Poker hand ranking is one of the most valuable and essential elements of the game of poker. Not only is poker rank essential to the game, it is also essential to whether or not you win or lose when in competition against other players. The following poker hand ranks will get you into the winner’s circle with the winning hand in poker game online.
The top poker hand ranking in any game is the royal flush. A royal flush occurs when your card hand has five cards that are all spades, clubs, diamonds, or hearts. A good example of a royal flush would be 10-Jack-Queen-King-Ace, all diamonds. The “royal” flush will most naturally include the King, Queen, and Jack, since the King and Queen belong to the royal family in any country. The “flush” ranks beneath the royal and straight flushes and allows cards of the same suit without any numerical order-for example, 5-6-2-4-3.
The next hand ranking is a straight flush. This consists of cards in numerical order, all of one suit. A good example of a straight flush would be 2-3-4-5-6, all hearts. The royal flush outweighs the straight flush, since the King and Queen are worth more than the number cards of any suit.
Four of a Kind occurs with four of a single number (such as four 7s). The “kind” refers to the number not the suit: that is, you can have four 7s, all from different suits, and still have “four of a kind.” The three of a kind, another poker hand ranking, require three of the same number-yet, like four of a kind, the suits can vary.
The full house is the next poker hand ranking on the list of descending poker hands. A full house occurs when you have three of the same kind plus a pair of a single number. A good example of a full house would be 8-8-8-J-J. In this example, the three 8s can come from any of the four suits. You could have three 8s, one 8 a spade, another a club, and the last 8 a diamond, and you would still have three of a kind. The last pair that forms the full house has two of a single number. In the above example, the full house hand has two “Jacks,” but could also have two “Kings” or two “Queens.”
The Straight is next on the list of hand rankings. A straight has five cards in ascending numerical order of various suits. For example, you could have a three of spades, four of diamonds, five of clubs, six of diamonds, and a seven of hearts to constitute a straight. What makes this poker hand a straight is the numerical order from 3 to 7, not that all cards bear the same suit.
Other poker hand rankings consist of the two pair and the high hand. These rankings can aid you, no matter the poker game. Know these before you play the game, and you will be one step closer to victory.
Most rankings list the hands from highest to lowest, but here they are shown from lowest to highest, as this is how you will encounter them most often. It is often noted that Las Vegas poker is played by slightly different rules than casinos in Europe, but all online games have agreed to use the Las Vegas Rules, as do the Texas Hold’Em poker tournaments shown on TV including the World Poker Tour and others. These rules for card games were first written down for live card games by Robert Ciaffone in 1984, and have become the standard for online poker and other games of chance played with cards.
