What Is The Best Hand To Have In Poker

What Is The Best Hand You Can Get In Poker
What Is The Best Hand To Have In Poker Tournaments
What Beats What In Poker Printable

Best Starting Poker Hands. Knowing your winning poker hands is crucial if you want to play a solid game of poker – and below, we share how to determine whether or not you have a winner on your hand! Texas Hold’em: The best starting hand is a pair of Aces. A pair of aces (also known as pocket rockets) are a favourite pre-flop over any other. Which Is The Best Hand In Poker should know: Penalties involved- always find out what penalties you will face should you want to play an unauthorised game or cash our early. Maximum cash out- know how much you Which Is The Best Hand In Poker can withdraw when using this casino bonus although the amount usually ranges from $50 with no upper limit.

Pocket aces is the best starting hand in poker. When you’re dealt pocket aces you’ve got the best hand pre-flop, period. One of the best things about pocket aces is that you dominate other strong starting hands like KK, QQ and JJ so there’s huge potential to win a massive pot.

Do you want to know what beats what in poker? Use the official poker hands rankings chart and seem them from best to worst!

Whether you play live at your local casino or card room, you have your home game going, or you prefer the online action at websites like PokerStars, 888Poker, or partypoker, you need to learn the order of poker hands from best to worse.

Use the list of poker hands below to know what beats what in poker.

Commit this poker hands ranking list to memory today and print it if you need it (there's a button for it at the bottom). Knowing the correct poker hands rank is key to start making winning poker hands.

Poker Hands From Best To Worst

1. Royal Flush	10JQKA	The best possible hand in Texas hold'em is the combination of ten, jack, queen, king, ace, all of the same suit
2. Straight Flush	56789	Five cards of the same suit in sequential order
3. Four of a kind	3333K	Any four numerically matching cards
4. Full house	JJJKK	Combination of three of a kind and a pair in the same hand
5. Flush	2459K	Five cards of the same suit, in any order
6. Straight	A2345	Five cards of any suit, in sequential order
7. Three of a kind	77745	Any three numerically matching cards
8. Two pair	99KK4	Two different pairs in the same hand
9. One pair	10103QK	Any two numerically matching cards
10. High card	K248Q	The highest ranked card in your hand with an ace being the highest and two being the lowest

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Not Sure What Beats What in Poker?

Many consider poker less of a gambling game than other casino games. For that to be true, players need to improve their understanding of game play and the strategy required to be a winning player.

The first step toward learning how to play poker is to learn the poker hand rankings.

Most poker players have these rankings memorized, which allows them to think about other things at the table when deciding the best way to play their hands.

The good news is these hand rankings tend to be the same among a wide variety of poker variants, whether it is Texas Hold'em, Omaha, seven-card stud, or other games.

All of those games use the same traditional poker hand rankings that were first developed way back in the 19th century when five-card draw first started to be played.

On this page, you find a complete list of poker hand rankings going from the highest possible hand (the Royal Flush), down to the lowest hand in which there is no pair among the five cards.

Hand rankings in poker correspond to the likelihood of making such hands.

A royal flush, consisting of the cards ranked ace through ten all being the same suit, is extremely rare — in fact, some players go their entire lives without making a royal flush.

A regular straight flush with any five consecutive cards of the same suit is a little less rare, four of a kind occurs slightly more frequently, and so on.

Notice that a full house is ranked higher than a flush.

That's because a full house comes just a little less frequently than a flush, thereby making it the higher-ranked hand of the two.

Additional readings for beginners:

Poker Tips: A collection of tips 'to bring your game from 'meh' to amazing' created to help beginners become better players.
Texas Hold'em Strategy: a complete manual to read as soon as you start to remember what beats what in poker.
Poker starting hands chart: the only article you need to read to learn how to use your cards to the fullest.

Understanding Winning Poker Hands

Players new to the game of Texas hold'em often struggle, at least at first, with what the best poker hands are.

Once they have read this easy-to-digest guide that will no longer be the case.

The aim of Texas hold'em is to make the best five-card poker hand at showdown.

You can win without having to show your cards if you force someone to fold before the river. Nonetheless, for the purpose of this article, we'll pretend that we've gone to showdown and need to know what beats what in poker.

Winning Poker Hands: What Are The Best Hands In Poker?

First up is the weakest possible holding you can make in poker, a hand that can still win you the pot, although the likelihood of that happening decreases in a pot involving multiple players.

We are of course talking about high card.

As the name suggests, you don't even hold a pair here and instead are using the highest card among the five you are playing.

Example:

You have and the board has come .

Your best five-card hand would be where you would hold queen-high.

Next up is one pair, one of the more common Texas hold'em hands and one that will win you plenty of pots.

Example:

You have and the board comes .

Your five-card hand is — you have a pair of aces. Nice poker hand!

One place higher up on the poker hands chart is two pair.

Example:

You have and the five community cards are .

Your best five-card hand at showdown is or two pair, tens and nines.

One note of warning on this specific poker hand: if you are verbally declaring your hand, try to announce the higher pair first as to help avoid confusion.

Good Poker Hands

Now we're getting into the realm of the best poker hands because once you make three-of-a-kind (sometimes called a set or trips), you are much more likely to win the pot than with any of the previously mentioned hands.

Example:

Your five-card poker hand is — you have three-of-a-kind kings, often a very powerful hand in hold'em.

To beat three-of-a-kind you're going to need at least a straight.

A straight is five consecutive cards where at least one of them is a different suit from the others.

Example:
Should your hand read you would hold a six-high straight.

If someone held a seven-high straight, then that player would win the hand.

There are two straights that have nicknames that are worth remembering.

A wheel is a straight that runs from ace-to-five, and a Broadway straight — the strongest straight — runs from ten-to-ace.

A flush is one of the most powerful Texas hold'em hands because it is only beaten by a handful of others.

Any hand that that has five cards of the same suit is a flush.

Aces are always high when it comes to flushes, which means a hand such as beats .

There are few hands that can beat a flush — one that does is a full house. Also called a 'boat,' a full house is when your five-card hand is made up of three of a kind plus a pair.

Example:

With you have kings full of deuces, while is fives full of queens.

When it comes to full houses, the higher three of a kind determines which hand wins, so in this case 'kings full' would beat 'fives full.'

The Stronger Hands in Poker

The next three holdings are so rare that if you hold them, you can almost guarantee that they are winning poker hands.

Four of a kind is the minimum holding you'll need to beat someone with a full house.

Again, as the name suggests, four of a kind means having four cards of the same rank.

Example:

is four-of-a-kind tens and an extremely powerful holding.

Your only way to beat four of a kind, or 'quads' as they are often called, is to hold either a straight flush or a Royal Flush.

The former is five consecutive cards all of the same suit, so would be an eight-high straight flush and practically unbeatable.

If you manage to make (or the same holding in any of the other three suits), you have a Royal Flush and the only way to lose the hand would be to fold by accident!

Poker Hands Probability

If you are into numbers (most poker players are), you might be wondering about the probability of poker hands.

We said that she platers might go entire lives without ever getting the highest hand in poker but, looking at the numbers, what are the odds of a Royal Flush?

In this section of our complete analysis of the poker hand ranking and what beats what in poker, you get a clear overview of the probability of poker hands.

How to calculate the probability of poker hands?

When you know that there are 52 cards in play and 2,598,960 possible combinations, the calculation is easy.

You just need to divide the number of possibilities to build a specific poker hand by the number of total poker hands.

Let's run a few examples:

What are the odds of a Royal Flush? 0.000,001,539
(4/2,598,960)

What are the odds of a Straight Flush? 0.000,015,39
(40/2,598,960)

Use the table below to calculate the probabilities of all poker hands.

Poker Hand	No. Ways	Probability
Royal Flush	4	0.000,001,539
Straight Flush	40	0.000,015,39
Four-of-a-Kind	624	0.000,240,1
Full House	3,744	0.001,440,58
Flush	5,108	0.001,965,4
Straight	10,200	0.003,924,65
Three-of-a-Kind	54,912	0.021,128,45
Two Pairs	123,552	0,047,539,02
One Pair	1,098,240	0,422.569.03

Absolute Value vs. Relative Value of Poker Hands

It should be noted also that while poker hand rankings never change, sometimes circumstances can make a good hand less valuable and a poor hand more valuable.

In other words, when it comes to poker hands there's a difference between absolute value (reflected in the list of poker hands above) and relative value.

For instance, in a game of Texas hold'em, if you have two pair that might seem like a good hand.

But if your opponent keeps betting into you and it's possible he could have a straight or flush, your two pair is no longer looking so good.

Meanwhile, if you have just one pair but your opponent keeps checking to give you a free play at the pot, you might well have the strongest hand and should bet your hand.

The 'absolute' value of your hand may not be great, but in that case the 'relative' value very well could be.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that in some games like razz, deuce-to-seven triple draw, Badugi, and others you might encounter when playing online poker, the hand rankings listed below do not apply.

These hand rankings are for regular or 'high-card' games, not 'lowball' games with alternate hand rankings.

Poker Hand Rankings F.A.Q.

What is the order of poker hands?

As shown in the poker hand rankings chart, the order of poker rankings (from the highest to the lowest) is: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, High Card.

What is the best hand in poker?

The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker. To have a Royal Flush, you need an Ace, a King, a Queen, a Jack, and a 10. All the cards that compose the hand need to be of the same suit.

What beats what in poker?

As you can see in our poker hand rankings chart, the hands in poker follow a clear hierarchy.

In a game of poker, the hand rankings work as follows:

a pair beats a high card;
a two pair beats a one pair;
a three-of-a-kind beats a two pair;
a straight beats a three-of-a-kind;
a flush beats a straight;
a full house beats a flush;
a four-of-a-kind beats a full house;
a straight flush beats a four-of-a-kind;
a Royal Flush beats a straight flush.

The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker, so no one other hands beat this one.

What is a straight in poker?

You have a straight when all the five cards that compose your poker hand are consecutive ones. E.g. 5-6-7-8-9.

If the cards are of the same suit, you have a straight flush, which is a considerably stronger hand compare d to the simple straight.

What beats a straight in poker?

Although many see the straight as a stronger hand, there are many other poker hands that beat it.

The list of hands that beat a straight includes:

a flush;
a full house;
a four-of-a-kind;
a straight flush;
a Royal Flush.

What beats a flush in poker?

The list of hands that beat a flush includes:

a full house;
a four-of-a-kind;
a straight flush;
a Royal Flush.

What beats a full house in poker?

The list of hands that beat a full house includes:

a four-of-a-kind;
a straight flush;
a Royal Flush.

What is the highest suit in poker?

All the suits in poker have the same value. In some games, different suits can be assigned different values.

When that happens, the value is as follow (from the lowest to the highest): clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. In that case, spades is the highest suit.

How many poker hands are there?

The total number of poker hands in a game of poker is 2,598,960. Since a game of poker uses a 52-card deck of French cards, there are 2,598,960 different possible combinations (aka. poker hands).

What hands to play in poker?

The type of hands to play in a poker game depends on the game you play and other factors like your position in the hand, your stack, and the action at the table.

In a famous poker strategy article, professional player Jonathan Little shared which hands to play in poker and how to play marginal hands.

Can you make three pairs?

Although it is possible to hold a pair in your hand and then have another two pair appear among the five community cards, you can only use a total of five cards to make your poker hand, so you don't win anything for three pairs.

Which is better, a set or trips?

They are both essentially the same hand because they are both three of a kind.

The terminology 'set' is used when you have a pair as your hole cards and then catch another one of those cards on the board.

'Trips' is when there is a pair on the board and you have another of those cards as one of your hole cards.

Sets are easier to disguise than trips so many consider them to be a better hand, although they both rank the same.

What is a chopped or split pot?

If you and an opponent have the same five-card poker hand, then the pot is divided equally between you.

Say you have and your opponent has , and the board comes .

You both would be playing the same five-card hands in terms of their value (A-J-T-8-3), and so would split the pot.

If there is four of a kind on the board, who wins?

Because the aim is to make a five-card poker hand, whoever has the highest fifth card in this case wins.

If the board reads and you have in your hand and your opponent has , then you win because you hand is 7-7-7-7-A and your opponent's is 7-7-7-7-K.

You would also win even if your opponent holding was in this example.

Are the suits ranked in Texas hold'em?

No, they are not. Some poker variants have different ranks for suits, but hold'em is not one of them.

Why did my 4-4-4-T-T lose to my opponent's 7-7-7-8-8?

As mentioned earlier, it is the three-of-a-kind element of a full house that dictates the winner.

If you're new to the game and want a reference of all of Texas hold'em hands, you can keep this page open or you could always download and print our poker hands ranking chart and keep it next to you while you're playing poker.

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When two players appear to have the same hand in poker, deciding who is the winner is not always easy. I’ve played for over 10 years and will show you how to determine whether there is a winner or if there it is a tie.

What happens if you have the same hand in poker? If two or more players have the same hand the high card determines the winner. For straights or flushes, the highest top card is declared the winner. For one pair and two pair hands, the highest kicker wins. If players have the same 5-card hand, it is a tie and the pot is split equally.

Sometimes the basics are not enough and further explanation is needed. Let’s go through all the possible hands and show how a tiebreaker is handled for each and every possible situation in poker.

Poker Tiebreaker Rules

Having a tie in poker is actually a fairly rare thing. For the purposes of this article we will focus on ties in Texas Hold’em. However, the methodology works for any form of poker.

Who Wins If No One Has a Pair? High Card Tiebreaker Rules

The easy way to determine who wins if no one has even a pair is for everyone to put their hands in order from high to low. Then, simply start at the top and work your way down until the tie is broken. The highest non-tie card wins.

High-Card Tiebreaker Examples:

AJT85 beats AJT82
T8542 Beats T7653
85432 Beats 76542
K6542 Beats K6532

What Happens If Two Players Have the Same One-pair Hand?

If two or more players have the same pair, you use the same methodology as you do for high-card hands. The next highest non-tie card determines the winner.

One-Pair Tiebreaker Examples:

KKT75 beats KK942
88652 Beats 88642
AAK83 Beats AAK82

Who Wins in Poker If Both Players Have 2 Pair? Two-Pair Tiebreaker Rules

Two pair winners are really easy to determine, the player with the higher pair wins. For example, JJ22 beats TT99.

If both players have the same two pair, it is also easy to figure out the winner since there is only one kicker. Whichever kicker is higher wins.

Two-Pair Tiebreaker Examples:

7733A beats 55442
JJTT8 beats JJTT5
8822A beats 8822K

Three of a Kind Tiebreaker Rules

The person with the highest three of a kind wins. If two players have the same three of a kind, then the kickers are used to determine the tiebreaker.

Three of a Kind Tiebreaker Examples:Which Hand Is Best in High-Low Poker?

TTT92 beats 77743
QQQT2 beats QQQ76

What Happens If Two Players Have a Straight or Flush?

If two or more players have a straight or flush, whoever has the top card wins.

Straight & Flush Tiebreaker Examples:

76543 beats 5432A (Ace is a one in this case)
J♠ 9♠ 5♠ 3♠ 2♠ beats T♠ 8♠ 7♠ 6♠ 4♠

What If Two Players Have a Full House?

To break a tie with a full house, whoever has the highest “trips” parts of their hand wins. The “pair” part of the hand does not matter except as a tiebreaker. If the pairs are the same as well, then the hand is a tie and the pot is split.

Full House Tiebreaker Examples:

TTT22 beats 777AA
555JJ beats 444KK
QQQ33 beats QQQ22

Four of a Kind, Straight Flushes, and Royal Flushes

Unless the hand is on the board, it is extremely rare for there to be two players with the same ultra-premium hand like four of a kind, a straight flush, or a royal flush. However, it is easy to decide who is the winner.

Four of a kind – The highest four of a kind hand wins
Straight flush– Usually when this happens, one player will have the top of the straight flush and the other the bottom. The top wins.
Royal flush– The only time it is possible for two players to have a royal flush is if it is on the board. Even if it was possible, two royal flushes is always a tie. Contrary to what some people believe, one suit does not beat another suit unless a specific local rule dictates it.

What Happens If Players Have the Same Hand Even After a Tiebreaker?

Can there be a tie in poker? In poker, if no winner can be determined with a tiebreaker, then the hand is declared a tie and the tied players split the pot. The most frequent time there is a tie in poker is where the board is paired twice and two or more players each have the same high card.

Examples of tied hands:

One player has AK and the other has AQ and the board is J2255. Each player has A2255 and for a tie.
One player has A8 and another has A6. The final board is AQJJ9. Both players have a pair of Aces with kickers of QJJ9. They would split the pot.
One player has 98 and the other has 92. The final board is AKQT5. Both players have the high card hand AKQT9. The pot is once again split between them.

What If the Best Hand Is on the Board?

If no part of anyone’s hand can break the tie, then the pot is split equally among the players with live cards. This commonly happens when there is a straight or a flush on the board. This is known as “playing the board.”

How Do We Split up the Pot?

The easiest method to split up a pot in poker is to start with the highest chip color and work your way down. If there is an uneven number of a color, you pull in enough from the next lowest amount to even it up. Then start the process again with the next highest color available.

What If There Is an Uneven Amount in the Pot?

What Is The Best Hand You Can Get In Poker

If there is an extra chip left over after the pot has been split, then the first player seated clockwise from the dealer gets it. In heads-up, the player who was the Big Blind gets the extra chip.

Which Hand Is Best in High-Lo Poker?

What is the best hand you can get in poker

There are a few variations of poker, namely Omaha Hi-Lo where the low hand wins half of the pot. In this case, whoever can make the lowest possible hand that isn’t a straight wins. 5-4-3-2-A is known as the “nut low.” and is a really strong hand in Hi-Lo games.

In order to qualify for a low hand, the highest card has to be 8 or lower. 86532 qualifies but 95432 does not.

What Are Common Tie-Breaker Mistakes?

In pub poker or home games, I see people scoop a pot quite frequently when it was supposed to be a tie. The most common time this happens is when someone is dominated and then their kicker is counterfeited at some point during the hand.

Here are some examples:

AQ vs. A2– Board runs out A588K, which means they both are holding two pair Aces and eights with a King kicker. I have witnessed the pot be pushed to the AQ guy and the next hand be about to start before anyone notices.

66 vs. 44– Board runs out KTT7K, which means they both are playing the board with two-pair, Kings over Tens with a seve kicker. I swear, I wish the guy with 66 would notice the counterfeiting just one time. I’ve seen supposedly “experienced” players not even understand that 66 and 44 are tied here.

AA vs. AK– Board runs out 97568, with a straight on the board it’s a split pot. Yet you’d be surprised how often the guy with AA will try to drag in the entire pot.