- Poker Hands Worst To Best
- Poker Hands From Best To Worst Print Out
- Poker Hand List Worst To Best
- Best Poker Hands Best To Worst
1. Straight Flush
For online poker games that don't use a joker, the best hand is a straight flush. They are comprised of 5 cards of a similar suit including the Queen, Ace of the clubs, Jack, Ten of the clubs, and King of the clubs.
2. Four-of-A-Kind
The 'Four of a Kind' comes after the Straight Flush in the hand rankings. It comprises 4 cards with a similar value, and any other card as the fifth card. The higher the ranking of the 4 cards the better the hand; for instance, having four nines is better than having four eights.
3. Full House
In online poker, a 'Full House' includes 3 cards of a similar rank mixed with an additional pair from a separate rank. These cards consist of two aces and three fives or two fours and three queens. Alternatively, they can be described as 3-cards of the same value and 2-cards of a different value. When more than one participant has a full house, then the highest-ranking full house of a kind wins.
4. Flush
This comes after a full house in hand rankings and it comprises 5 cards of a similar suit that makes the best hand. These cards are in a random order, so, you can get diverse hands by placing the highest card down. For example, a Flush that begins with an Ace then jumps down to a Seven, a Six, a Four, and a Three still beat a Queen, a Ten, an Eight, a Six, and a Three. When there are two flushes with similar cards, then the pot is split.
5. Three of a kind
This consists of 3 cards of a similar value, plus two extra cards called a kicker. When each of the two participants in a game has a three-of-A-Kind, the person with the highest rank of cards wins. For instance, 3-Kings beat 3-Jacks. Moreover, if cards are of similar rank and both participants have 3-Jacks, then the largest kicker is often used to decide the winning hand, and if applicable, the second kicker. The three-of-A-kind is often called trips or a set. In Texas Hold'em the three-of-A-kind is deemed to be a set when a player has pocket pairs with the third card on the board to form a three -of-A-kind.
The rule of thumb is that the hand that holds the highest cards wins. A two is the lowest card while an Ace is the highest card. If both cards have a similar value, the next highest card will be used to decide the hand that wins. Whether you're playing in a card room or at your local live casino, you need to understand the rankings of poker hands. All the hand rankings are obtained from the best 5 cards available, but the suits are never ranked.
Knowing what beats what in poker or Texas Hold’em is an important early step in learning the game. To help you out, I have provided for you an attractive printable or downloadable “cheat sheet” for both 5 card hand rankings as well as top 24 pre-flop starting hands.
Poker hands ranked from best to worst:
- Royal Flush
- Straight Flush
- Four of a Kind
- Full House
- Flush
- Straight
- Three of a Kind
- Two Pair
- One Pair
- High Card
To make things easier on you, I have included some handy charts that can be used to reference during play or even printed out.
Poker Hand Rankings Chart
Never forget what beats what again. Feel free to save this to your phone/tablet/computer or print the chart out.
Click below to download a high-quality PDF that includes a printable copy of both the showdown and pre-flop hand rankings.
1 PAIR is the 10th highest hand. In almost all hands, someone will have at least one pair. One pair is just two of the same kind of card. Two 8’s or two Tens or Two Queens are all 1PAIR hands. Ties are broken by highest card. If no player has one of the hands above then TOP CARD may be used. The ACE is the top card, followed by the King. Holding a 2 and a 7 (off suit) as your starting hand is without a doubt the worst hand you can get dealt. At best, you’d realistically be hoping to catch a 2 or 7 among the community cards on the flop for a low pair, which still makes for a relatively weak hand to carry on with.
The Top 24 Hold’Em Starting Hand Rankings
To help you out, I have also included the top 24 no-limit hold’em starting hands to give you a further idea of what beats what in poker. I based this list on both raw equities as well as post-flop playability.
I have used over 10 years of experience in both tournaments and cash games to compile this info. You get to benefit from my hard work!
How These Hands Were Determined
I took a look at a few of the pre-flop hand ranking charts out there and, while most appeared to get it right for the most part, there seemed to be something off.
The thing is, everyone always does pretty well on the top 5 or 6 hands. However, after that things get a bit murkier
So, what really matters when it comes to weighing hand strength? I decided to take a close look at the problem. Using the knowledge I’ve gained over the past few years, I tried to come up with a better way of codifying hand rankings.
Determining the Overall Playability of Each Hand
I decided to go about it from a logical standpoint. When deciding whether to play a hand or not, what are the factors a strong player considers before acting
So, I decided that there are basically two main factors to consider in determining the strength of a particular pre-flop hand. And, since equity is the tool we use to rank the value of hands I just had to figure out what type of equities matter most and then apply it to each factor
Once I was able to define which equities to consider, it just took a bit of math.
1. Pre-Flop Equity
The first equity I decided to factor in is a hand’s raw pre-flop equity. I mean, sometimes you need to get all-in before the flop, right?
Of course, some hands will get all-in more frequently than others but for the sake of simplicity, raw equity against a strong range will give us a decent enough metric to come up with a comparative ranking.
2. Post-Flop Equity
Secondly, we need to factor in how a hand does post-flop. There’s no doubt, that certain hands play much better after the flop than others.
Poker Hands Worst To Best
To calculate how well a hand does after the flop I looked at what post-flop hands tend to get all-in most of the time in a post-flop scenario. This includes the strongest made hands, including top pair and better, as well as strong draws.
Once I was able to figure out what hands are likely to get all-in, I just had to figure out the equity of every hand versus that range on a random flop.
Compiling the Final List
Doing these kinds of calculations by hand would be extremely difficult and time-consuming. Luckily, there is a software program called Cardrunner’s EV that does the math for me.
After I figured out both the raw pre-flop equity and the likely flop equity of each hand, I just used excel to average them. That data was used to compile the rankings.
Here are the final equity percentages:
Which Poker Starting Hand Ranges Should I Use?
Knowing which hands to open raise is important to your success. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.
Free Basic Poker Strategy Charts
I have built charts that provide you profitable opening ranges from every position. As a bonus, the charts also include what to do at every decision point possible for playing a 20 to 40 big blind stack
The guide will give you an excellent starting point for playing No-Limit Texas Hold’em and will get you off on the right foot by allowing you to play fundamentally sound poker right now!
FAQ
What if my opponent and I have the same hand at showdown ?
If more than one player has the same hand then you have to follow the tie-breaker rules to determine the winner.
If two or more players have a flush or straight
In the case where two players have a flush or straight, the person who has the highest card in their hand wins. For example, T9876 beats 76543.
If two or more players have a full house
In the case of multiple full houses, the player with the highest “trips” as part of their full house wins. For example, TTT22 beats 555AA.
What if two or more players have the same pair or two pair?
If multiple players have exactly the same two pair, the highest kicker is used to determine the winner. For example, JJ66Q beats JJ66T.
The same process is used for one-pair. The next highest kicker is used. If that is the same, you use the next highest kicker. So on and so forth until the tie is broken. For example, AAK85 beats AAK84.
Who wins if more than one person has the same high card?
Similarly to one pair and two-pair hands, you use the next highest kicker to determine the winner. You keep moving on to the next kicker until a winner is determined. For example, KT763 beats KT753.
Which is better, trips or two-pair?
Three of a kind beats two-pair. It also beats a pair and high card.
Poker Hands From Best To Worst Print Out
Which is better, a flush or a straight?
A flush beats a straight. It also beats three of a kind, two pair, a pair, and high card.
What is the worst hand in poker?
The worst hand against multiple players is 72 offsuit. The worst hand heads-up is 32o.
Poker Hand List Worst To Best
What are the odds of getting a Royal Flush in Texas Hold’em?
A royal flush is extremely rare. You can only expect to get a royal flush once every 650,000 hands. That doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed. Personally, I have played well over 5 million hands and have only had one royal using both cards.
Final Thoughts
Best Poker Hands Best To Worst
I hope this article has helped you learn more about how hand rankings work in poker. If you want to learn about basic poker strategy, be sure to check out my detailed no-limit hold’em basic tutorial.