Poker Hand Rankings: Know The Various Kinds

If you are serious about poker as a game, you need to understand the game in depth and be very well versed with poker card rankings. Poker ranking is very vital in order to win a game. So irrespective of playing online or offline, knowledge of the game can bring rewards.

Casinos, free online poker room, and offline games, all play by the same rules and regulations. These might be different from what you play with your friends at home. Certain basics should be strengthened if you are serious about the game. Poker is played with all the 52 cards, but use of the joker varies depending on game. Cards are ranked with the ace at the top followed by the king, queen, jack, 10 ways down to 2. Five best cards are referred to as a hand even if the game is played with 7 cards. The five best cards are ranked on the basis of the poker ranking system which is the standard all over. The player who has the highest ranking hand wins the deal in most games. There are variants where the least ranked hand is the winner.

Poker rankings online also follows the same standard of poker ranking rules. Thus almost all poker games follow basic rules. Certain patterns of cards are used to decide the strength of a hand. The strongest hand is the royal flush and this has the ace, king, queen, jack and 10 of the same suit. This hand is rarely seen but when it occurs there is nothing like it. The straight flush is the second most powerful hand in the game. This requires 5 consecutive numbers of a single suit. Thus, even if the value of cards is lower, strength of hand according to poker raking is very high.

The next in line of strength of hand is the four of a kind which requires four cards of the same number and if another player has the same kind of hand, the winner is decided by value of number. Next is the full house, in which there should be three cards of one number and the other two of another number. The focus shifts from numbers to suites in flush. All five cards should be of the same suit irrespective of number. If you have five cards of different suites but numbers in numerical order, your hand is called a straight.

In three of a kind, three cards should be on the same number while the other two cards are irrelevant. You have made a two pair, if your hand has two pairs of two different numbers and one card with another number, and if you have one pair, your hand is one pair, naturally. If your hand does not fall into any of above mentioned categories, your hand can be referred to as a high card according to poker ranking rules.

Games which do not include the joker would have straight flush as the best hand while games which are played with joker have five of a kind as the best possible hand. You should be very familiar with the various combinations that are possible in making a hand to win the game.