In addition to a poker hand rankings chart, also provided are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding poker hand rankings, as well as the game of poker in general. A ‘Royal Flush’, otherwise known as a ‘Royal Straight Flush’ or ‘A Royal’, is the best possible hand in poker. Click the button on the right to get a cheat sheet that displays the traditional poker hand rankings, which are used in the most popular variants of poker (such as Texas Hold‘em). If you want to learn more about poker hands and rankings, read on. Click to jump to a section: Hand Rankings Cheat Sheet Chart. Without understanding the poker hand rankings, you won’t know whether your starting hand is strong or weak, and you may end up losing money as a result. There are ten different poker hands in total, starting with the highest-ranking Royal Flush to the single high card.

• Poker Hand Rankings List
• Poker Hand Rankings Pdf
• Poker Hand Rankings With Jokers

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.

In poker, players form sets of five playing cards, called hands, according to the rules of the game. Each hand has a rank, which is compared against the ranks of other hands participating in the showdown to decide who wins the pot. In high games, like Texas hold 'em and seven-card stud, the highest-ranking hands win.

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.

Poker Hand Rankings List

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.

Poker Hand Rankings Pdf

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.

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 Hand Rankings With Jokers

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”.