Texas Holdem - Hand Rankings For Texas Hold?em Poker

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010

Knowing the hands of Texas Hold?em is so important you shouldn?t play it if you don?t. If you have to ask questions about hands during the game, you?ll give your hand away. It?s as simple as that.

To avoid embarrassment and begin to understand the game and the reasons you want the cards you do, check out the following hand rankings:

The Royal Straight Flush is a rare and beautiful creature in poker. It is the unicorn of poker. Even if you played every day of your life, you will rarely see one and even more rarely actually get one yourself. It is like the hole in one in golf. It is a straight. It is a flush. And it is made up of the highest cards in the deck. Look for an ace, king, queen, jack and ten of the same suit.

The Straight Flush is slightly less lackluster than it?s more royal counterpart, but exciting and wonderful nonetheless. This hand is still rare and made up of five cards of the same suit, ranked in succession. An example would be the six, seven, eight, nine, ten of clubs in one hand.

Next, you?ll be wanting the four of a kind. This is pretty obvious. You have a four of a kind when get four cards of the same number. Look for four kings, four tens, or four fives for instance.

The Full House is also a pretty good hand. It happens when you have three cards of one type and two cards of another type. To determine whether or not one full house ranks higher than another, look at the set of three cards first. The one that is larger wins. For instance three jacks and two tens beats three tens and two jacks.

A flush is something special, too. If you have five cards of the same suit, you?re laughing, but be careful to hide your glee. You don?t want to give your opponents an advantage. If there are multiple flushes, look for the hand with the highest card in the flush. An example of a flush would be a three, seven, ten, queen, and ace of diamonds.

After a flush, you?re looking for a straight. This is when there are five cards in your hand that rank in succession. The ace can be played as either a high card or low card. Straights are very common in Texas Hold?em. Look for an eight of hearts, ten of spades, jack of diamonds, queen of hearts, and king of clubs for example.

The three of a kind is a more lowly creature, but it wins its fair share of hands. If you hit one of these with a pocket pair and one in the community cards, it?s called ?a set.? If you have two cards in the flop and one in your hand, it?s called a ?three of a kind.? Look for three fours, three queens, or three aces for example.

Two pair comes next. This is when your best five poker cards create a pair twice. Look for two aces and two queens or two fives and two threes for instance.

One pair is next. It?s pretty self explanatory. Look for one pair in your hand. For instance, two threes or two jacks.

High card is the next hand in the ranking. This happens when you don?t get anything and your hand only counts for the high card. Even if you had an ace, a pair of twos could beat you.