What beats what: Standard poker hands
And introduction to reading the board at Texas holdem
By Bill Haywood
© 2004 Velocity Books .com
Rank order
& definitions:
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Texas holdem poker uses five-card hands with standard valuations. What is unique is the use of "community cards." Each player is dealt two cards face down. Then five community cards, also known as the "board," are laid face up in the center of the table. Each player forms his best possible five card hand with any combination of his own two down cards,and the community cards. A player can use one, both, or none of his cards, along with whatever he needs from the board. Occasionally, the five community cards form the strongest hand at the table, in which case everyone has the same hand.
Rankings and reading the board are explained in detail below.
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Illustrations below are set up realistically so that you have to study the board and piece together what players hold -- just like a real game.
1. High card and kicker
If no one has a pair or better, then the person with the highest card wins. Suits are irrelevant, so all aces (or any other rank) are equal. If two players have the same high card, then the tie is broken by the best "kicker," that is, the next highest card in a hand. Example:
The board
    
In this hand, both Stan and Gert have king high hands. Each has a queen kicker (from the board), so the hand is won by the next highest kicker -- Stan's jack.
2. Pair
Two cards of the same rank. Example:
Board
    
Jeannie wins with a pair of tens.
3. Two pair
Four cards of two ranks.
Example 1:
Board
   
Sanjay wins with two pair, over Vlad's single pair of aces.
Example 2:
Board
Susan has aces over twos; Gussie's best two pair is sixes over fives. Susan wins.
4. Three of a kind
Three cards of the same rank.
Board
   
Lukas's three of a kind beats Abbie's two pair.
5. Straight
Five cards in sequence. Aces can count as low or high (ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 or ten, jack, queen, king, ace).
Board
   
Joe wins with a higher straight.
6. Flush
Five cards of the same suit.
Board
  
Both players have ace high flushes, but Farouk's king breaks the tie. The pair of tens are moot because a flush beats a pair anyway. Besides, winners in holdem are determined by the best five card hand. The fact that Chad has a pair in addition to his five-card flush is irrelevant.
7. Full house
Three of one card and two of another.
Board
   
Alison is very pleased with her three-of-a-kind, but Matt has a full house.
8. Four-of-a-kind
Four cards of the same rank.
Alison's revenge.
9. Straight flush
A straight with all five cards of the same suit.
Board
 
Gary's straight flush beats Hugh's ace-high flush.
10. Royal flush
An ace high straight flush. Don't expect one of these any time soon
Board
 
Read 'em and weep, Alan.
Review
Poker hand ranks
In descending order:
Royal flush
Straight flush
Four-of-a-kind
Full house
Flush
Straight
Three-of-a-kind
Two pair
One pair
High card
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There you have it: poker rankings. The hand values are mostly intuitive to remember since it is fairly apparent that some are more likely than others. The possible exception is that flushes might seem less likely than straights, but they just aren't. Here's one way to think about it: any particular straight can be composed from a pool of 20 cards (four of each of the five ranks in a straight). A flush, however, draws from just 13 cards of a suit. What really takes practice is learning to see the hands at a holdem table. New players: you will lose money due to not comprehending what you have and folding it, or thinking you have something you don't and raising, or not noticing that the board gave someone else a stronger hand. Practice by dealing yourself two down cards, then a community board, and see what you have. Repeat. There's also an online exercise over in the Drills section, and the article on speed reading may be helpful. |
New players will benefit enormously simply from paging through my glossary of poker terms.
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