Poker Hands – What hand beats what?
People who know me well know that I love to play Texas Hold’em poker at any opportunity I get. Whether it is playing with friends on a Saturday night, playing online or going to a club for a weekly tournament, chances are I will do what I can to be involved. That being said, I am no Phil Ivey or Hoyt Corkins in the way I play but I am not the table fish either.
So I have decided to write few articles about poker and what I have learnt about this wonderful and at times frustrating game. This first article will be basic information about what hand beats what.
Texas Hold’em Poker uses a standard 52-card deck regardless of the number of players playing. The standard deck features 4 suits of cards (Spades, Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs) each with 13 face values. These face values are ranked highest to lowest as: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. It is important to note that an ace can count as both a low or high card.
The object of Texas Hold’em is to achieve the highest possible five card hand by using your two hole cards (the two cards you are dealt) and the five community cards on the table. There are many other elements of this game such as betting and bluffing however I won’t discuss them in this article. So how do you know how good your five card are? Below, I have listed the ranking of winning hands, starting with the strongest first and ending with the lowest ranked hand.
Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of the same suit
5 consecutive cards of the same suit (for example,5,6,7,8,9 of diamonds)
4 cards with the same value (for example, 8 of hearts, 8 of clubs, 8 of diamonds, 8 of spades)
3 of a kind and a pair, with the 3 of a kind being regarded first (for example, 7 of diamonds, 7 of clubs, 7 of hearts and 4 of spades and 4 of clubs)
Any 5 different cards of the same suit (for example 3, 5, 6, 9, J of hearts)
5 cards of any suit in consecutive order (for example, 7 of clubs, 8 of diamonds, 9 of clubs, 10 of hearts, J of spades)
3 cards with the same face value (for example, 10 of clubs, 10 of hearts, 10 of diamonds)
2 sets of pairs (for example, 2 of clubs, 2 of hearts and 6 of diamonds, 6 of hearts)
2 cards with the same face value (for example 3 of clubs and 3 of hearts)
In the event that no one has any of the above hands, the player with the highest card wins.
Kickers
Kickers are the leftover cards after a hand is declared. They determine who wins if players have the same hand. Since not all hands have “leftovers”, kickers only apply to four-of-a-kind, three-of-a-kind, two pair, one pair, and high card situations. Here is an example of how kickers work.
As you can see, both players have made two pairs – a pair of 2s and a pair of 10s – however, Player 1 will win because the kicker they hold is a 9 of Hearts, while for Player 2, it is the 7 of Clubs (from the community).
OK. So that’s it for now. In the next couple of weeks I will write some articles on strong starting hole cards, poker terms and how to bet strongly.