How to PLAY POKER basic what hand beats what hand

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By Wasatch
eHow Community Member

Article Rating: (14 Ratings)

This is a basic intro of what hand ranks better than what hand in poker.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A deck of cards
A few friends

Step 1

There are 52 cards in a deck + 2 Jokers if you are using them. The highest in order are the 4 face cards. Ace, King, Queen, Jack. Then the numbered cards from highest number to lowest. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,and 2. The 2 is also called a Deuce. There are no rankings between the suits of Hearts, Clubs, Spades and Diamonds. An Ace of Spades and an Ace of Diamonds would be considered equal.
Step 2

A hand is five cards.
Step 3

The highest possible hand is a ROYAL FLUSH. All suits are equal. A Royal flush is an ace, king, queen, jack, and ten all of the same suit.....There is an old joke where a man comes home after an all night poker game and says to his wife " I got a Royal Flush, the odds of that are over 5 million to one." Unimpressed the wife replies "well, how many hands did you play?"
Step 4

The next highest hand is a STRAIT FLUSH: Five cards of the same suit in sequence. A strait flush ranks higher than another depending on what card it starts with. A jack, 10,9,8,7 beats a 9,8,7,6,5.
Step 5

Next is FOUR OF A KIND: This would be 4 aces as the highest, and 4 twos as the lowest rank four of a kind. The extra card does not make a difference.
Step 6

Next is a FULL HOUSE: This is three cards of one rank and a pair of another. Like 3 queens and 2 jacks, or 3 fours and 2 aces etc...
Step 7

Next is a FLUSH: That is 5 cards of the same suit. When comparing to another flush the one that starts with the highest ranked card wins. If the high cards are equal move to the second ranked card, then third on down the line until one is higher in rank.
Step 8

Next is a STRAIT: Cards of different suits but in rank order. the highest strait is A,K,Q,J,10. The lowest is 5,4,3,2,A. In a strait an ace can be the high card or count as a one.
Step 9

Next is THREE OF A KIND: Compared with other 3 of a kind the highest wins. So 3,3,3,5,2 beats 2,2,2,Q,K
Step 10

Next is TWO PAIRS: A pair is 2 cards of equal rank. 2 pairs of different ranked cards. (Two pairs of the same rank would be 4 of a kind. When compared with another hand with 2 pairs the highest pair wins. So K,K,2,2 beats Q,Q,J,J.
Step 11

Next is A PAIR: Two cards of equal rank. The high pair compared with another hand wins. If 2 people hold the same pairs, K,K, vs K,K then the winner is determined by the next highest card not in the pair.
Step 12

Lastly is HIGH CARD: if the five cards don't form and of the above combinations the highest single card wins. If the highest card is equal move to the second highest and so forth.

Comments

yourmamasaidwha said

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on 12/19/2008 thanks for the useful info...i need this here and there, as the husband likes to do this time to time...we're constantly looking to see what hand beats what...thanks!