What beats what in poker

When playing poker a 52 card deck is used and the ranking of the individual cards, from high to low, is ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. In standard poker, which is poker played online and in casinos, there is no ranking between the suits. That is to say that the king of hearts does not beat the king of spades. All of the suits are equal in poker. A poker hand consists of five cards. The ranking of hands will be compared in the following text, starting with the best hands and gradually working towards the worst hands. Any hand listed before another will be the better hand and will win in a standard game of poker. In some poker games, such as 7-card stud, there are more than five cards to choose from in order to make your hand, but these extra cards have no value. The best possible hand to have in poker is a Royal Flush. This is where the player possesses the cards from 10 to king, all of the same suit. This will beat any other hand in poker. The next best hand is a straight flush. This hand is similar to a royal flush except the cards do not begin at 10, but instead can be any straight but they must all be the same suit. Between two straight flushes, the straight flush with the higher top card will win the hand. Below the straight flush is four of a kind. Four of a kind is the possession of four cards of the same rank, such as four jacks. The fifth card, which is known as the kicker, can be anything. The four of a kind with the highest card rank will win in a showdown of two four of a kinds. Next is a full house. A full house, sometimes known as a boat, consists of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. When comparing full houses, the rank of the three cards determines which is higher. Below the full house is the flush. A flush is any five cards of the same suit. These cards do not need to be in the same order, but only of the same suit. The flush with the highest ranked card will win when comparing flushes. Next is the straight. As explained prior, a straight is five cards of any suit that are in order. This can be from queen to eight, or five to ace. Three of kind follows a straight. Much like the four of a kind, only much more common, three of kind is three cards of the same rank. With triplets, the hand with the highest kicker will win if both players have three of a kind. Two pairs is the next hand after three of a kind. A pair consists of two cards of equal rank. In hand with two pairs, the two pairs are of different ranks, plus a kicker to make up five cards. The second worst hand in poker is a pair. A pair is two cards of the same rank. Finally, the worst hand in poker is nothing. Nothing consists of five unrelated cards. This hand will never win unless everyone else at the table has nothing and you possess the highest card.