Learning the Poker Hand Ranks

One of the first things you need to learn when starting out in poker is the poker hand ranks. Knowing which cards make up a winning poker hand is important so that you can start the game as you mean to go on. The following article will teach you about the ranking of cards in a standard poker game.

A royal flush is the best combination of cards you can get when it comes to poker hand ranks. A royal flush is five cards of the same suit; an Ace, a King, Queen, Jack and Ten. If you're skillful enough to produce a royal flush you're guaranteed to win the pot unless one of your opponent's can produce a flush of his own.

Number two in the poker hand ranks is a straight flush. These are five cards in consecutive numerical order and must be in the same suit. The third highest card combination is a four of a kind. This is when a player has all four cards of the same value and suit in his hand. Following on from this is a flush, which is five cards of the same suit, and a straight, which is five cards of different suits but in numerical order.

The above poker hand ranks are the highest, however you can still win a a game with lower ranked cards. The lowest poker hand you can make up is one high card. From there one pair or two pairs are a step above a high card but are usually not sufficient to win a poker game.