How many poker hands are there?

There are 10 basic poker hands for the traditional variations such as Texas Hold’em. These hands are ranked from the lowest to highest possible value and beat each other in a hierarchical manner. However, there are more and different hands for some other poker variations.

What are the best and worst traditional hands in poker?

The best traditional hand in poker is a Royal Flush. The lowest possible hand in traditional 5-card hand ranking is a high card. The lowest possible five-card hand is 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 with no flush present, unless Aces are agreed by players to be considered low cards.

What happens if two players have the same hands?

In traditional poker variations, the kicker is used to solve such situations. The kicker is the card not included in the formed hand that has the highest value. If there is no kicker card and the hands of two players are identical, then the pot is shared between those two players.

Poker Hands: Values, Hierarchy, And Rankings

Jamie Bungaree | May 24, 2022 | Updated on: November 10th, 2023

Online poker is one of the most popular games in online casinos and its worldwide popularity is unbeatable. However, when played for real money, poker is more difficult than online pokies or keno as there are several rules to memorise. Other aspects that many beginners find scary are the different poker variations that exist and the types of poker hands since they have slightly different orders and values for some games.

The key point of any poker game is to learn the hands and understand the beating hierarchy. Top variations such as Texas Hold’em, Omaha, or Seven Card Stud, use the Traditional High Poker rankings. However, some other variations such as Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, and Stud Hi/Lo use the so-called Ace to Five low hand rankings for low hands. The third category, including less-popular variations such as 2-7 Single Draw and 2-7 Triple Draw, uses the Deuce to Seven (Kansas City) lowball rankings for low hands.

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Traditional High Poker Hands

These traditional poker hands are is used in massively popular variations such as Texas Hold’em, Omaha poker, or poker-based casino games. The values of cards are based on the hierarchy, so it is always clear which hand beats other hands. Knowing and memorising these combinations is an essential step for everyone who wants to play poker and win.

Straight Flush

A combination of any five cards in numerical order, all of the identical suit.

If there is a tie, then the highest rank at the top of the sequence wins. The straight flush not necessary should be made of numerical cards.

The best possible straight flush is known as a Royal Flush made of an ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of the same suit. A royal flush is considered the most powerful hand.

Four of A Kind

Four cards of the same rank and one additional card is known as a Kicker.

If there is a tie, the highest four of a kind win. When the variation with community cards is played and two players have identical four of a kind hands, the winner is determined by the kicker side card.

Full House

Three cards of the same rank and two cards of different but matching ranks.

If there is a tie, the three highest matching cards are considered the winner. When the variation with community cards is played and two players get the same hands, the highest value of the two matching cards get the pot.

Flush

Five cards of the same suit.

If there is a tie, the hand with the highest ranked card of the same suit wins the pot. In case two players have an identical flush, the pot is divided into two.

Straight

Five cards in ranking order, but not of the same suit.

If there is a tie, the highest ranked card at the top of the sequence determines the winner. Usually, a straight is made out of numerical cards, but sometimes aces could also be included – it depends on the prior agreement of players. Aces can be counted as the lowest or as the highest ranked card.

Three of A Kind

Three cards of the same rank and two unrelated side cards.

If there is a tie, the winner is determined by the three highest-ranked cards. When the variation with community cards is played and two players get the same three high ranked cards, the winner is determined by the two side cards.

Two Pair

Two cards of a matching rank, two cards of a different matching rank, and one side card.

If there is a tie, the winner is determined by the highest ranked pair. If two players have the exact same pair, then the second highest-ranked pair wins the pot. If the second highest pairs are also the same, then the highest side card decides the game.

One Pair

Two cards of a matching rank and three random side cards.

If there is a tie, the highest pair wins. In case that two players have the same ranked pair, then the highest value of any side card determines the winner.

High Card

Any hand that does not qualify under the category listed above.

If there is a tie, the hand with the highest individual value of any card wins. The smallest card can be used to break the tie.

Deuce to Seven

Deuces Wild is a popular variation of draw poker. The most significant differences to traditional poker are the following: all kinds of twos are called the ‘wild’ cards; sometimes Jokers are also included as a wild card; the wild cards aren’t lowering the total value of a hand.

The Deuce to Seven Lowball hand rankings are the exact opposite of the traditional ‘high’ hand rankings. Therefore, the worst possible hand in traditional high poker (seven-five high, with different suits), becomes the best possible hand in deuce to seven lowball (a ‘perfect seven’ low or ‘wheel’). Also, aces always play as a high card.

However, there are no qualifier cards or hands for low in Deuce to Seven poker variations. Here’s an example, if a player somehow gets lower cards, then such a hand is considered a winning one.

Seven Low

A hand with seven and four other unpaired cards with a value lower than 7.

If there is a tie,, the second lowest card is considered as winner. Thus, 7-5-4-3-2 beats 7-6-5-3-2 (a ‘Seven-Five low’ is better than a ‘Seven-Six low’).

Eight Low

A hand with eight and four other unpaired cards with the value lower than 8.

If there is a tie,, the second lowest card wins the pot. When players have the same second lowest cards, then the value of other cards is considered to break the tie.

Nine Low

A hand with nine and four other unpaired cards with the value lower than 9.

If there is a tie,, the second lowest card wins the pot. When players have the same second lowest cards, then the value of other cards is considered to break the tie.

Ten Low

A hand with ten and four other unpaired cards with the value lower than 10.

If there is a tie,, the second lowest card wins the pot. When players have the same second lowest cards, then the value of other cards is considered to break the tie.

Guidelines For Playing Traditional Hands: What Beats What In Poker

Poker is considered more as a game of skills than a game of luck, as a result, a key point of winning is to learn rules and memorise hands.

Honestly, it’s not enough to just remember the hands because the scheme of what combination can beat other combinations is quite tricky. Whether you will play real or online poker, the first step towards learning how to play this card game is to learn the poker hand rankings. The most common poker variations are based on the traditional poker hands, so once you’ll learn the hierarchy, you are off to play in different online casinos and try different poker games.

Hand rankings in poker correspond to the likelihood of making such hands.

A royal flush is a rare hand and it’s difficult to form, so there is no doubt that it beats the hands made of more common combinations.
A regular straight flush with any five consecutive cards of the same suit is a little less rare, four of a kind occurs slightly more frequently, and so on.
A full house hand is always ranked higher than a flush. That’s because this hand comes just a little less frequently than a flush.

However, poker is also a game of luck. That means you can win even if you have a bad hand. The way to stay in a game for a longer time is bluffing while making your opponent fold before the river. Bluffing strategies are extremely important for the variations with community cards.

Odds of Poker Hands

As always in betting – the highest odds are given for the least possible outcomes, that’s why really big winnings are quite a rare thing.

Basically, there are 52 cards in a poker game and 2,598,960 possible combinations, so the calculation is easy. The number of possibilities to build a specific poker hand is divided by the number of total poker hands – so the odds are not a secret.

Poker Hands	No. of Ways	Probability
Royal Flush	4	0.000154%
Straight Flush	36	0.00139%
4-of-a-Kind	624	0.0240%
Full House	3,744	0.1441%
Flush	5,108	0.1965%
Straight	10,200	0.3925%
3-of-a-Kind	54,912	2.1128%
Two Pair	123,552	4.7539%
One Pair	1,098,240	42.2569%
High Card	1,302, 540	50.1177%

Relative Value And Absolute Value

Although the hierarchy of traditional poker hands is fixed and can’t be changed, the actual value of a hand varies according to the game flow. The correlation between game and dealt can be perceived in two ways: absolute value (traditional value of poker hands) or a relative value (the value of the hand in particular moment of the game). Under some circumstances, the absolute value of your hand may not be great but its relative value may be.

For example, you have two pairs that are considered a good and valuable hand itself. However, if your opponent has a flush, the value of your two pairs decreases.

Poker Hands Glossary

Community cards

Cards placed face-up on the poker table and shared by all players.

Flop

The first three community cards dealt face-up in certain poker games.

River

The fifth and final community card dealt in certain poker games.

Turn

The fourth community card dealt in certain poker games.

Hole cards

The private cards dealt face-down to each player in a game of poker.

Showdown

The final phase of a poker hand where players reveal their cards to determine the winner.

Pot

The total amount of money or chips wagered by players in a poker hand.

Pot odds

The ratio of the current bet to the potential winnings from the pot, used to make informed betting decisions.

Hand strength

The relative value or potential of a player's hand based on the combination of cards.

Raise

Increasing the current bet by adding more chips to the pot.

Ante

A small mandatory bet that all players must contribute before each hand.

Betting rounds

The phases in a poker hand where players can bet, check, raise, or fold.

All in

Betting all of one's chips or money in a single bet.

Call

Matching the current bet to stay in the hand.

Blinds

Mandatory bets placed by players before the cards are dealt, typically the small blind and big blind.

Position

A player's location at the poker table relative to the dealer, influencing the order of betting.

Positional Awareness

The ability to make strategic decisions based on one's position at the poker table.

Check

Declining to bet while retaining the right to call or raise later in the betting round.

Fold

Discarding one's hand and forfeiting any further participation in the current hand.

Tells

Subtle physical or behavioural cues that may reveal information about a player's hand or intentions.

Poker Hands: Values, Hierarchy, And Rankings

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