With the different poker variants, one of the most popular ones is poker 홀덤. In the game, the players will form sets of 5 playing cards called hands. Each poker hand has a rank, which is compared against the other ranks of hands that participate in the showdown to decide who wins.

In a high game, the highest-ranking hands win. In low games, the lowest-ranking hands win. But, it has different rules used for the ranking of high and low hands. Indeed, each hand belongs to a category, which is determined by the patterns formed by the cards.

As the meaning of the words itself, a hand in the higher-ranking category is ranked as higher than the hand in the lower-ranking category. The hand is ranked according to the cards. Individual cards are ranked from highest to lowest:

A, K, Q, J, 10 – 2.          

But, aces are the lowest rank under A-5 low or A-6 low rules. Or, under high rules, as a part of a straight flush. Take note, the suits are not ranked. Hands that differ by suit alone will be of equal rank. When using a 52-card deck, there are nine hand categories, except under A-5 low rules where straight flushes, flushes, and straights are not recognized.

Five of a kind as an additional category exists when using 1 or more wild cards.  

The suited cards

You will often hear the newbies responding to the question of why they are playing a starting hand with a well-suited hand. Some united cards are valuable to play and it is better to start with suited cards compared with unsuited cards. The odds of flopping a flush is one out of 118 hands with 2 suited cards. You only make a flush after “the river”.

The kicker issues

Kicker means the smaller of the two cards. There are cases like some players will play a hand that contains an Ace with other cards (Ace with 3-kicker). The gameplay costs players money as well as tournaments.

Some instances like a player call with A6 and an A83 flop. What will be the player be doing? Call? Bet? Raise? Go-all-in? How about a flop of Q63? In this case, the player has middle pair, which means it is very hard to play. The flop with be A6X, which means the player has a two-pair.

The poker hand rankings

As a player of poker hold’em, aside from winning the game, you must also focus on how you can beat a hand. Each hand has a ranking, which means you need to know all of them and learn which hand can beat the other. Here are the poker hand rankings from worst to best:

• High card
• One pair
• Two pair
• Three of a kind
• Straight
• Flush
• Full house
• Four of a kind
• Straight flush
• Royal flush

A reminder for the players, before you start playing the game, you have to make sure that you are on a registered poker site. Player poker is not just for fun, but also for real money here.