1. What Hand Beats What In Texas Holdem Poker
2. What Beats What In Poker Texas Hold'em
3. Poker Rules What Beats What Texas Holdem
4. What Beats What In Texas Holdem Poker
5. What Hand Beats What In Texas Holdem Poker

Straight Flush: A straight flush (five consecutive cards all of the same suit) beats four of a kind. Aces can be high or low. An ace-high straight flush is called a royal flush, the best possible hand in poker. ♣ Betting Variations. Texas Hold'em can be played in three basic variations. Poker rules what beats what in texas holdem you to amplify your poker game skills in the coziness of your own apartment, at your very own pace, without the fear of someone snickering at you.The bet is placed on the 'cross' formed by the intersection of the lines running through the middle of the four numbers.

Playing poker online can be a great way to make some extra cash. This article will give you all you need to know about how to play Texas Holdem online, hand rankings, and the Texas Holdem rules. Knowing the basics is essential before playing real money poker online, poker is a fairly simple game, but going to a real money table with no knowledge can be disastrous. Thankfully, these tips will help you get your knowledge up to scratch and get your ready to start playing!

How To Play Texas Holdem Online

In poker, at the beginning of a round, each player on the table is dealt two cards, these are called ‘hole cards’. The hole cards are not shown to any other players, once each player is dealt their hole cards, a betting round commences. Players place a bet based on the potential strength of their hole cards creating a strong hand when the community cards are dealt. There are five community cards dealt in a round of poker, the community cards are cards that are dealt on the table for all players to see and create the best hand using their hole cards. Community cards are dealt periodically, first three cards are dealt on to the table, these are known as ‘the flop’. After the flop is dealt, players are given the option to place a bet based on their hands. After this betting round, another community card is dealt, this is called the ‘turn’. After the ‘turn’ players can then choose to bet again. Finally, the last community card known as ‘the river’ is dealt, then a final betting round occurs and players show their cards, the person with the best hand is deemed the winner.

At the start of each round of poker forced bets called ‘blinds’ are placed. This is to accumulate some money in the pot, these bets are determined by a dealer chip that is passed around the table. The dealer chip moves to the left and given to a different player after each round. The blind bets are paid by the two players sat to the left of the dealer chip. There is a small blind and a big blind, the small blind will be half the value of the big blind. The dealer chip moves this way so that each player pays the blinds, meaning these forced bets are evenly requested from each player at the table.

The main aim of poker is to have a better ‘hand’ than your opponents. In poker, each hand has a different value, a ‘hand is made up of five cards using the hole cards and the community cards on the table. The hands in poker are ranked in order of worst to best, the ranks are detailed below.

Hand Rankings

There are nine hand rankings in poker, in terms of numerical value the cards rank from 2-Ace, 2 being the lowest card and Ace being the highest. The suits of the cards (Clubs, Diamonds, Spades, Hearts) do not differ in value. The possible hand ranks are detailed below in order of weakest to strongest:

What Hand Beats What In Texas Holdem Poker

1. High Card: Cards are ranked from 2- Ace. If there are two or more players with the same high card, the second highest card will determine the winner, and so on.
2. Pair: A pair is two cards of the same rank e.g. 4H and 4S. A pair of Aces is the best pair. If more than one player holds the same pair, the player(s) with the highest remaining cards will win.
3. Two Pair: A two paid is two pairs, e.g. 4H and 4S, and 8D and 8S. If there are more than one player with a two pair, the player with the highest pair wins. If two or more players hold the same two par, then the value of the remaining card (known as a kicker) determines who the winner will be.
4. Three of a Kind: Three of a kind is three cards of the same rank, e.g 4H, 4D, 4S.
   If two players or more have the same three of a kind, the kickers determine who the winner is.
5. Straight: A straight is five cards in numerical order e.g 4H,5D,6H,7S,8C. The lowest straight is A-5, with the highest being 10-A. If two players have a straight, the highest straight wins.
6. Flush: A flush is five cards of the same suit (diamonds, hearts, spades, clubs). If two players or more have a flush, the player with the highest card in the flush will win.
7. Full House: A full house is made up of two other hands ‘three of a kind’ and ‘pair’. If more than one player has a full house, the winner is the player with the highest three of a kind, and pair.
8. Four of a Kind: Four of a kind follows the same principle as three of a kind but with 4 cards of the same numerical value e.g 4H, 4S, 4D, 4C. If there are two or more players with the same four of a kind, the winner is chosen based on the kicker card.
9. Straight Flush: The straight flush combines a straight and a flush e.g
   4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H. it is five cards of the same suit, in numerical order. The highest straight flush is 10-A, this is known as a ‘royal flush’ and is the best hand you can get in poker.

In this lesson you’re going to learn the first and most important step about how to play poker by learning the all important poker hand rankings.

• A standard poker hand consists of five cards.
• Each poker hand is ranked in a set order.
• The higher the rank, the less chance statistically you have of getting it.
• The higher the rank of your hand the better, because two pairs always beats one pair, and a flush always beats a straight.
• When two or more players have a hand of the same rank, then there are more ways to determine the best hand.

Hopefully all these points will make perfect sense by the end of this lesson.

Poker Hands (from Best to Worst)

Be sure to pay close attention and memorize the poker hand rankings. Let’s start with the best possible hand in poker….

Royal Flush

A Royal flush consists of five cards of the same suit, in sequence from 10 through to Ace. Remember that all suits are equal in poker. If two or more players hold a royal flush (highly unlikely) then the pot is split, i.e. the players share the winnings.

What Beats What In Poker Texas Hold'em

Straight Flush

Five cards of the same suit, in sequence. This example shows a Jack high straight flush. If two or more players hold a straight flush then it is the highest that wins. For example, a Queen high straight flush beats a Jack high straight flush. You will notice that this is very similar to a Royal flush, and that’s because a Royal flush is in fact an ace high straight flush – but it’s given its very own ranking.

Four of a Kind

This hand contains four cards of the same rank/value. This example shows four 8’s, plus a 5 (remember that all poker hands must have five cards). If two or more players have four of a kind, then the highest value wins (e.g. four 9’s beats four 8’s). If two or more players share the same four of a kind, which can happen when using community cards (more on that later) then the winner is decided by the fifth card. So a player with four 8’s and a 6 would beat a player with four 8’s and a 5.

Full House

A full house contains three cards of the same rank, plus a pair. In our example you can see three 10’s and a pair of 7’s. The value of the three matching cards determines the strength of a full house. So three Jack’s with a pair of 7’s would beat our example hand. If players share the same three cards, which is possible when using community cards, the strength of the pair is then taken into account. So, three 10’s and a pair of 8’s would beat our example hand.

Flush

Five cards of the same suit in any order. Our example shows a Queen high flush. If two or more players have a flush then the player with the highest ranked card wins. If the players share the same high card then it’s determined by the value of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th card respectively.

Straight

This hand contains five unsuited cards in sequence. Our example shows a King high straight. In the event of a tie, the best straight is determined by the highest ranked card. A straight consisting of 8, 9, 10, J, Q, would lose to our example hand. But a straight consisting of 10, J, Q, K, A, would win. Also note that an Ace can be used as the low card for a straight of A, 2, 3, 4, 5. This would lose to a straight of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank, and two unrelated cards. Our example shows three 4’s. Three 5’s would beat our example hand, three 6’s would beat three 5’s, and so on. If players share the same three cards, then the value of the highest unrelated card would count and if necessary, the value of the second unrelated card. So, three 4’s with Jack, 8, would beat our example hand. As would three 4’s and 10, 9 (because 9 is higher than 8).

Two Pair

Two cards of matching rank, with another two cards of another rank, plus an additional card. In the event of a tie, the highest pair wins. If players share the same highest pair, then the value of the next pair wins. For example, a pair of Aces, and a pair of 6’s would beat our example hand, as would a pair of Kings and a pair of 7’s. If two or more players share the same two pair, then the value of the fifth card counts. So, a pair of Kings, a pair of 6’s, with a 4, would beat our example hand.

One Pair

A paired hand contains two cards of matching rank, plus three additional cards. The value of the pair determines who wins in the event of a tie. For example a pair of 10’s beats our example hand. If players share the same pair then the best hand is determined by the value of the highest additional card. If this is the same then it goes to the second card, and if necessary the third. So, a pair of 9’s with an Ace, 2, and 10, would beat our example hand. As would a pair of 9’s, King, 10, and a 3.

High Card

If a hand doesn’t fall into any of the above categories, then it is judged on the value of the highest ranked card among the five. In this example we have a hand which is Queen high. If players share the same highest card, then it goes to the value of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and even 5th card if necessary. A hand of Queen, 10, 9, 5, 4, would beat our example hand.

Community Cards

As you already know, a poker hand consists of five cards. In many variations of poker, players receive or can choose from more than five cards. For example, in Texas Hold’em each player is dealt two private cards, but can also use the five community cards that are available for all the players to use. This makes a total of seven cards, but each player must choose their best five cards to make their best possible hand. Here’s an example:

In the above example, the best five cards among total of seven (two private cards and five community cards) would be combined to make a flush.

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Conclusion

If you don’t fully understand the poker hand rankings then please read through the list again. It’s vital that you know which hand beats which. Of course, how good a poker hand is, is very dependent on which type of poker game you are playing and other factors such as the number of other players you are playing against. You will learn the true strength of a poker hand as you gain experience of playing the game.

We have created a printable poker hand rankings chart that you can use as a source of reference. Hopefully we’ve explained the poker hand rankings to you well enough whereby you don’t need this chart, but it still might be handy for some. The chart will load as a PDF (link opens in a new window) and you’ll need to have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer to be able to view it.

Make sure that you memorize the poker hand rankings before moving onto the next lesson.

Poker Rules What Beats What Texas Holdem

What Beats What In Texas Holdem Poker

By Tim Ryerson

Tim is from London, England and has been playing poker since the late 1990’s. He is the ‘Editor-in-Chief’ at Pokerology.com and is responsible for all the content on the website.

What Hand Beats What In Texas Holdem Poker