The Poker Hands- Explained and Ranked

The game of poker has changed radically since it first began. In fact, there are now many variants of the game out. If you want to make sure that you are making the most out of the hands you are dealt, then this is the guide for you.

High Card

This is actually the bottom of the ladder. If you have a high-card hand then this is otherwise known as a no pair hand. It’s one where all five of your cards have a different rank. If you haven’t played poker before and want to learn about the different hands then playing poker online at GGPoker is certainly a good idea. It is on sites such as this where newbies can expand their knowledge quickly and established players improve their form.

One Pair

Next up is the one pair hand. One pair hands consist of a single pair and then three other cards which are not paired. This makes up around 42% of the hand combinations you may get. If you have a pair and the other person has a pair, then the winner is the person who has the highest number.

Two Pair

Two pairs beats one pair. The winning two pair is again, the one who has the highest number. This is often called Jacks Up.

Three of a Kind

Three of a kind are drawn at random from a normal deck. You will only experience this kind of hand once every 47 times. You may have guessed it by now, but all three cards have to have the same rank. Three aces will beat three queens, purely because an ace has a higher rank when compared to queens. You have to remember that the other two cards you have need to be unpaired, because if they aren’t then you would have a full house.

Straight

The chance of drawing a straight is around one in 132. A straight is if you have all five cards used. You will have a straight if you have five cards that are different, but consecutive in rank.  Strangely enough, the caveat is that they cannot be the same suit.  The worst straight to have would be A, 2, 3, 4, 5. If you have the best kind then you would have 10, J, Q, K, A. Aces can only be a part of your straight if they act as a bookend. You can’t have K, Q, A, 2, 3 for example. This is invalid in the game of poker. If you have all of the 5’s and the 10’s removed from the deck, then it would be impossible for anyone to have a straight hand with the cards you have left.

Flush

The odds of drawing a flush are around one in 4,167. You won’t see this hand, or the next one often at all. They are incredibly rare. You only have four of each card in the deck, so if you think about it, the odds of you pulling four of them in a five-card draw are very slim. In fact, they stand at one in 0.026%. One example would be a quad deuce. This will beat out every hand in poker, other than four of a kind of course.

Straight Flush

The odds of drawing this hand would be one in 64,767. The straight flush is legendary in the game of poker and it happens way more in movies when compared to real life. Poker players often go their entire lives without seeing this kind of draw. You need to have a flush in order to get this and you also need to make sure that you have them all in the same suit as well. If they aren’t then you won’t qualify at all so you have to keep this in mind if possible.

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