Hand ranking matters only after the variant has determined which cards may be used. This guide covers standard high hands without jokers. Lowball, badugi, short deck and three-card games can use different rankings.
In this guide
Ranking from strongest to weakest
The table shows standard five-card high hands without jokers. A royal flush is the highest straight flush. Suits do not break showdown ties.
| Hand | Original example cards |
|---|---|
| Straight flush | 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 6♠ 5♠ |
| Four of a kind | Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ Q♣ 3♠ |
| Full house | 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ 4♣ 4♠ |
| Flush | A♥ J♥ 8♥ 5♥ 2♥ |
| Straight | 9♠ 8♥ 7♦ 6♣ 5♠ |
| Three of a kind | 7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 2♠ |
| Two pair | J♠ J♥ 4♦ 4♣ A♠ |
| One pair | 10♠ 10♥ A♦ 8♣ 3♠ |
| High card | A♠ J♥ 8♦ 5♣ 2♠ |
Further reading: PokerStars: Standard hand rankings
The kicker belongs to the five-card hand
Original exercise: A♠ A♦ K♣ 9♥ 4♣ against A♥ A♣ Q♦ J♠ 8♦. Both have a pair of aces. Compare the highest remaining card next: king beats queen, so the first hand wins. Do not add point totals or compare an eighth or ninth available card.
With two pair, compare the higher pair, then the lower pair and finally the fifth card. A full house compares its triplet first. Thus 6–6–6–A–A loses to 7–7–7–2–2 despite having the higher pair.
An ace cannot turn a straight around
A–2–3–4–5 is a five-high straight. 10–J–Q–K–A is ace-high. Q–K–A–2–3 is not a straight. The first sequence compares as five-high; its ace does not make it stronger than 2–3–4–5–6.
When is a pot split?
Original Hold’em puzzle: the board is A♠ K♦ Q♣ J♥ 10♠. One player holds 8♣ 8♦; the other has 2♥ 3♥. Is there a winner? First identify the best permitted five-card hand for each.
Answer and explanation
Both play the board’s ace-high straight, so the hand ties and the pot is split under the table rules. The eights are not a sixth-card tiebreaker. In Omaha the board alone would not be permitted: exactly two hole cards must be used.
Practise without memorising the wrong thing
Start with only five cards. Name the category and comparison order aloud. Then expand to seven cards and find the best five. When switching variants, write its selection rule beside the cards. This separates “which cards may I use?” from “how strong is this hand?”.