List of Standard Poker Hand Rankings

The goal of all Poker games is to obtain the best "hand" of them all. A hand is always a group of five cards that the player makes during a game or round of play. Below are the standard Poker hand rankings.

How were these hand rankings decided? Simple: Through mathematical probability, we know how rarer a hand combination is compared to other hands. The rarer a hand occurs, the higher its ranking. You won't see the highest ranking hands very often.

Notes on hand and card rankings:

- A hand always has five cards.

- Suits have no value in themselves.

- Cards take on their face values, 2-10, and Jack, Queen, King and Ace. An Ace can take on top or bottom ranking (1) depending on circumstances.

- Cards do not have to appear in order literally to qualify for a hand, so long as they are all present. For example, if you have a Straight Hand, you don't have to get the cards in sequence one after the other. They can come in any order so long as you complete the hand.

STANDARD POKER HAND RANKINGS

1) ROYAL FLUSH. The five highest ranking cards of the same suit. Ex: 10, J, Q, K and A of Clubs.

2) STRAIGHT FLUSH. This is when five consecutive cards (i.e. cards of succeeding rank) appear in a hand. Ex: 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of Hearts.

3) FOUR OF A KIND. Four cards of same type, with one card unmatched. Ex: All four K, plus a 3 of Diamonds.

4) FULL HOUSE. Three cards of same type plus two cards of same type. In other words, a Three of a Kind (see below) and a One Pair. Ex: J of Hearts, J of Clubs, J of Spades; and 8 of Diamonds and 8 of Clubs.

5) FLUSH. Five non-sequenced cards of the same suit. Ex: 3, 7, 10, Q and A of Spades.

6) STRAIGHT. Five sequenced cards of different suits. Ex: 7, 8, 9, 10 and Jack of various suits.

7) THREE OF A KIND. Three cards of the same type. Ex: 5 of Clubs, Hearts and Diamonds.

8) TWO PAIR. Two cards of same type, another two cards of same type, plus an unmatched card. Ex: A of Hearts and Spades, 6 of Diamonds and Clubs, and 8 of Hearts.

9) ONE PAIR. The lowest Poker hand of all is just two cards of the same type, the other three cards being unmatched. Ex: Q of Spades and Q of Hearts, with 7 of Clubs, 8 of Diamonds and 3 of Hearts.

Hands are always ranked first; individual card rankings are used only in case of a tie (say, two Two Pair hands) or no hand. No hand means none of the above combinations is present. I

When two hands are equal or when there is no hand, tiebreakers called "kickers" are used. This is when the individual rankings of cards matter. The player with the highest ranking single card wins the tiebreak.

These are the standard Poker hand rankings and these are used in other card games.