Poker Hand Rankings

Home > Poker Rules > Poker Hand Rankings

This page contains explanations of all poker hands and their rankings, from the Royal Flush down to a simple High Card.

It is essential to understand hand rankings as without doing so you will not know where the cards you are holding stand in relation to anyone else’s. Most poker variations contain the same hand rankings, be it Texas Hold’em, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Stud, Omaha or Draw Poker.

Poker Hands common to all Poker variations

A hand is won by the player with the strongest combination of cards. Details of all combinations are below each one with an example. The following abbreviations are used in the examples: C - Clubs, D - Diamonds, H - Hearts, S - Spades; J - Jack, Q - Queen, K - King, A - Ace.

	Royal Flush A straight run of cards in the same suit from ten up to ace. Example: 10S, JS, QS, KS, AS
	Straight Flush A straight run of cards in the same suit. Example: 7D, 8D, 9D, 10D, JD
	Four of a Kind Four of the same rank card regardless of suit. Example: JC, JD, JH, JS
	Full House Three of one rank card and two of another. If more than one player has a full house then the player with the highest ranking group of three wins. Example: QH, QS, KD, KC, KH
	Flush Five cards from the same suit, if more than one player has a flush then the player with the highest card wins. Example: AS, 5S, 7S, 9S, JS
	Straight Five cards in rank sequence regardless of suit. Five cards in sequence. If more than one player has a straight the player with the highest card wins, ace can be high or low (but not both in the same hand). Example: 8, 9, 10, J, Q.
	Three of a Kind Three cards of the same rank. Example: KH, KD, KC
	Two Pair Two pairs of cards of the same rank. If more than one player has Two Pair then the player with the highest ranking card outside of the pairs wins. Example: JC, JH, QS, QD
	One Pair A pair of the same rank. If more than one player has one pair then the highest pair wins. If two players have a pair of the same rank then the player with the highest card outside the pair wins. Example: 10C, 10S
	Highest Card If none of the players have any of the above then the player with the highest card wins.