When it comes to playing a good poker game, knowing the rankings of the hands you could be dealt is of the utmost importance. We’ll be taking you through all the possible hands you could get in a poker game and why they’re important to be aware of.
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Poker hands from strongest to weakest
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Royal flush
Even if you haven’t ever played poker, you’re bound to have heard of the royal flush. This is the best hand you can have in poker. This hand is when you have five consecutive cards in the same suit from 10 up to King. An example of this would be the 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of hearts.
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Straight flush
The straight flush is the next best thing to a royal flush. It’s the same five consecutive cards in the same suit however, they don’t have to be the royal cards. An example of this could be a five, six, seven, eight and nine of spades.
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Four of a kind
Four of a kind is four cards that are all the same but in different suits. For example, this could be a ten of hearts, ten of spades, ten of clubs and ten of diamonds. The other card in the hand is irrelevant in this hand and can be anything.
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Full house
A full house has a deceiving name as it isn’t five of the same card. It’s actually three of the same card in different suits as well as a pair of the same card in different suits. For example, you could have a King of hearts, King of spades and King of diamonds as well as a seven of hearts and a seven of clubs.
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Flush
A flush hand is when you have five cards of the same suit but they’re in a random order, not lined up consecutively. An example of this would be a five, seven, ten, Jack and Ace of clubs.
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Straight
A straight hand is five cards in consecutive order but they are not of the same suit. So an example of this would be a five of clubs, six of diamonds, seven of hearts, eight of diamonds and nine of spades.
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Three of a kind
Three-of-a-kind is pretty self-explanatory. It’s when you have three of the same ranking cards set alongside two other random cards that do not match. For example, you could have a ten of heats, ten of clubs and a ten of spades alongside a three of diamonds and six of clubs.
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Two pair
The two-pair hand does exactly what it says on the tin. You have two pairs of cards of matching rank and another random card. For example, you could have a 9 of hearts and a 9 of clubs with a six of diamonds and a six of clubs with any other card left over.
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Pair
A pair hand means that you have only one pair of cards in rank. This could be a six of hearts and a six of diamonds with the other cards being inconsequential.
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High card
This is the lowest card hand you can have in a poker game. This is when the highest card in your hand is your ‘best hand’. For example, you could have a King of hearts in your hand and nothing else of consequence so this card would be your high card.
Benefits of memorising poker hands
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Make quicker decisions
The more you know about what hand you have and what it means, the quicker you can make all important decisions. You can anticipate what other players are going to do as well as what they might have in their hands.
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Guess what hands other players have
If you know what the poker hands are, you’re going to be able to make better guesses at what other players have in their hands. You can tell what kind of hand your opponents have by the way they bet.
A more aggressive better will probably have a higher hand. Using this information, you can guess who has what kind of hand and whether you’ll be able to beat them or not. You can also use this information in order to decide whether to bluff your way into a potential win or not.
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Know when to fold
You don’t want to look like you’re taking too much time to make a decision when playing poker. This will give the impression that you don’t know what you’re doing your bluffs might fail.
Knowing when is best to play and when is best to fold is based entirely on your knowledge of the hand you’ve been dealt. The quicker you can come to a decision about what you’re going to do, the better you’ll seem as a player.
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Helps you understand the implied odds
When you’re playing poker, you need to know about the likelihood of you coming away with the winning hand. You need to know when it’s worth bluffing and when you need to fold.
Knowing all the poker hands means that you will be able to reach these conclusions a lot quicker. Poker is all about making decisions quickly so you want your next move to take as little time as possible.
Making an informed decision about how you’re going to play a hand is going to make for a much more enjoyable game.
Playing poker is all about knowledge so now you’re all clued up on the poker hands, you’re ready to play!
