Hand Rankings

These are the hand rankings used in most forms of poker, including Texas Hold'em, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Draw and Omaha.

• High card: The weakest hand in poker. You have one card, up to an Ace in value, and four side or 'rag' (useless) cards.
  What if there's a tie?: Highest card wins, and if necessary, the second-highest, third-highest and so on.
• One pair: Two cards of the same rank, and three rag cards.
  What if there's a tie?: Highest pair wins. If players have the same pair, the highest side card wins.
• Two pair: Two cards of the same rank combined with another two cards of a different matching rank, and one rag card.
  What if there's a tie?: Highest pair wins. If players have the same highest pair, highest second pair wins. If both players have two identical pairs, highest side card wins.
• Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank, and two rags.
  What if there's a tie?: Highest ranking three of a kind wins.
• Straight: Five cards in sequence. Ace can be high or low (eg, A,2,3,4,5 or 10,J,Q,K,A)
  Highest ranking card at the top of the sequence wins.
• Flush: Five cards of the same suit, eg, hearts
  What if there's a tie?:The player with the highest ranked card (highest flush) wins. If there is still a tie, the second-highest, third-highest etc cards can be used to break the tie. In the unlikely event that both players have five cards with the same ranks, the pot is split.
• Full House: Three cards of the same rank (eg, 5,5,5), and two matching cards of a different rank (eg, 2,2)
  What if there's a tie?: Highest three matching cards wins the pot.
• Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank, and one side card (known as the 'kicker’)
  What if there's a tie?: Highest four of a kind wins.
• Straight Flush: Five cards, of the same suit, in consecutive order
  What if there's a tie? Highest rank at the top of the sequence wins.
• Royal Flush: The best possible hand in poker. An ace, king, queen, jack and ten of the same suit. A royal flush is an unbeatable hand.
  What if there's a tie?: Call Elvis and tell him that pigs are flying. Over Mars. In bikinis. Seriously, won't happen. The odds of one player getting a royal flush are about 650,000-1 (see table below).

Hand rankings – Odds table