What are the Hands in Poker?

The five cards held when playing a round of poker can mean the difference between success and failure and in many cases whether or not you still own that house in the hills. The term ‘poker hand’ is so widely used that it’s even found its way into mainstream speech as a colloquialism but what is it really? Let’s make the hands of poker less of a mystery as we explore what they are, which ones are the winning hands at poker and which ones mean your winning streak is over!

Winning Hands at Poker

Firstly, let’s look at the poker hands in order and then determine their rankings. You’ll start with the Straight Flush which basically has cards of the same suit in a row. If you get A,K,Q,J,10 in your hand, it’s called a royal flush. This is one of the poker best hands! As far as ranks of poker hands go, this is the highest you can get. Another high ranking type of flush is called a steel wheel and refers to a five high. A five high is when you also have cards from the same suit lined up in a row, with 5 being the highest number. There are 40 ways that you could possibly have a flush.
The next rank down brings us to what’s called a four of a kind. Now, the funny thing about a four of a kind is that it’s actually four of a kind plus one odd one out! This could be 8,8,8,8, J. The odd card however, has the ability to beat out another four of a kind with a lesser odd. If they’re the same, it’s a tie. So the poker hands ranking in this case, is determined by the odd card.
Then another hand that is often spoken about is the full house, which falls after four of a kind. These hands in poker, involve three of the same cards plus two cards that are the same as each other but not the same as the first three. Say you get 7,7,7,4,4, and your opponent gets 7,7,7,2,2, then you take the lead because your 4’s were higher than their 2’s. Then you get a flush which are hands in poker that include five cards from the same suit. The highest ranking cards will compete against one another and the other four cards won’t affect the outcome.

Other Poker Hand Rankings

Next down the list is a straight which is very much like a flush except that the cards (that run down in sequence) are not all from the same suit. The probability of getting a straight is fairly high in any game. The lesser hands of poker are far more probable in general which is how they get their rank. A two pair is the next one and the name is a good suggestion at to what this entails. It’s basically two pairs (of different suits) and a fifth wheel. Again, the highest ranked pair will compete against that of another player. While these are not all the hands they are essentially the winning hands at poker.