Hand Rankings

Poker hands are always made up of 5 cards and can be split into two categories:

• High Hands – Used in Hold’em, Omaha, 7 Card Stud and the high pot of Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud Hi/Lo.


• Low Hands – Used to determine the winner of the low pot in Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud Hi/Lo. Note that all 5 cards must be of 8 or lower value otherwise the whole pot will go to the high hand.

High Hand Rankings

• Royal Flush - An Ace high straight-flush is called a Royal Flush and is the best hand in poker.




• Straight Flush - A straight flush is a straight (5 cards in order, such as 5-6-7-8-9) that are all of the same suit. As in a regular straight, you can have an ace either high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-A). However, a straight may not 'wraparound'. (Such as K-A-2-3-4, this is not a straight).




• Four of a Kind - Four of a kind is simply four cards of the same rank/value. If there are two or more hands that qualify, the hand with the higher-rank four of a kind wins.




• Full House - A full house is a three of a kind and a pair, such as K-K-K-5-5. Ties are broken first by the three of a kind, then pair. So K-K-K-2-2 beats Q-Q-Q-A-A, which beats Q-Q-Q-J-J.




• Flush - A flush is a hand where all of the cards are the same suit, such as J-8-5-3-2, all of spades. When two or more players have a flush the player with the highest ranks/value card wins.




• Straight - A straight is 5 cards in order, such as 4-5-6-7-8. An ace may either be high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-A). However, a straight may not 'wrap around' (such as Q-K-A-2-3, which is not a straight). When two or more players have a straight, the highest straight wins. (AKQJT beats KQJT9 down to 5432A). If two straights have the same value (AKQJT vs AKQJT) they split the pot.




• Three of a Kind - Three cards of the same rank/value, together with two cards of different ranks/values (otherwise it would be a Full House). Again, highest three of a kind wins. If both are the same rank, then compare the High Cards on the remaining two cards.




• Two Pair - This is two distinct pairs of card and a 5th card. The highest pair wins ties. If both hands have the same high pair, the second pair wins. If both hands have the same pairs, the high card wins.




• Pair - Two cards of the same rank (a pair) plus three cards of different ranks. The higher pair wins; if two players have pairs of the same rank the highest of the other three cards are compared.




• High Card - This is any hand which doesn't qualify as any one of the above hands. If nobody has a pair or better, then the highest card wins. If multiple people tie for the highest card, they look at the second highest, then the third highest etc. High card is also used to break ties when the high hands both have the same type of hand (pair, flush, straight, etc).

Low Hand Rankings

• A-2-3-4-5 : Also known as the bike or wheel
• A-2-3-4-6
• A-2-3-5-6
• A-2-4-5-6
• A-3-4-5-6
• 2-3-4-5-6
• A-2-3-4-7
• A-2-3-5-7
• A-2-4-5-7
• A-3-4-5-7……

A total of 56 hands qualify for a low with the worst being 4-5-6-7-8. To determine the winner of a low hand you simply need to look at the value of the highest ranked card in the hands. If this is a tie then you to look at the rank of 2nd highest card and then the 3rd and so on until a winner is determined. If all 5 cards are of equal value then the hand is a tie and the low pot is split.