If you’ve played poker offline, there’s always someone asking about the poker hand order. There is the friend who asks for a cheat sheet, the one who asks each move… In this article, you will find this explanation of the hierarchy of poker plays, and a guide with the best hands in your poker strategy.
With this list, you will avoid making mistakes with the order of poker hands, but you will also learn to play better. You don’t want to be celebrating a win with your two pair against your opponent’s set, but you also don’t want to know if the two cards you’ve been dealt are part of a good strategy or not.
Before going for the guide… How do you win at poker? To take the pot, you must be the last player to bet, that is, nobody follows your bet. Otherwise, the pot will be won by whoever has the best combination, which can go from the highest card to the straight flush, passing through the highest pair or the straight.
What is the order of the poker cards?
We start with the worst, since it is the most frequent… Remember that in the order of poker hands the best five cards are taken into account among the five common ones and the two from each hand of each player. DO YOU ALREADY KNOW THEM ALL? THEN… GO DOWN TO THE SAND TO PLAY!
High card: If nobody has any combination, the highest card will take the pot. You will rarely win anything with a high card. What happens if two players have the same high card? It will continue in a correlative way until one of the two has a higher one.
- Pair: You have a pair when among the five common cards on the table and the two in your hand, two are the same. If two players have a pair, the higher one wins. If both have a pair of K, for example, the tie would be broken by the 3rd high card, and if it is still the same, go for the 4th and so on
- Two Pair: Two pairs at the same time among the 7 cards. In case of a tie, the highest pair wins, if it is the same, the second pair wins. If the two pairs are shared, the 5th high card.
- Three of a Kind: Two of the same cards. In case of a tie, the previous logic is followed (value of the trio and value of the other two best cards). Remember that in the order of poker hands the sixth card will never matter.
- Straight: Five consecutive cards, their color being indifferent. Important: If they go from 2 to 6, it will not matter if someone has an A in their hand, since the sixth card does not matter. But if someone has the 7 yes, because he would have a higher straight (3-7 vs 2-6)
- Flush: Five cards of the same suit. In case of a tie, high card.
- Full House: A couple and a threesome. In case of a tie, the trio wins, and if it is the same, the couple. If both the three of a kind and the pair are the same, it is a tie, since you only play with 5 cards.
- Poker: Four cards of the same value. If the strange case is fulfilled that the 4 are in the common zone, the first high card would break the tie.
- Straight flush: Straight and flush at the same time. The strongest combination in the poker hand order would be the royal straight flush, not because it is magical, but because it would be the highest possible straight flush.
So… who wins poker or straight? Poker is far superior to straight. In fact, a flush and full house are already better combinations than the straight, even worse than poker. the straight only achieves an advantage against the trio and other minor combinations, even though it is very rare.
What is worth more in poker?
What is worth more in poker are the straight flush, four of a kind or the full house in that order, but they are infrequent hands. In most cases, with a combination higher than three of a kind or two pair, you will have enough to win. Taking this into account… What cards win in poker? In the vast majority of tables, the highest pair will allow you to play with some strength, always looking at the table and the plays of your opponents. From two pair or three of a kind (especially) you can bet with some security, while any combination higher than the straight will almost always win. Of course, always keep in mind how the common cards and your ‘kicker’ are.