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Below is the complete guide for determining how to rank various poker hands. This article covers all poker hands, from hands in standard games of poker, to lowball, to playing with a variety of wild cards. Scroll to the end to find an in-depth ranking of suits for several countries, including many European countries and North American continental standards.

Standard Poker Rankings

A standard deck of cards has 52 in a pack. Individually cards rank, high to low:

Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

The following chart enumerates the (absolute) frequency of each hand, given all combinations of 5 cards randomly drawn from a full deck of 52 without replacement. Wild cards are not considered. In this chart: Distinct hands is the number of different ways to draw the hand, not counting different suits.; Frequency is the number of ways to draw the hand, including the same card values in. Poker Starting Hands - Comprehensive guide to which poker hands you should play, including a 2021 Texas Hold'em poker starting hands chart.

1. Poker Hands Chart Poker Hand Combinations Explained Poker hands fall into one of ten categories. The highest is a royal flush, followed by a straight flush, then four of a kind, a full house, a flush, a straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and finally a high card.
2. Poker hands Royal flush Straight flush Four of a kind Full house Flush Three of a kind Two pair Pair High card A royal flush is an ace high straight flush. A straight flush is a five-card straight, all in the same suit. Four of a kind, or quads, are four cards of equal value. A full house contains a set (3) of cards of one value and a pair of.

In standard poker (in North America) there is no suit ranking. A poker hand has 5 cards total. Higher ranked hands beat lower ones, and within the same kind of hand higher value cards beat lower value cards.

#1 Straight Flush

In games without wild cards, this is the highest ranking hand. It consists of five cards in sequence of the same suit. When comparing flushes, the hand with the highest value high card wins. Example: 5-6-7-8-9, all spades, is a straight flush. A-K-Q-J-10 is the highest ranking straight flush and is called a Royal Flush. Flushes are not permitted to turn the corner, for example, 3-2-A-K-Q is not a straight flush.

#2 Four of a Kind (Quads)

A four of a kind is four cards of equal rank, for example, four jacks. The kicker, the fifth card, may be any other card. When comparing two four of a kinds, the highest value set wins. For example, 5-5-5-5-J is beat by 10-10-10-10-2. If two players happen to have a four of a kind of equal value, the player with the highest ranking kicker wins.

#3 Full House (Boat)

A full house consists of 3 cards of one rank and 2 cards of another. The three cards value determines rank within Full Houses, the player with the highest rank 3 cards wins. If the three cards are equal rank the pairs decide. Example: Q-Q-Q-3-3 beats 10-10-10-A-A BUT 10-10-10-A-A would beat 10-10-10-J-J.

#4 Flush

Any five cards of the same suit. The highest card in a flush determines its rank between other flushes. If those are equal, continue comparing the next highest cards until a winner can be determined.

#5 Straight

Five cards in sequence from different suits. The hand with the highest ranking top card wins within straights. Ace can either be a high card or low card, but not both. The wheel, or the lowest straight, is 5-4-3-2-A, where the top card is five.

#6 Three of a Kind (Triplets/Trips)

A three of a kind is three card of equal rank and two other cards (not of equal rank). The three of a kind with the highest rank wins, in the event they are equal, the high card of the two remaining cards determines the winner.

#7 Two Pairs

A pair is two cards that are equal in rank. A hand with two pairs consists of two separate pairs of different ranks. For example, K-K-3-3-6, where 6 is the odd card. The hand with the highest pair wins if there are multiple two pairs regardless of the other cards in hand. To demonstrate, K-K-5-5-2 beats Q-Q-10-10-9 because K > Q, despite 10 > 5.

#8 Pair

A hand with a single pair has two cards of equal rank and three other cards of any rank (as long as none are the same.) When comparing pairs, the one with highest value cards wins. If they are equal, compare the highest value oddball cards, if those are equal continue comparing until a win can be determined. An example hand would be: 10-10-6-3-2

#9 High Card (Nothing/No Pair)

If your hand does not conform to any of the criterion mentioned above, does not form any sort of sequence, and are at least two different suits, this hand is called high card. The highest value card, when comparing these hands, determines the winning hand.

Low Poker Hand Ranking

In Lowball or high-low games, or other poker games which lowest ranking hand wins, they are ranked accordingly.

A low hand with no combination is named by it’s highest ranking card. For example, a hand with 10-6-5-3-2 is described as “10-down” or “10-low.”

Ace to Five

The most common system for ranking low hands. Aces are always low card and straights and flushes do not count. Under Ace-to-5, 5-4-3-2-A is the best hand. As with standard poker, hands compared by the high card. So, 6-4-3-2-A beats 6-5-3-2-A AND beats 7-4-3-2-A. This is because 4 < 5 and 6 < 7.

The best hand with a pair is A-A-4-3-2, this is often referred to as California Lowball. In high-low games of poker, there is often a conditioned employed called “eight or better” which qualifies players to win part of the pot. Their hand must have an 8 or lower to be considered. The worst hand under this condition would be 8-7-6-5-4.

Duece to Seven

The hands under this system rank almost the same as in standard poker. It includes straights and flushes, lowest hand wins. However, this system always considers aces as high cards (A-2-3-4-5 is not a straight.) Under this system, the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 (in mixed suits), a reference to its namesake. As always, highest card is compared first. In duece-to-7, the best hand with a pair is 2-2-5-4-3, although is beat by A-K-Q-J-9, the worst hand with high cards. This is sometimes referred to as “Kansas City Lowball.”

Ace to Six

This is the system often used in home poker games, straights and flushes count, and aces are low cards. Under Ace-to-6, 5-4-3-2-A is a bad hand because it is a straight. The best low hand is 6-4-3-2-A. Since aces are low, A-K-Q-J-10 is not a straight and is considered king-down (or king-low). Ace is low card so K-Q-J-10-A is lower than K-Q-J-10-2. A pair of aces also beats a pair of twos.

In games with more than five cards, players can choose to not use their highest value cards in order to assemble the lowest hand possible.

Hand Rankings with Wild Cards

Wild cards may be used to substitute any card a player may need to make a particular hand. Jokers are often used as wild cards and are added to the deck (making the game played with 54 as opposed to 52 cards). If players choose to stick with a standard deck, 1+ cards may be determined at the start as wild cards. For example, all the twos in the deck (deuces wild) or the “one-eyed jacks” (the jacks of hearts and spades).

Wild cards can be used to:

• substitute any card not in a player’s hand OR
• make a special “five of a kind”

Five of a Kind

Five of a Kind is the highest hand of all and beats a Royal Flush. When comparing five of a kinds, the highest value five cards win. Aces are the highest card of all.

The Bug

Some poker games, most notably five card draw, are played with the bug. The bug is an added joker which functions as a limited wild card. It may only be used as an ace or a card needed to complete a straight or a flush. Under this system, the highest hand is a five of a kind of aces, but no other five of a kind is legal. In a hand, with any other four of a kind the joker counts as an ace kicker.

Wild Cards – Low Poker

During a low poker game, the wild card is a “fitter,” a card used to complete a hand which is of lowest value in the low hand ranking system used. In standard poker, 6-5-3-2-joker would be considered 6-6-5-3-2. In ace-to-five, the wild card would be an ace, and deuce-to-seven the wild card would be a 7.

Lowest Card Wild

Home poker games may play with player’s lowest, or lowest concealed card, as a wild card. This applies to the card of lowest value during the showdown. Aces are considered high and two low under this variant.

Double Ace Flush

This variant allows the wild card to be ANY card, including one already held by a player. This allows for the opportunity to have a double ace flush.

Natural Hand v. Wild Hand

There is a house rule which says a “natural hand” beats a hand that is equal to it with wild cards. Hands with more wild cards may be considered “more wild” and therefore beat by a less wild hand with only one wild card. This rule must be agreed upon before the deal begins.

Incomplete Hands

If you are comparing hands in a variant of poker which there are less than five cards, there are no straights, flushes, or full houses. There is only four of a kind, three of a kind, pairs (2 pairs and single pairs), and high card. If the hand has an even number of cards there may not be a kicker.

Examples of scoring incomplete hands:

10-10-K beats 10-10-6-2 because K > 6. However, 10-10-6 is beat by 10-10-6-2 because of the fourth card. Also, a 10 alone will beat 9-6. But, 9-6 beats 9-5-3, and that beats 9-5, which beats 9.

Ranking Suits

In standard poker, suits are NOT ranked. If there are equal hands the pot is split. However, depending on the variant of poker, there are situations when cards must be ranked by suits. For example:

• Drawing cards to pick player’s seats
• Determining the first better in stud poker
• In the event an uneven pot is to be split, determining who gets the odd chip.

Typically in North America (or for English speakers), suits are ranked in reverse alphabetical order.

• Spades (highest suit), Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs (lowest suit)

Suits are ranked differently in other countries/ parts of the world:

• Spades (high suit), Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts (low suit)
• Hearts (high suit), Spades, Diamonds, Clubs (low suit) – Greece and Turkey
• Hearts (high suit), Diamonds, Spades, Clubs (low suit) – Austria and Sweden
• Hearts (high suit), Diamonds, Clubs, Spades (low suit) – Italy
• Diamonds (high suit), Spades, Hearts, Clubs (low suit) – Brazil
• Clubs (high suit), Spades, Hearts, Diamonds (low suit) – Germany

REFERENCES:

http://www.cardplayer.com/rules-of-poker/hand-rankings

https://www.pagat.com/poker/rules/ranking.html

https://www.partypoker.com/how-to-play/hand-rankings.html

Almost all variants of poker are based around a poker hand that’s made up of 5 cards. It is these 5 cards that determines who the winner is. Therefore, it is critical that you understand the ranking order of poker hands so that you know how strong your poker hand is compared to your opponents.

Royal Flush

This is the best possible hand you can get in poker and is unbeatable. It’s basically a “Straight Flush” that runs from Ace to Ten.

Straight Flush

Five cards in numerical order and are all of the same suit. This is similar to a “Royal Flush” with the only exception being that it does not contain an Ace. In instances where multiple players have a Straight Flush, the one with the highest high value card wins.

Four of A Kind (also known as “Quads”)

As the name suggests, it’s a combination of four cards of the same rank and a kicker (the fifth card).
In the event there are more than 1 player with this hand, the one comprised of the highest quads wins.

Five Card Poker Chart

In community card games, where players can use cards from the “board” (cards are placed faced up, and can be used by any player to create a best 5-card hand), and therefore it’s possible that multiple player can have “Four of a Find” made up from the same quads, then the player with the highest kicker wins.

Full House

Fourth in the poker hand rankings is the Full House. It is a combination of any three cards of the same numerical value and a pair of another value. When there’s multiple “Full House” hands, the one with the highest triplet wins. If players have the same triplets, then the one with the highest pair wins.

Flush

A “Flush” is a set of five cards with the same suit. The cards do not have to be in sequential order be a Flush. Between two or more flushes, the one with the highest high value card wins, with an “Ace-high Flush” being the strongest.

In the event that multiple hands have the same highest high value card, the winner is then determined by the second highest high value card, so on and so forth.

Straight

Any five cards in sequential order that is of different suits. Two Straights are compared by the value of their high cards. An ace can be used as the highest value card in the Straight, or the lowest value card in a Straight. For example, an Ace-high straight, like the one in our example, is the strongest Straight you can get (also known as a “Broadway” Straight). But a Straight consisting of Ace, two, three, four, five is considered the weakest Straight (also known as “Wheel” straight).

Three of a Kind (also known as “Trips” or “Set”)

A three of a kind is just a Full House without the additional pair. Meaning, the other 2 cards are of different values. When there are multiple “Three of a Kind”, the one with the highest triplet wins.

If players have the same triplets, then the winner is determined by the one with the highest value of the two remaining cards, and if multiple players have the same card here again, then the player with the second highest high value card wins.

Two Pairs

You probably can guess what this is. It’s simply Two Pairs of any value. In instances where there are more than 1 player with a Two Pairs, the winner is first determined by the one with the highest pair, then the highest second pair, then the kicker (fifth card).

One Pair

This hand consists of one pair of the same value cards, and 3 unrelated cards, all of different value. In the event of a tie, the hand with the highest pair wins. If players have the same highest pair, then the winner is determined by the hand with the highest value card of the 3 kickers, then the 2nd highest, then then 3rd.

High Card

If your hand doesn’t fall into any of the above categories, then what you have is a “High Card” hand and the value of the highest card in the hand determines the strength of this hand. So, a player with a 10 High Card would beat a player with a 8 High Card.

In instances where multiple players have the same highest high card, then it goes down the remaining four cards to determine who the winner is.

As shown in our example, the strongest High Card hand is a A, K, Q, J, 9.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. The ranking order is absolute, and there are no instances where a lower ranked hand would beat a higher ranked hand.

Your friend is wrong. Suits don’t play a role in determine the strength of a hand in poker. Only the numerical value of the card does. So in this example, since you both have the same two pairs, then the winner would be the one with the highest kicker (the fifth card). So, that would be you, because your 10 is higher than your friend’s 9.

No, it doesn’t. As we explained in the above question, suits play no roles in poker. This is same for the colour of a card.

What Beats What In Poker Printable

Even Though there are seven cards in total, you are only able to use 5 cards from the seven to create your strongest 5-card hand. Therefore, it’s not possible to have 3 pairs, which requires 6 cards. In this particular instance, what you have is a Two Pair hand.

Poker Card Value Chart

No, it doesn’t. Aces can only be used as a high card or a low card in the case of any poker hand that requires the numbers to be in a sequential order, such as a “Straight” or a “Straight Flush”. So, a “10, J, Q, K, A” is the highest Straight possible (also known as a “Broadway” Straight), and a “A, 2, 3, 4, 5” is the lowest Straight possible (also known as a “Wheel” Straight). But Aces cannot be used as a wraparound Straight, such as “K, A, 2, 3, 4”.