Learn the Different Poker Hands
Thanks to the Internet and wide media coverage of multi-million dollar pot tournaments, poker has become one of the most popular card games in the world. If you would like to join the countless number of people who aspire to become successful poker players someday, you must first learn the various poker hand rankings before you even try to play in real money poker games.
To start off, a poker hand generally refers to the five cards that a player is holding. The first step in learning the various poker hand rankings is recognizing the value of the cards. The highest ranking card is the Ace followed by the King, Queen, Jack, 10 going all the way down to card number 2.
While no particular suit is more important that the others, cards of the same suit will be the basis in making a winning arrangement of cards. If, by any chance, two or more players obtain the same winning hand, then they share the pot.
The highest poker hand ranking with the maximum value is the "Royal Flush," which is basically a five-card hand of the same suit forming a pattern like for instance: Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 all spades. The next highest ranking poker hand is the "Straight Flush," which refers to five sequentially ordered cards of the same suit, like for instance: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 all spades. "Four of a Kind" refers to four cards of the same value, like for instance: 4, 4, 4, 4, 7.
A "Full House" is composed of three cards of the same value and a pair such as: 4, 4, 4, 7, 7. A "Simple Flush" is composed of five cards of the same suit in no particular sequence, such as: K, J, 2, 8, 5 all spades. A "Straight" is composed of five cards of different suits but in sequential order, like: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4. "Three of a Kind" pertains to three cards of the same value and two differently valued cards like: J, J, J, 4, 7. A "Two Pair" is composed of two different pairs of cards and one card, like for instance: K, K, Q, Q, 10. If the higher pairs are equal, then the lower pairs are compared such that: K, K, Q, Q, 10 beats K, K, J, J, 9. And, if both pairs are equal, then the odd cards are compared such that: K, K, Q, Q, 10 beats K, K, Q, Q, 9. The lowest ranked hand is the "One Pair" which is composed of two cards of the same value and three differently valued cards, such as: K, K, A, 4, 7. If the pairs are equal, the highest ranking odd card will be compared such that: K, K, A 4, 7 beats K, K, Q, 4, 7.
The lowest ranking hand is the no pair, which happens when all five cards do not form any of the combinations mentioned above. In this case, the one with the "High Card" wins.
Different variations involving the poker hands mentioned above are played, and you have to be pretty familiar with the basic ranking of hands to play any of the poker variants.