Keep this printable PDF hand ranking sheet beside you when you play to make sure you don't make a mistake!

The strongest to weakest hands of them poker hand hierarchy are listed below with the poker hands probability listed in brackets. After reading there will be no debating with friends ‘who has the best poker hand'!

1. Royal Flush (649,739:1)
   Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of the same suit – the strongest poker hand.

2. Straight flush (72,192:1)
   Five sequential cards all of the same suit. The second strongest poker hand.

3. Four of a kind (4,164:1)
   Four cards of the same value. Also known as ‘quads’.

4. Full House (693:1)
   Three cards of the same value plus two cards of the same value. Usually a winner!

5. Flush (508:1)
   Five cards all of the same suit.

6. Straight (254:1)
   Five cards in sequential order. Also referred to as a run.

7. Three of a kind (46:1)
   Three cards of the same value.

8. Two pair (20 : 1)
   Two sets of two cards with the same value. A common hand which can sometimes win at showdown!

9. One pair (1.37:1)
   Two cards of the same value.

10. High card
    The player with the highest card wins. Unlikely to be a winner so play with care.

Kickers

A kicker is much like a decider when both players have similar hand types. For example, if player A has A♠Q♣and Player B has A♣J♠ and the board is A♥K♦5♠ 7♠ 2♦ both players will have top pair with an ace but player A will win because the Q♣ is a better kicker than the J♠. The best five cards in this scenario are AAQ75 whereas the losing hand has AAJ75. A kicker is a very important concept when trying to understand the poker hand ranking system.

Split pots

Split pots occur when both players get to showdown and have the same hand rank. The pot is divided up equally between each of the players.

To take an example, if player A has K♠J♥ and player B has K♣Q♠ on a A♥K♦5♠5♣2♠ board both players will have two pair and ace kicker as their best hand (A, K, K, 5, 5). Therefore the pot will be split between the two players.

Alternatively, if the neither player can improve the hand on the board it will also be a split pot. If the board is A♥K♦5♠5♣K♠ and player A has Q♠J♣ and player B has 4♣4♠ then both players will be playing the board and thus it will be a split pot. Hence, you cannot have three pair in poker and the best two pair will play.

Beyond hand rankings

The rules of poker and poker hand rankings are just the beginning for you on your poker journey. One of the core skills in poker is being able to determine whether your hand is strong or weak on a relative scale as opposed to an absolute scale. For example, three of a kind is extremely strong on a board with no flush or straight possibilities but very weak on a board with 4 to a flush or 4 to a straight (e.g. T♥9♥8♥7♥ – any heart or J or 6 beats three of a kind).

One key point to note is that in poker all suits are of the same value. An Ace high flush of hearts is the same value as an Ace high flush of spades.

The first step to this is remembering if a flush beats a straight, or whether a straight flush beats quads; the next stage is figuring out your hand's relative strength based on how your opponent is playing, his tendencies and most importantly the board texture as noted.

Additionally, we should take into account the following factors:

• How many players are in the pot
• The amount of chips in the pot
• The size of the bets made

If you can understand the poker hand rankings and relative hand strength you will be ahead of the game; get ready to beat all your friends and opponents at your home games and casinos! Want to accelerate your poker learning? Check out or poker training sites post for the quickest ways to improve your poker game.

If you are new to poker and are unsure of what hands you need to play, check out our starting hand charts over at the poker cheat sheet webpage.

Check out this poker hand ranking video for a more visual format of everything we said:

Make sure you check out the fan favorite posts:

Poker cheat sheet for beginners & Best Poker Books

Texas Hold’em is arguably the most famous of all poker games. If you are new to the game of poker, Texas Hold’em Poker is a great place to start. Hold ’em consists of two cards (“hole cards”) being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer — a series of three (“the flop”) then an additional single card (“the turn”) and another additional card (“the river”) – with players having the option to check, bet, raise or fold after each deal; i.e., betting may occur prior to the flop, “on the flop”, “on the turn”, and “on the river”.

Texas Hold’em Rules:

Texas Hold’em Poker is a community card game that can be played anywhere from 2-10 players.

Rules Of Poker Texas Holdem What Beats What

1. One player acts as dealer. This position is called the button and it rotates clockwise after every hand.
2. The two players to the left of the dealer are called the small blind and the big blind, respectively.
3. These two positions require forced bets of a pre-determined amount and are the only players to put money in the pot before the cards are dealt (if no ante in place).
4. Every player then receives two cards face down. These are called “hole” cards.
5. Once all hole cards have been dealt, the first betting round begins with the player sitting immediately to the left of the big blind. This player can fold, call (match the amount of the big blind) or raise.
6. Betting then continues clockwise, with each player having the option to fold, call the amount of the highest bet before them, bet or raise.
7. When the first betting round is completed, three community cards are flipped face up on the table. This is called the flop.
8. The betting resumes, clockwise, with each player having the option to check (if no bet is in front of them), bet (or raise if a bet is before them), call or fold.
9. When the second round of betting is finished, a fourth community card is flipped face up on the table. This is called the turn.
10. The third round of betting commences with the first remaining player sitting to the left of the button.
11. When the third round of betting is over, a fifth community card is flipped face up on the table. This is called the river.
12. The fourth round of betting starts with the first remaining player seated to the left of the button. The betting continues to move clockwise.

Robert's Rules Of Texas Holdem Poker

The Details

Now here are some more detailed looks at aspects of Texas Hold’em.

A standard hold ’em game showing the position of the blinds relative to the dealer button.

Official Rules Of Texas Holdem Poker

Hold ’em is normally played using small and big blinds – forced bets by two players. Antes (forced contributions by all players) may be used in addition to blinds, particularly in later stages of tournaments. A dealer “button” is used to represent the player in the dealer position; the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand, changing the position of the dealer and blinds. The small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer and is usually equal to half of the big blind. The big blind, posted by the player to the left of the small blind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament poker, the blind/ante structure periodically increases as the tournament progresses. After one round of betting is done, the next betting round will start by the person after the big blind and small blind.

When only two players remain, special ‘head-to-head’ or ‘heads up’ rules are enforced and the blinds are posted differently. In this case, the person with the dealer button posts the small blind, while his/her opponent places the big blind. The dealer acts first before the flop. After the flop, the dealer acts last and continues to do so for the remainder of the hand.

Play of the Hold’em hand

Each player is dealt two private cards in hold ’em, which are dealt first. Play begins with each player being dealt two cards face down, with the player in the small blind receiving the first card and the player in the button seat receiving the last card dealt. (As in most poker games, the deck is a standard 52-card deck containing no jokers.) These cards are the players’ hole or pocket cards. These are the only cards each player will receive individually, and they will only (possibly) be revealed at the showdown.

The poker hand begins with a “pre-flop” betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. A round of betting continues until every player has folded, put in all of their chips, or matched the amount put in by all other active players. Note that the blinds in the pre-flop betting round are counted toward the amount that the blind player must contribute. If all players call around to the player in the big blind position, that player may either check or raise.

After the pre-flop betting round, assuming there remain at least two players taking part in the hand, the dealer deals a flop, three face-up community cards. The flop is followed by a second betting round. All betting rounds begin with the player to the button’s left and continue clockwise. After the flop betting round ends, a single community card (called the turn or fourth street) is dealt, followed by a third betting round. A final single community card (called the river or fifth street) is then dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, if necessary.

Rules Of Poker Texas Hold'em

In all casinos, the dealer will “burn” a card before the flop, turn, and river. The burn occurs so players who are betting cannot see the back of the next community card to come. This is done for historical/traditional reasons, to avoid any possibility of a player knowing in advance the next card to be dealt.

The Showdown

If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining player is awarded the pot and is not required to show his hole cards. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. On the showdown, each player plays the best poker hand they can make from the seven cards comprising his two hole cards and the five community cards. A player may use both of his own two hole cards, only one, or none at all, to form his final five-card hand. If the five community cards form the player’s best hand, then the player is said to be playing the board and can only hope to split the pot, because each other player can also use the same five cards to construct the same hand.

If the best hand is shared by more than one player, then the pot is split equally among them, with any extra chips going to the first players after the button in clockwise order. It is common for players to have closely valued, but not identically ranked hands. Nevertheless, one must be careful in determining the best hand; if the hand involves fewer than five cards, (such as two-pair or three-of-a-kind), then “kickers” (the highest other card) are used to settle ties. Note that the card’s numerical rank is of sole importance; suit values are irrelevant in Hold’em. The last player to bet is the first player to show his hand.

Now that you know how to play Texas Hold’em poker, you are ready to hit the tables! Sign up today to get started and win real money!