A Full House is the third best possible hand in the poker hand ranking system. Only a Straight Flush and 4-of-a-Kind rank above it. This makes it a very strong hand in Hold’em and is rarely beat on the river. That said, there are still many hands that rank under it. The next best hand on the list is called a Flush. The best Flush is the ace. Hold’em, Omaha, Seven Card Stud and Five Card Draw all use the traditional ‘high’ poker rankings. Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz and Stud Hi/Lo use the ‘Ace to Five’ (‘California’) low hand rankings for low hands. 2-7 Single Draw and 2-7 Triple Draw use the ‘Deuce to Seven’ (‘Kansas City’) lowball rankings for low hands.
Poker articlesThe poker deck consists of 52 cards that are ordered by poker card rank in the following order: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The same cards of different suits have the same poker card rank.
For example - the king of spades and the king of hearts both have the same value.
A poker hand consists of five cards. Any poker hand ranking in a higher category beats any hand in a lower hand ranking category. For example, any flush wins any two pairs. Between hands in the same poker hand ranking the rank of the individual cards decides which is better. For example, if both players have three of a kind, one of them Q's and the other J's, the Q's three of a kind would win.
Following is the ranking of poker hands ordered from highest(best) hand to lowest(worst) hand. Other instructions on online poker is available at poker4real.com
When you get a hand of poker, first consider what is the probability that someone else has a better hand than yours and also think about how highly ranked your hand is. If you want to learn the origin of poker ranking hands visit our page
There are 52 cards in the pack, and the ranking of the individual cards, from high to low, is ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. There is no ranking between the suits - so for example the king of hearts and the king of spades are equal.
A poker hand consists of five cards. The categories of hand, from highest to lowest, are listed in the chart below. Any hand in a higher category beats any hand in a lower category (so for example any three of a kind beats any two pairs). Between hands in the same category the rank of the individual cards decides which is better, as described in more detail below.
In games where a player has more than five cards and selects five to form a poker hand, the remaining cards do not play any part in the ranking. Poker ranks are always based on five cards only.
This is the highest poker hand. It consists of ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all in the same suit. As all suits are equal, all royal flushes are equal.
Five cards of the same suit in sequence - such as J-10-9-8-7. Between two straight flushes, the one containing the higher top card is higher. An ace can be counted as low, so 5-4-3-2-A is a straight flush, but its top card is the five, not the ace, so it is the lowest type of straight flush. The cards cannot 'turn the corner': 4-3-2-A-K is not valid.
Four cards of the same rank - such as four queens. The fifth card can be anything. This combination is sometimes known as 'quads', and in some parts of Europe it is called a 'poker', though this term for it is unknown in English. Between two fours of a kind, the one with the higher set of four cards is higher - so 3-3-3-3-A is beaten by 4-4-4-4-2. It can't happen in standard poker, but if in some other game you need to compare two fours of a kind where the sets of four cards are of the same rank, then the one with the higher fifth card is better.
This consists of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank - for example three sevens and two tens (colloquially known as 'sevens full' or more specifically 'sevens on tens'). When comparing full houses, the rank of the three cards determines which is higher. For example 9-9-9-4-4 beats 8-8-8-A-A. If the threes of a kind were equal, the rank of the pairs would decide.
Five cards of mixed suits in sequence - for example Q-J-10-9-8. When comparing two sequences, the one with the higher ranking top card is better. Ace can count high or low in a straight, but not both at once, so A-K-Q-J-10 and 5-4-3-2-A are valid straights, but 2-A-K-Q-J is not. 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest kind of straight, the top card being the five.
A pair is two cards of equal rank. In a hand with two pairs, the two pairs are of different ranks (otherwise you would have four of a kind), and there is an odd card to make the hand up to five cards. When comparing hands with two pairs, the hand with the highest pair wins, irrespective of the rank of the other cards - so J-J-2-2-4 beats 10-10-9-9-8 because the jacks beat the tens. If the higher pairs are equal, the lower pairs are compared, so that for example 8-8-6-6-3 beats 8-8-5-5-K. Finally, if both pairs are the same, the odd cards are compared, so Q-Q-5-5-8 beats Q-Q-5-5-4.
Five cards which do not form any of the combinations listed above. When comparing two such hands, the one with the better highest card wins. If the highest cards are equal the second cards are compared; if they are equal too the third cards are compared, and so on. So A-J-9-5-3 beats A-10-9-6-4 because the jack beats the ten.
A plastic wallet sized Poker Card Ranking card is available at F.G. Bradley’s stores or online here.