As part of any good poker training regime, it is vital for new players to understand different poker hands for choosing the game variation they would most like to use for regular play and thus, determine their preferred poker game style. This article gives a simple overview of poker hand rankings so new players can understand the value of various types of hands and improve their game knowledge.

There are 5 playing cards in a poker hand, which can be of many types, but the common ones are straight, flush and two pair. Naturally, the player holding a hand in the highest category is the winner in a poker game. There can also be a tie-situation wherein two players can hold a hand from the same category; in this case, the person with the higher cards is declared the winner.

A poker hand ranking from highest to lowest card categories is given below for easy reference so new players can read and familiarize themselves with these various types of poker hands and avoid confusion of which is best and worst in poker hands.

A Royal Flush is when a player gets Ace through 10 from the same suit; this is the best poker hand, regardless of the suit. If two players get a royal flush, this would result in a tie.

A Straight Flush comes next with a player getting 5 cards in running numeric order belonging to the same suit.

The next best hand is called ‘Four of a Kind’ in which 4 cards have the same denomination, e.g. four queens or four 9’s.

Below that is a Full House, wherein a player holds 3 cards having the same denomination and a pair from a different denomination. A tiebreaker round would involve looking at first the 3 cards set, then determined by the pair.

Next in line is a Flush in which the player holds any 5 cars from the same suit and these don’t have to be consecutive cards.

A flush has greater value than the next category of poker hands, called a Straight. In this there are 5 consecutive cards belonging to different suits and the ace may take a high or low position.

Below the Straight hand is the ‘Three of a Kind’ in which 3 cards must have the same denomination. This is followed by Two Pair, which as the name implies has 2 cards from the same denomination, apart from 2 other cards. High card determines winner in a tiebreaker event.

A pair comes next and can have same denomination twin cards and here too, the high card wins in a tie.

Finally, if a player does not get any of the above hands, the highest card he holds determines his play.