Poker Hand Rankings: What Hands Win
One of the key basic concepts that every poker player must know is the poker hand rankings. A poker hand consists of five cards and the goal of most poker games is to make the best five-card hand possible. Thoroughly understanding the value of the different combinations of cards and knowing what combinations beat what is vital. After all, if you don’t know how good your hand is, how can you expect to win?!
We’ll be taking a look at the hand rankings for the most popular game, Texas Hold’em. However, these hand rankings also apply to other popular games, such as Pot Limit Omaha and 5-Card Draw.
Why You Need To Know Your Poker Hand Rankings
Thoroughly understanding the value of the different combinations of cards and knowing what combinations beat what is vital if you want to win when playing real money online poker. After all, if you don’t know how good your hand is, how can you expect to win?!
There are two types of hand rankings we will cover in this article; final poker hand rankings and preflop poker hand rankings. Five-card poker hands that you can make during the game, such as a straight or a flush, constitute the final poker hand rankings, while preflop hand rankings encompass the best hands dealt before the game begins.
Poker Hand Ranking Chart for Texas Hold’em
The following is a standardized poker hand ranking chart for Texas Hold’em poker. There are 10 possible five-card poker hands you can make, as you can see below:
Poker variations, such as Short-Deck and and Omaha hi-lo, have different poker hand rankings, so double-check and make sure you know the winning (and losing) hands of these games.
Poker Hand Kickers
There are certain occasions where two players find themselves holding the same best card combination. In this situation, declaring a winner comes down to the other cards the players are holding that are not contributing to the best hand combination. Players call these extra cards kickers, and the player with the highest kicker wins the hand.
Let’s look at an example:
Player A has: King of Spades + 10 of Clubs
Player B has: King of Diamonds + Queen of Hearts
The Flop, Turn, and River: King of Hearts + 4 of Spades + 4 of Clubs + 6 of Diamonds + Jack of Hearts
In this case both players have a pair of kings and a pair of fours, but the differentiating factor here is that Player B has a Queen kicker and Player A has a 10 kicker.
This means that Player B’s best five-card poker hand is KsKhQhJh6d, whereas Player A’s best five-card poker hand is KdKhJhTc6d.
Therefore, Player B wins the hand.
Understanding the importance of kickers is a vital aspect of a good player’s strategy, as it could mean the difference between winning a hand and losing a hand.
The Best Starting Poker Hands
Another aspect of poker hand rankings that is important to learn is preflop hand rankings. These hands differ because they reflect the value of hands before dealing any cards, based on the likelihood of forming a strong hand postflop.
We have listed the top 10 best starting hands in poker below to provide you with an idea of which hands experts consider valuable before the flop:
1. Pocket Aces
The strongest possible preflop hand is pocket aces as you’re guaranteed to have the strongest possible pair after the flop.
2. Pocket Kings
The second strongest hand, naturally, is pocket kings. The Cowboys are known to guarantee you the second strongest pair after the flop, but be wary on any ace-high boards.
3. Pocket Queens
Following this trend, pocket queens is the third strongest pair you can have in poker and is the third strongest preflop hand.
4. Pocket Jacks
Players know pocket jacks as ‘fish hooks,’ considering them the fourth strongest pair in the game and the fourth strongest preflop hand.
5. Ace-King Suited
Ace king suited is considered the fifth strongest hand based on the quality of pairs, straights, and flushes it can make after the flop, even though it’s not a paired hand.
6. Pocket Tens
Pocket tens, considered the fifth strongest pair in the game, but only deemed the sixth strongest hand, is slightly inferior to ace king.
7. Ace-King Offsuit
AKo, losing a little bit of equity by being unsuited, is considered a worse hand than pocket tens, which positions it as the seventh strongest hand.
8. Ace-Queen Suited
AQs ranks as the 8th strongest hand because it can make strong pairs after the flop and is well-suited.
9. Pocket Nines
Another strong pair, pocket nines is fittingly considered to be the ninth strongest hand in the game.
10. Ace-Jack Suited
While it’s one pip weaker than AQs, AJs is still considered a strong hand thanks to the quality of pairs it can make postflop.
How Position Affects Your Preflop Hand Value
Preflop hands possess a static value, but your preflop position somewhat affects their value. The earlier position you are in, the value of marginal hands decreases, whereas the closer you get to the button, the value of these hands increases.
Playing from the button gives you the advantage of acting last preflop with only two players left to act behind you. This means that marginal hands such as 54s, 97s, and Q7s go up in value; if you don’t get a fold from your opponents in the blinds, you get to make your decision after your opponent and potentially outplay them postflop.
However, when playing from early position, you are most likely going to be playing out of position postflop, which puts you at a disadvantage in the hand. Plus, with most of the table left to act after you, the likelihood of one of your opponents having a strong hand significantly increases. In these positions, folding hands like Q7s, 97s, and 54s reduces their value.
Absolute vs Relative Value
Every hand in poker contains two different values, an absolute value, and a relative value, and it is crucial for players to understand the distinction between the two. Absolute value is the value of the hand based on its location in the hand rankings chart that you can find on the top of the page.. On the other hand, relative value is the value of a player’s hand after considering your opponents range, as well as the flop, turn, and river. For example:
Player A: Ace of Clubs + Ace of Diamonds
The Flop, Turn, and River: 10 of Hearts + 9 of Hearts + 8 of Spades + 6 of Hearts + Jack of Clubs
In this scenario pocket aces have a decent absolute value as it is the highest pair available. However, the relative value of the hand is significantly lower based on the community cards showing. Your opponent could have a flush, straight, or even straight flush, all of which beat pocket aces.
This is why it’s important to consider the relative value of your hand over the absolute value. Sure, pocket aces is the best pair on the board and was the best possible hand preflop, but after this run out, the value of it is significantly lower. During your play, you should account for community cards as they can drastically change the relative value of your hand.
How Poker Hand Rankings Affect Your Strategy
Knowing poker hand rankings is arguably the most basic part of poker strategy, but it is also the most important. Without knowing what hands beat what, you have no idea of the strength of your hand. Having an awareness of exactly how strong your hand is allows you to bet it more confidently (or confidently fold it if it’s bad!), allowing you to make the correct decision more often.
Plus, an understanding of poker hand rankings allows you to effectively determine which hands you should play preflop. By understanding which hands are strong and which are weak, you’re better able to create strong preflop ranges that maximize the value of your hands.
Summary
Summary
Poker hand rankings are the first thing you should learn when playing poker, and this article has everything you need to kick on and learn other aspects of the game.
Poker hand rankings are the first thing you should learn when playing poker. It’s the foundation upon which you build the rest of your strategy, and without it, you won’t have a clue what’s going on! This article has covered everything you need to know about poker hand rankings, but don’t be afraid to revisit this article if you need a refresher!
FAQs
Suits are the symbol on each card: clubs, diamonds, spades and hearts.
The ranking order from highest to lowest is spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. However, in most poker games, like Texas Hold’em, the suits are all ranked equally.
What happens when the highest hand is tied?
If the highest hands are tied, the player with the highest card will win.
The best hand is a royal flush, however, in 7-card stud, the highest hand is a five of a kind, which can only be possible when one card is wild.
The worst hand one can have in poker is a high card. The worst hand holding the highest lowest high card hand, however, is 2, 3, 4, 5, 7.