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When playing the game of poker online, it is important to understand which hand outranks which at the poker table. Below is the ranking of hands from the strongest hand to the weakest, including an illustrated example of each.
Poker is a game of five card hands dealt from a 52 card deck. The cards in the deck are ranked, from high to low, ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2. There are four suits in a deck of cards, hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. There is no ranking between the suits, all suits are equal. For example a king of hearts is ranked the same as a king of spades.
Royal Flush: The five cards - ace, king, queen, jack and ten. All five cards are of the same suit. The royal flush is the highest ranking hand possible.
Straight Flush: Any five cards in sequence that are in the same suit. Ranking between straights is determined by the value of the high end card.
Four of a Kind: A hand with four cards of the same rank eg four 10's etc. Four of a kind is beaten only by a straight or royal flush and a hand with a higher four of a kind.
Full House: A hand with a combination of three of a kind and a pair (J,J,J,3,3). Ties on a full house are broken by the three of a kind, as you cannot have two equal sets of three of a kind in any single deck.
Flush: A hand with any five cards of the same suit, but that are not in sequence. For example AD, JD, 8D, 5D, 2D. Ties on a flush are broken by the value of the highest card in the hands.
Straight: A hand with five cards in sequence, but not in the same suit. The ace may count as a one or an ace however the ace cannot wrap around meaning it is not a straight if you have a queen, king, ace, two or three. Ties on a straight are broken by the hand with the higher ranking card. In case of straights that tie, the pot is split.
Three of a Kind: Any three cards with the same denomination. The highest set of three cards wins.
Two Pair: A hand with two separate pairs (eg. 9,9, K,K). As usual the pair with the higher value is used to determine the winner of a tie.
One pair: Any two cards of the same denomination. (ace, ace). The highest ranking pair breaks a tie.
High Card: When a hand has no pair or any other of the above ranking hands the value of the hand is determined by the highest denomination card. The person holding the highest card when no other player has any of the other ranked hands is the winner of the pot.
Some types of poker are played using a wild card. A wild card is a particular card, often a joker, which can be used as a substitute for any card the holder wishes, even a duplicate of a card the holder already has. Several cards may be designated as wild - for example all the twos. This must be agreed in advance before the hand is dealt.
The hand ranking is the same as described above, except that with the use of wild cards it is now possible to have five of a kind - five cards of the same rank - in which of course at least one will be represented by a wild card. Five of a kind is the highest combination, beating a Royal Flush.
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