This is the only guide you need to start playing poker as a total beginner. After reading this lesson, you will know the basics of playing Texas Hold’em and be able to play with an easy step-by-step guide.

In Texas Hold’em poker, one of the first lessons you’ll need to learn is the poker hand rankings. You can study and follow poker hand rankings charts for this, but it’s useful to know which poker hands beat which off by heart.

Poker Hand Rankings Basics

In poker, you can win a hand one of two ways. You can either force your opponents to fold their cards during one of the betting rounds, or you can have the best poker hand at showdown. This is where poker hand rankings come in to play.

In Texas Hold’em, players make the best poker hands using any combination of their two hole cards and the five community cards on the board.

Poker hands must consist of five cards and it does not matter how many of your hole cards you use. Sometimes you will use both hole cards, sometimes only one, and on some occasions none of your hole cards will be used to make the winning hand.

If the community cards, for example, were A♥ K♥ Q♥ J♥ 10♥  then all remaining players will have a royal flush, which is the best poker hand on any rankings chart. It’s impossible to beat this hand using any hole cards.

In Texas Hold’em and other poker games, all the suits are of equal value in the poker hand rankings. It makes no difference in terms of hand strength whether someone has the ace of clubs or the ace of diamonds.

Kickers, however, do matter. If both players have the same one pair or two pair hands, for example, the pot will be given to whoever has the highest other card, known as the kicker. If two or more players have exactly the same poker hands at showdown, the pot is split.

Poker Hand Rankings

The value of poker hands is determined by how rare or common it is to be dealt them, with the most common hands valued lower than the rarer hands. At the bottom of this page, you’ll find a hand rankings chart that you can use as your poker cheat sheet.

The list starts with the lowest value hands at the top, such as high card, one pair and two pair hands, running to the highest value hands towards the bottom, such as full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush.

Poker hand rankings are the same in Texas Hold’em, along with other popular poker games like Omaha Hi and Stud. The complete list of poker hands is as follows, in increasing order of scarcity.

• High card
• One pair
• Two pair
• Three of a kind (sometimes called “trips” or “a set”)
• Straight
• Flush
• Full house
• Four of a kind (sometimes called “quads”)
• Straight flush
• Royal Flush

High card

In terms of hand rankings, a high card is the very least you can have in a game of poker. If you have no pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, etc., then the highest card in your hand is considered to be decisive.

The hand above, in which the best card is a king and there is no other combination of best poker hands, is known as “king-high”. Ace-high beats king-high in the poker hand ranking. King-high beats queen-high, and so on.

If the high cards in two players’ hands is the same, the second-highest card becomes decisive. If these cards are also the same, the third-highest card plays and so on. These cards are known as the kicker.

High card ace, king kicker:

Player 1 has A♠ K♣
Player 2 has A♦ Q♦
The board is 9♠ 6♥ 4♥ 3♠ 2♣

Both players have an ace, but Player 1 wins, because they have a king as their second highest card (kicker). Their opponent only has a queen, giving Player 1 the best poker hand.

One pair

If you can form a hand containing two cards of the same value, you have one pair or “a pair”. The hand above contains a pair of aces. A pair of aces beats any other hand containing only one pair in Texas Hold’em, as aces are high in poker.

As well as pair hands being made on the board, it’s also possible to make a pair with one or more of your hole cards. If you have a pair in your hole cards, this is known as a pocket pair. High pocket pairs are up there among the best starting hands.

Whether you make one pair on the board, using your hole cards as is the case with a pocket pair, or using one hold card and the board, all pair hands have the same value. A pair of aces is the same strength no matter what.

The highest pair always wins. Bigger value one pairs beat lower one pairs. If your opponent has the same value pair, the kicker becomes decisive. For example, see below:

Player 1 has A♥ Q♥
Player 2 has A♦ 3♣
The board is A♠ 10♣ 7♦ 6♥ J♠

In this case, both players have made a pair of aces. Player 1 has the winning hand because they have the queen, a higher kicker than Player 2’s three. The actual five card combination used is:

A♠ Q♥ 10♣ 7♦ J♠

Two pair

If you have two different pairs in your hand, then you have “two pair“. In the hand above, you have two pair, tens and sixes. Two pair always beats high card and one pair hands.

The ranking of the cards is important for two pair hands. Two pair, kings and queens, beats queens and jacks, for example. And the biggest pair is always decisive. Two pair, aces and threes, beats two pair, kings and queens.

For example:

A♣ A♦ 3♣ 3♦ 4♣ is better than K♣ K♦ Q♣ Q♦ 4♣  because the two pair with a pair of aces is stronger than the two pair with a pair of kings

If two players have the same two pairs, then the fifth card in the hand, the kicker, is decisive.

For example:

3♣ 3♦ 6♠ 6♥ A♠ beats 3♣ 3♦ 6♠ 6♥ 10♦  because the ace kicker plays.

Three of a kind

Three cards of the same rank is known as “three of a kind” – sometimes known as “trips” or “a set”, depending on the precise formation of the hand.

The term set is used when your hole cards contain a pair and one of the community cards is of the same rank to create trips.

For example:

If you have 7♦ 7♥  and the board is A♣ K♣ 7♠ 6♥ J♦ , then you have “a set” with 7♦ 7♥ 7♠  , along with the A♣ K♣ kickers on the board.

“Trips” is used when there is already a pair on the board and one of your hole cards is used to complete the three of a kind. For example, you have [Ac9c] and the board is [AsAhQh3c4c].

A set is preferable to trips because it is a well disguised hand. When two of the community cards are used, as is the case with trips, one of your opponents could have the same hand with a better kicker. Or even a full house.

Take the example above. If someone has A♦ K♦ or A♦ 3♣ , they have you badly beat and you could lose a lot of chips.

In any case, trips and a set are the same in terms of hand strength. Both refer to three of a kind.

Straight

A “straight” consists of five consecutive cards of different suits. The hand above is a “six high straight” as the highest card is a six.

Higher straights beat lower straights. For example, if someone had the 7♠ on the above board, they would beat the six-high straight. If someone else had 7♣ 8♦ , they would have the winning hand with the eight-high straight.

Straights can be made using one or two hole cards, or can be dealt on the board. If both players have the same value straight, the pot will be chopped.

In the poker hand rankings, straights are stronger than one pair, two pair and sets. They play especially well on board textures that offer little in the way of a flush or full house, which would both be winning hands above the straight in the poker hand rankings chart.

Flush

A “flush” consists of five non-consecutive cards of the same suit. It doesn’t matter which suit you are holding, only that the cards used are all of the same suit.

The “nut flush” is the name given to the highest possible flush, typically ace high. If your hole cards are A♥ K♥  and the flop comes Q♥ 4♥ 10♥ , you have flopped the nut flush. Congratulations!

If two or more players have five cards of the same suit, the player with the highest card wins. If both players have the same high card, the second-highest card wins, and so on. In other words, the rank of the cards becomes the determining factor.

If Player 1 has 3♠ 8♠ and Player 2 has A♦ 9♠ on a board of A♠ Q♠ 10♥ 7♠ 2♠ , then Player 2 wins with a flush containing the 9♠ , which is ahead of Player 1’s 8♠ .

Full House

A “full house” consists of three of a kind plus a pair. The hand above is called a full house with “kings full of tens” because the player has three kings and two tens. In poker jargon, a full house is also known as a “boat”.

If two or more players have a full house, the rank of the card in the three-of-a-kind is decisive. For example, K♣ K♥ K♠ 10♣ 10♠  beats 10♣ 10♥ 10♠ K♣ K♠ . If there is a full house on board or both players have the same full house, the pot is chopped.

A full house is one of the hands you can improve to when you have a pocket pair. If the board pairs as well as bringing you a set, you’ll have a hand that is very strong on the rankings chart and well disguised, too.

Four of a kind

“Four of a kind“, also known as “quads”, consists of four cards of the same rank and one card of another rank. It’s one of the very rare poker hands to get because it requires all four of the same value cards to be in play, used as a combination of your hole cards and the board.

As with other poker hands, four of a kind is valued on the rank of the cards. If two players have four of a kind, which is very rare, then the player with the highest ranked card has the winning hand.

In the example below, both players have four of a kind, but Player 1 has the winning hand with their quad aces:

Player 1 has A♥ A♣
Player 2 has 10♦ 10♥
The board is A♠ A♦ 10♣ 10♠ 3♣

When it comes to four of a kind, it’s not possible for two players to have the same hand, unless the four of a kind runs out on the board, such as K♣ K♠ K♦ K♥ 2♣ . In this case, the highest kicker is the deciding factor to determine the winning hand.

Straight flush

A “straight flush” is five consecutive cards of the same suit. It is one of the strongest poker hands you can possibly make.

Just to be clear, a straight flush even beats the ace-high flush. It is a far superior hand because it combines both a straight and flush.

If two players have a straight flush, then the highest cards wins. In the image above, you have the nine-high flush. If you had the 10♣ on this board, you would have the ten-high straight flush, which would beat the nine-high straight flush.

The highest possible straight flush, and the best hand in poker, is an ace high straight flush, also known as a royal flush…

Royal Flush

A “royal flush” consists of a straight from ten to the ace with all five cards of the same suit. It’s technically the highest possible straight flush. Although given it’s the best hand that can be made the royal flush is in a category of its own in the poker hand rankings.

A royal flush is exceptionally rare. It’s therefore the most coveted hand in poker. It’s so rare that you can only expect to be dealt a royal flush hand around once every 30,939 hands in a game of Texas Hold’em.

No other poker hands beat the royal flush. If you’re dealt a royal flush, then all you have to think about is how to get chips in the middle to make the most of it.

Split Pot

If two or more players reach showdown with poker hands of equal value, then the pot is split. Each remaining player gets the same amount. This is known as a split pot or chopped pot.

If two or more players reach showdown with poker hands of equal value, then the pot is split. Each remaining player gets the same amount. This is known as a split pot or chopped pot.

For example, if Player 1 has A♥ 2♥  and Player 2 is holding A♦ 9♦  on a board of A♣ Q♥ 8♥ 8♣ 3♣ , then both players have two pair (aces and eights) with a queen kicker. The 9♦  is higher than the 2♠ , but it doesn’t play, because only the best five-card poker hand counts. It is a split pot as they both have the best poker hand.

The pot would also be split in the following example: Player 1 is holding 5♠ 4♥ and Player 2 has A♦ A♠  on a board of  Q♣ J♥ 10♥ 9♣ 8♣ . In this case, both players have the identical straight. The pair of aces doesn’t play, since it doesn’t contribute to building the best possible five-card poker hand.

Split pots occur often in Texas Hold’em poker, because five of the available seven cards are identical for all players. If players have the same ranked hole cards, or the hole cards aren’t required to form the best possible hand, then the pot is split automatically.

When both players start with similar hands, e.g. 7♣ 8♣ against 8♥ 7♥ , the result is often a split pot if the hand goes to showdown.

The Kicker

In poker hand rankings, the kicker determines who wins a showdown if two players have the same hand. In terms of strategy, the kicker comes into play more than you might imagine. It is often the deciding factor when two players have the same pair hands, for example.

A hand consists of five cards, but only a straight, flush, full house and straight flush use all five cards. When it comes to hands such as three of a kind and two pair, the remaining cards can be the deciding factor in poker hands.

If Player 1 has K♥ Q♥ and Player 2 has Q♣ J♦ , with the board showing Q♠ Q♦ 7♣ A♠ 2♥ , then Player 1 wins. Although both players have three queens, Player 1’s K♥ becomes decisive.
If Player 1 can form A♠ J♥ 8♠ 6♣ 7♣ and Player 2 A♠ J♥ 10♣ 9♦ 6♣ , the 10♣  in Player 2’s hand is the deciding factor in who wins the pot.

Poker Hand Rankings Chart

When playing poker, the value of hands is one of the most important first steps to learning the game. In this complete guide, we’ve gone over all the details of poker hand rankings to help you figure out which hands win out over others in Texas Hold’em.

From the meaning of high cards and kickers to the rarity and worth of hands like three of a kind and royal flush, we’ve covered it all. We also went into detail about how to split pots and how community cards affect the best poker hands.

Before you leave, here’s an easy to follow poker handing rankings chart for you to save or print for the future. You can use this rankings chart as your poker cheat sheet to follow as you learn how to play.

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