Poker Hands

In the game of poker, definite grouping of hands or cards which is given higher rank than other hands that depends on the occurrence with which these groupings emerge. At the end in this game, if one or more than one player remains after completing all the betting rounds, remaining players show their cards and then the hands are compared in order to determine the winner. This stage is known as the shutdown. These rankings of hand are also used in different types of other card games.

Poker hands mean the best combination of five cards which includes both communal and non-communal cards which the player is having according to the rules. In other words, poker hands can be described as a single round of game which includes one or more betting rounds, a deal and a shutdown.

General Rules of Poker Hands

One can follow these general rules before applying to poker hands such as:-

• First of all, all the cards are ranked in the sequence that is high to low. Then these cards are arranged which contain no pairs or special groupings. In Ace-to-five and Ace-to-six lowball games, Ace is ranked in the last position.
• The suits of the cards are generally used to evaluate whether a hand will be fit into a certain category or not. In most of the variants, when two of the players have hands which are alike excluding the suit, then they are considered to be united and divide the pot.
• In this game, when each player is having more than five cards, then the five card subset chooses the hands according to the rules of the game. The remaining cards after choosing the five are of no significance in evaluating the winner.
• The ranking of hands is done firstly by category and then it is ranked by individual card ranks.

Standard Ranking of Poker Hands

Straight Flush

This is one of the poker hands like K, Q, J, 9 and 8 which includes five cards in order and should be of the same suit. Then these two hands are compared according to their high card. The combination such as 7, 6, 5, 4, A is said to be a five high straight flush.

Full House

This is also called as full boat or a boat. In order to make a full house, one should contain three cards of one rank and should match along with two matching cards of other rank. It is ranked over a flush and beneath four of a kind.

Flush

This poker hand includes five cards of the similar suit which is not ranked in order. It is ranked over a straight and under a full house.

Three of a Kind

This poker hand includes three cards of the similar rank along with two cards which should not match. It is ranked over two pairs and under a straight.

High Card

This poker hand includes five cards which should not be of the same suit, no two cards should have the same rank and the five cards should not also be in the order.