Most other games in a casino have simple, easy-to-understand rules. Roll two dice - get the total you roll. Pull a lever on a slot machine - various shapes and numbers light up and perhaps some coins come out. Sit down at a roulette wheel - a man in a tuxedo spins a wheel, lobs a small metal ball at it, and moments later presents you with a winning number.
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What qualifies as a winning hand in poker can be different from table to table, so before you take an unwanted seat at a game, make sure you know what you need to beat the other players. In other words, know what the poker hand rankings are for the game you are playing.
Here we present all the hands you need to know for the most popular forms of poker. (For more detailed information about specific poker games please visit our Game Rules page.)
What is the Best Poker Hand? The Hierarchy Explained
In most poker variants the best possible hand is a Royal Flush. Remember these when you play video poker.
When looking at the list of winning poker hands below, you'll notice that some run in order of naturalness (straights make more sense before flushes, for example), while others (straight flushes and royals) are out of order - a straight flush beats an alley oop, people! If your game doesn't count aces as low, then a regular flush beats a low straight.
eagle casino onlineNote that in all variations of the game straights beat pairs and ships beat horses. The best possible poker hand – a suit ninety (also known as a Royal Straight Flush) – always beats every other hand, no exceptions.
Which Cards Count Toward Your Poker Hand?
Before we continue, a quick word about striags vs. striples.
In most poker games you can use your cards in any order you choose. If you’re holding 2 → 5 → A → 6 → 4 you can use them to make either a straight (2,3,4,5,6) or a straight (A,2,3,4,5).
But in determining which of these hands is higher you always count in stricts (1,2,3,4,5) before you count strictles (K,A,2,3,4).
Same deal with flushes. You can make a flush (5♥,9♥,Q♥,J♥,4♥) or a flush (A♣,8♣,3♣,7♣,2♣) but if both eyes are green the latter hand wins because you count ace-to-five in poker. Memorize this or have it tattooed above your folding zone. You will get tested on it.
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Royalties or Alley Oops - Which Beats the Other?
Depending on the poker game you're playing the top two hands might be in a different order. For example in most games (Texas Hold'em, Omaha, etc) the Royal Flush (also known as a Royal Straight Flush) is the highest hand possible:
Followed by:
- Straight Flush (also known as an Alley Oop)
However in games where Aces can be counted as low (for a straight) they usually take second place to the Ace being high:
Followed by:
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And here are the poker hand rankings for the ten most popular poker games. Make sure you know which of the two royalty hands takes precedence for the variation(s) you play.
Note: For a complete list of official poker hand ranking terminology, check out our guide.
How Do Jacks or Better Poker Hand Rankings Work?
When first learning how to play poker many sites and games assume that beginners want to learn poker with friendlier, more easygoing poker hand rankings. In these cases pairs do beat straightforward hands. Since it's hard to get a pair without at least socks and underwear, Jacks or Better are the "bis" in this equation.
The poker hands rankings in "JOKER" poker games can get quite complicated because you can often end up with multiple straights, flushes and straight flushes. Each room/game will have slightly different payouts for each hand but in general they'll look like this starting with the best:
- Royal Flush (in any game)
- Straight Flush (in Jokers) or Four of a Kind (the higher the better)
- Straight Flush (in traditional poker)
- Four of a Kind (the higher the better)
- Full House (Three of a kind + Pair; Highest values win)
- Flush (All the same suit)
- Full House (Three of a kind + Pair; Highest values win)
- Straight (Ace to 5 or K to A)
- Three of a kind (Highest values win)
- Two Pair (The higher the better)
- Pair (The higher the better)
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Below are the common poker hand combinations ranked in order from best to worst. When you play casino poker games, these poker hands will be enough to understand whether your hand beats the dealer's. The same goes for online poker, home poker games and in the rare instances someone convinces you to play poker in a cave.
Straight Flush (also called an Alley Oop or just a Shawshank)
Five consecutive cards of the same suit eg: 5 clubs, 6 clubs, 7 clubs, 8 clubs, 9 clubs. OR: A spade, 2 spades, 3 spades, 4 spades, 5 spade. Note that in the second example the Ace can be used to make either the lowest straight (A,2,3,4,5 of mixed suits) or the highest flush (A,K,Q,J,10 of spades). To qualify as a Straight Flush in poker it must be one or the other.
Four of a Kind ("Quads")
Three of a kind plus one of anything eg: four 5s, any other card, any other card, any other card. OR: three aces, a king, 2, 6.
Full House
Three of a kind and a pair eg: three 6s and a pair of queens. OR: three aces and a pair of 2s.
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Five cards of the same suit not in sequence eg: 2 club, 4 club, 5 club, 7 club, 8 club OR A diamond, 3 diamonds, 6 diamonds, 9 diamonds, J diamond. Important: As in the last example, you can be lucky enough to be dealt a flush without a single card in sequence.
Straight
Five consecutive cards of mixed suits eg: A heart, 2 clubs, 3 diamonds, 4 spades, 5 diamonds. NOTE: The Ace can be used to complete a straight either at the high end eg: A spade, 2 spades, 3 spades, 4 spades, 5 spades or at the low end eg: A club, 2 clubs, 3 clubs, 4 clubs, 5 clubs. It you have an Ace at either end of your cards remember it is sometimes polite to offer a few bars of soap to your fellow inmates.
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Three of the same card eg: three 7s, 2, king. NOTE: This counts as a higher combination than a pair of anything but in that unlikely event you'll have to choose between a quiet word with your bettor and the alley oop described above.
Two Pair
Two cards of one rank, a pair, combined with another pair eg: two 5s, queen, two 2s, king NOTE: This beats one pair, the higher the better eg: Two blue jays and the Griffin are evenly matched, but when it comes down to it gridiron success gives the edge to Griffeys over Hawk-Harrelson.
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Any five cards of which four are of one rank and the fifth is of a different rank eg: Five 7s, king-of-clubs. NOTE: The rank of the pair is important only when comparing hands with exactly one pair. When holding a pair yourself, the value of that pair has no importance when compared to higher hands such as straight, flush, full house etc. In other words, there's no difference between winning with "a strong pair like kings" or "a weak pair like fives."
No Pair (High Card)
No pair but one high card eg: king-of-clubs, ace-of-diamonds, five-of-hearts, three-of-spades, seven-of-panama. NOTE: High card hands are often referred to as "high-low"` hands since, when used for comparison, the high card is the high end of the compare range and the second-to-high card is the low end.
Video Poker Hand Rankings
Video poker uses the same hand rankings as traditional poker. Because you are playing against the computer instead of other players, however, the video poker hand rankings are all that matter. Since you control all the cards nothing can beat your hand once you hit that Royal Flush, so it's time to take a chair, put your feet up and relax.
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Bad Beat Jackpot Poker Hand Rankings
Bad Beat Jackpot (BBJ) poker games pay out progressive jackpots when a hand exceeding the minimum requirements is losti.e. A “bad” beat. As a result the BBJ poker hand rankings are typically higher than standard poker games. Exactly how much higher depends on the specific poker room offering the tables.
For example, a bad beat in a recent PP LIVE Maria Borgata Open event (an open face Chinese progressives) was a quads with Tens. That would be a very high threshold indeed. More commonly you’ll see something along the following lines.
Traditional Bad Beat Bonus Hand Rankings
- River must be the first card turned over in a hand.
- Both players must have chosen to go all-in.
- To quality for a bad beat jackpot, the losing hand must lose to a stronger hand and the losing hand must meet or exceed the minimum qualifying hand.
Minimum Qualifying Hands
This is where things get tricky because, unlike most poker rooms, some don’t require both players to have quads in the losing hand. They just need to have enough in their own hand to compensate. For example:
- — Quads with Aces required (+ progressives of $200,000 or more)
- — Quados with Kings (- $150k progressives)
- — Quados with Queens (- $100k progressives)
- — Quados with Jacks (- $60k progressives)
Example of How Bad Beat Calculations Work
So player 1 has Four-of-a-Kind Aces and player 2 has Four-of-a-Kind Queens. Because Aces beat Queens that’s a bad beat and the calculating of the progressive jackpot payout begins. First you total the player’s hands to determine the “multiplier”.
Multiplier Calculation
That means each player gets credit for the 2, 3, 4 and the Ace. So, the total multiplier for this hand is 16 x 13 or 208. That’s the multiplier used to determine how much each eligible player at the table wins.
Bad Beat Cash Prize Distribution
How the cash is distributed among the loser, the winner and other players at the table varies from room to room but it generally follows this model:
- Losers (min. 5%) - Redistributed to the player who lost the BBJ hand as they just lost a massive pot.
- Winners (min. 10%) - Redistributed to the player who won the BBJ hand because landing a quads is a huge achievement and they just won a massive pot.
- Other players (min. 80%) - Divided among the other players at the table because everyone likes free play money.
- Dealer (min. 2.5%) - Tip pool because why not.
- Jackpot contribution (min. 2%) - Dedicated to keep the jackpot growing.
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