Poker is one of the most popular games to play both at an online and land-based casino. It’s well known for being one of the most complicated casino games to play as there are lots of rules involved.
That’s why we’ve put together a comprehensive guide with all the different poker hands. Whether you are playing on you mobile or prefer to meet your opponent face to face, once you know what hand you need to win, you’re halfway there.
Our beginners guide will take you through a basic layout of how to play poker games, so you know what to expect. But first, let’s get into all those poker hands and how to use them when you play.
Different poker hands
- The best hand you can get in poker is a royal flush. It’s made up of a 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of the same suit. It all has to be either all clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades. This is the one and only hand that can only be tied with the same hand. If this happens, the winners have to split the pot down the middle.
- The next highest hand you can get is a straight flush. This hand is made up of 5 consecutive cards of the same suit. They don’t need to include the king, queen or jacks but the higher the cards the better.
- Next one the list is 4 of a kind. This means that you have 4 cards of the same rank but they don’t have to be the same suit, as well as a card of any rank. For example, you could have four jacks and a 6. If you have four jacks, then no one else that is playing can have a hand with a jack, so no royal flush is available.
- Moving down the ranks, we have a full house. This hand is made up of 3 matching cards of 1 rank and 2 more matching cards of a different rank. For example, you could have three aces and two 8s.
- Next on the list is a flush and this contains any five cards of the same suit. The rank and sequence don’t matter, the only necessity is that they are from the same suit.
- A straight has five cards of consecutive rank but they are all from different suits. So, this could be a 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 but they’re all from different suits.
- Three of a kind is pretty self explanatory but this is when you have three cards of the same rank, plus two random cards.
- A two pair is next on the list and this contains two cards of one rank, in addition to two other cards of different rank from the first pair, alongside plus one random card.
- A pair is when you have two cards of the same rank, as well as three other random cards.
- And last and least of all the card rankings is the high card hand. This is when none of the cards are in the same rank or suit and none of them run consecutively.
How to play poker
The first bets placed in a poker game work differently depending on which version you play. One of the betting options is that the player next to the dealer puts down a small bet that is typically half of the minimum bet. Then the player to that person’s left places a big blind that’s at least of the minimum bet.
As another option, each player can “ante up” the minimum starting bet, which basically means that you place a minimum starting bet into the pool.
Now the cards are handed out and you can look at the two cards you’ve been given. The dealer then “burns” the first card on the deck, which takes it out of the game. Then two more cards are dealt out to everyone.
With every round, you can either: bet, call, raise, or fold. Betting means that you place a bet, a call is when you match a bet someone else has made, raise is when you bet more than the player before you, and folding means you opt out of the game. You can also check, but you can only do this if the person before you has also done the same.
With every round, the dealer will burn one card so that it’s more difficult to keep track of what everyone has.
The rounds keep going until there is a winner as people fold out of the game. But if you manage to get down to the final round and there are multiple people still in the game, there will have to be a showdown of cards.
This is where everyone puts down their cards and everyone examines who has the best hand – and that person is declared the winner.
Now you know how to play poker, the only thing left to do is play!
