three of a kind are what complete the hand.
Two Pairs
This one is a little self-explanatory. As its title suggests, having two pairs is much better than only having one pair. If you have two separate pairs of similar-ranking cards in this five-card hand then you will have two sets of cards in your hand. The highest-ranked remaining card will complete the hand. The total odds of pulling this type of hand is about 20:1.
One Pair
If you’ve got two cards of a similar rank in your five-card hand then you’ll have one pair. The rest of the hand is formed from the three highest available ranked cards. This is one of the easiest hands to get. It also happens to be one of the most common ones when playing poker, giving it overall odds of 1.37 to one.
High Card
This is the lowest-ranked hand of all that occurs when you have five cards that don’t interact with one another to make any of the other poker hands on the list.
In this instance, the highest card is looked at. The cards in a suit are ranked from the lowest to the highest.
If you nor your opponent has any of these hands then your highest value cards will be compared. If yours is better, you’ll win! If it’s similar then judgment will fall to your second highest card.
The total odds of pulling these cards is almost 2:1.
Summary
These are the different hands in poker that you must know about and fully understand. There is a lot of information to remember when playing a game of poker that may sometimes make the game seem a little overwhelming. But provided you understand what these hands are, and how to play them, you’ll be on your way to success in no time.
