The Ranking of Poker Hands
Seven-card stud and Texas hold ’em are variations of high poker, where the highest ranking hand wins. These two games and most other forms of poker are played with a standard 52-card deck. No joker is included. A deck consists of four different suits (all suits being equal) — spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs — and each suit contains 13 cards. The ace is the highest ranking card, followed by the king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, trey, and deuce. An ace also may be used as the lowest ranking card in a five-high straight — for example, 5 
4
3
2A
— or in a fivehigh straight flush, such as the 5432A
Although most forms of poker addressed in this book are played with seven cards, the goal is to make the best five-card poker hand at the showdown. The ranking order for hands in high poker, based on their probability of occurrence — from least likely to most likely — is as follows:
Straight flush — five cards of the same suit in sequence. An ace-high straight flush is referred to as a “royal flush” and is the best possible hand in high poker.
Four of a kind — four cards of the same rank, plus an unrelated fifth card that has no bearing on the hand’s value. The higher the rank of the four of a kind, the better the hand is.
Full house — three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. The rank of a full house is determined by the three of a kind, not by the pair. However, in hold ’em, it’s possible for two or more players to have the same rank of full house. When this is the case, the winning hand is determined by the rank of the pair, and if the pair is also the same, the pot is split.
Flush — any five cards of the same suit. The cards are not in sequence, and the suit has no bearing on the rank of the flush. If more than one player holds a flush, the highest flush is determined by the rank of the individual cards, starting with the highest card.
Straight — five cards in sequence, not all of the same suit.
Three of a kind — three cards of the same rank, plus two unrelated cards.
Two pair — two cards of one rank, two cards of another rank, and one unrelated card. If two players each have two pair and their high pair is of the same rank, the winning hand is determined by the rank of the lower pair. If both lower pair are also of the same rank, then the winning hand is determined by the rank of the unrelated card.
One pair — two cards of one rank, plus three unrelated cards. If two players hold the same rank of one pair, the rank of their side cards determines the best hand.
No pair — five unrelated cards.
As a reminder, in the event that two or more hands tie in a particular category, the winning hand is determined by the rank of the unrelated cards. Also, all suits are of equal value for determining hand rankings at the showdown.
The hand rankings listed are for high poker only. But in some forms of poker, the best low hand wins the pot, and in other forms — known as split-pot games — the best low hand, with certain qualifications, wins half the pot. Several of these games are discussed in this book. In most of them, the best low hand is five-four-trey-deuce-ace, which is known as a wheel or a bicycle, and straights and flushes are disregarded for low. However, in some forms of low poker, the ace is considered a high card, and straights and flushes will count as high hands. One of these games, deuce-to-seven triple draw, is addressed later in this book.
In addition, one form of closed poker we discuss, ace-to-five lowball draw, is played with a standard 52-card deck plus a joker which counts as the lowest card not already in a player’s hand.
