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While there are many variations of poker, each with its own unique twist on scoring and card values, many things stay constant. Poker hands tend to follow the same general ranking of best to worst, whether you’re playing Texas Hold’em or Video Poker.
(image courtesy of BoDog Poker)
As you can see, the best possible hand is a Royal Flush (10, J, Q, K, and A of the same suit). In the incredibly unlikely event that two players both have a royal flush (or any other tie of completely equal value), the pot is split. In most poker variations, this is simply impossible.
Second best is a Straight Flush: the same suit, with any five consecutive cards. The high card determines the winner of any tie (still very unlikely), so a Five-high or Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 straight (a “steel wheel“) loses to a Six-high straight, and so on.
Third place belongs to Four of a Kind. Obviously, two players with this hand will immediately know which of them wins by the value of the Kind…but with Hold’em games or wild cards, you may still need the “kicker” (the card that isn’t part of the Four) to determine a winner.
Full House comes next, a Three of a Kind plus a Pair. Highest of the three wins most ties (except for two equal sets of three…which are won by the higher pair).
Next is just plain Flush: all cards of the same suit, in no particular order. Ties are won by high card, or second highest card if necessary (and so on).
A Straight is the opposite: all cards in order, of no particular suit. A Five-high straight (Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, a “Wheel“) is beat by an Ace-high straight (10, J, Q, K, Ace, a “Broadway“) or any other higher-card straight. Total ties split the pot, same as the big boys.
Three of a Kind beats Two Pair, which beats one Pair. Ties of each hand are decided by higher value, or one or more kickers if necessary.
If all else fails, a “High Card” (or highest two cards, or three and so on if necessary), wins the pot. It’s a “garbage hand“, but the best garbage hand wins.
The only exceptions to these rules are wild cards (which don’t change the ranking order, though they slightly complicate matters — Five of a Kind is possible, becoming the highest possible hand), and lowball games such as Razz which turn poker hand rankings upside-down. We’ll cover that in more detail in the Razz section).