Poker Hands

The possible hands in standard five card poker, from the rarely seen Royal Flush to the more weak hand “High card”:

Royal Flush

This is the best possible hand you can have in ordinary five card poker. It consists of A K Q J and T, all in the same suit. (For example AKQJT all in clubs).

Straight flush

All five cards must be in same suit and be in a sequence as well. (For example 56789 of diamonds). If two straight flushes are against each other, the one with the highest card will win it.

Four of a kind

When four of your cards have the same value. (The last cards is not important, it could be anything). (For example 2222T). And the rule as in the straight flush applies in here; the hand with the higher value beats the lower one. (33337 wins over 2222K).

Full house

When you have three cards of the same value and two other cards of the same value in your hand, you have a full house. (For example KKK88). To determine which full house is better, you look at the value of the three cards. If these are the same, the value of the other two cards will decide the winner (99922 wins over 888KK and JJJTT wins over JJJ77).

Flush

When you have all five cards in one suit, you have a flush, and this could be any five cards. When comparing flushes, the hand with the highest card in the flush will win it. If the highest card is equal, the second highest card in the flush will determine the hand, and so on. (For example AKJ92 all in clubs will win over AKT83 all in clubs). The suit doesn’t matter, it has the same value.

Straight

When you have all five cards in a sequence but not in the same suit you have a straight. To determine the winning hand between two straights you look which straight has the highest value. So AKQJT is the best possible straight you can have. The Ace can count as the low card of a straight as well, making the worst straight; A2345. Though, you can’t count an ace in the middle, like JQKA2, this is an invalid hand and does not count as a straight.

Three of a kind

When you have three cards in the same value you have three of a kind, often called “a set” (For example 44479 is a set of fours). To determine which set is the winning hand, you compare the value of the three cards. If they are the same, then the higher of the two remaining cards in each hand compares, and if those are equal, the lower odd card is compared.

Two pair

When you have a pair, it means that you have two cards with the same value. When you got two pair, the two pairs are in different values, and there is an odd card making up your hand to five cards. When you want to determine the winner between two hands with two pair, you will first look at the highest pair. (For example, AA227 wins over KKQQ9). If these are equal, you will look at the second pair, (AA993 wins over AA775). And if it’s still the same, you will compare the last card. (9988K wins over 9988J)

Pair

When you have a pair, it means that you have two cards with the same value, and the three other cards do not match up to either these two cards or each other. (For example KKT74). If the pairs are equal, you have to compare the highest value of the odd cards from each hand; if these are equal you need to compare the second highest odd card and so on.

High card

Some times your five cards don’t match up to nothing written above, and when two hands like that are compared to each other, the hand with the highest card will win. If the highest cards are equal the second cards are compared and so on. This will mean that AJT74 will win over AJT73, just because the last card in the first hand is higher.