In Texas Holdem poker, players construct hands of playing cards according to predetermined rules, which vary according to which variant of poker is being played. These Texas Holdem hands are compared using a hand ranking system that is standard across all variants of poker. For example, the hand rankings for No-Limit Texas Holdem hands are the same as Limit Texas Holdem hands and Pot-Limit Texas Holdem hands. The player with the highest-ranking hand wins that particular deal in most poker games. If you ever play Texas Holdem poker, you need to know which hand wins over another. Therefore, you need to know the ranking of Texas Holdem hands.

1. Texas Holdem Hierarchy Of Hands
2. Hold'em Poker Hands
3. Highest Hand In Texas Holdem

The following are the winning high hands in standard Texas Holdem poker games, from highest to lowest. The player with the highest-ranking hand wins. These are standard for all poker sites. Any hand in one category in the list beats any hand in any category below it. For example, any straight flush beats any four of a kind; any flush beats any straight.

However, there are 1,326 different starting poker hands in Texas Holdem, and even 270,725 poker hand variations in Pot Limit Omaha. While there are many different starting hands options in various games, the winning hand is determined by poker hand rankings consisting only of 10 options. The reality is that a High Card Hand simply refers to the highest-ranking card in your 5-card hand. In Texas Holdem poker games, this is the lowest possible 5 card hand that you can form. If you’re holding the following hand K♥10♣ and the board (The Flop, Turn, and River) consists of the following cards 8♥7♣4♦J♥2♣, your hand.

Texas Holdem Poker Beginner’s Guide by Unibet

Basic order of the poker cards

Poker follows the same basic order of cards as most other card games. The highest card is an Ace, followed by King, Queen and Jack. From there it goes down in numbers from 10 to 2. This means that a pair of Aces is higher than a pair of Kings and a three of a kind of Jacks will beat a three of a kind of 7s.

Highest card in straight or flush decides

If you have the same hand as an opponent, for example a straight, it matters what the highest card in the straight is. So a straight that goes from 10 to an Ace beats a straight that goes from 9 to a King. The same goes for all other hands where the hands are of the same kind.

Your high cards finish the hand

If the poker hand isn’t formed with five cards, for example with four of a kind, the last card is the highest card that is available. This can be a card you have in your hands or a card that’s lying on the table. The same goes for Two Pair and One Pair.

Texas Holdem Hands cheat sheet

If you are still learning to play online poker, it might be a good idea to keep the poker cheat sheet below as a reference. You can download the image and open it when you are playing poker to keep track of which hands beats which.

With few exceptions, all poker games place hands on the same
scale from high- to low-value. Poker hands are ranked depending
on their likelihood. The least-likely hands are the
highest-ranked; the most common hands are the lowest-ranked.
Identical poker hands are ranked by which hands holds cards of
the highest value.

Poker Hand Rank

Here is the standard hand rank, from highest to lowest:

A royal flush is a hand where all the cards are of the same suit and the 5 highest cards in consecutive order (10, J, Q, K, A). This hand is the best hand that you can get in the game of Texas Hold’em.

A straight flush is a hand where all the cards are of the same suit and are in consecutive order. For example, a 23456, all of hearts, is a straight flush. In the event of a tie, the straight flush with the highest card wins.

A 4 of a kind is a hand where 4 of the 5 cards are of the same ranking. An example of a hand with a 4 of a kind might have KKKK2. That would be the 2 in every suit–clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades. In the event of a tie, the 4 of a kind with the highest hand ranking wins.

A full house is a hand that consists of 3 cards of one rank and 2 cards of another rank. An example of a full house might look like this: KKKQQ. In the event of a tie, the hand with the higher cards in the 3 cards is the winner.

A flush is a hand that consists of 5 cards of the same suit—clubs, diamonds, hearts, or spades. In the event of a tie, the flush with the highest card is the winner.

A straight is a hand where all 5 cards of consecutive ranks. 23456 is an example of a straight. In the event of a tie, the straight with the highest card is the winner.

2 pairs is a hand where you have 2 cards of one rank and 2 cards of another rank along with a final card of another rank. An example of 2 pairs might look like this: AAKK7.In the event of a tie, the hand with the highest pair wins.

1 pair is a hand where you 2 cards of one rank and 3 cards with different ranks. An example of a pair might look like this: JJ278. In the event of a tie, the higher ranked pair wins.

High card means a hand where none of the other hand rankings apply. If no one still in the hand can make a pair or better, the player with the highest card in his hand wins the pot.

Playing a live game of poker requires that you know this
hierarchy. For new players, this may seem a little daunting.
After all, here you have nine pieces of complex information to
remember in precise order.

A Word About Mnemonic Devices

I learned the order of poker hands using a mnemonic. I think
anyone can use this simple method to learn the hierarchy in a
matter of minutes. Mnemonics are popular memory devices used by
students, teachers, and people of all stripes for hundreds of
years in order to remember complex information.

You probably used a mnemonic device to remember the order of
the planets in our solar system. I remember learning the
sentence: “My very excellent mother just served us nine pizzas.”
The first letter of each of the words in that sentence will help
you remember that the planets go in this order – Mercury, Venus,
Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. I’ll
probably never forget that fact, thanks to the mnemonic device I
was taught.

The trouble is, it’s hard to convert hand rankings into
words. Besides that, I don’t think you learn much about poker by
simply memorizing the order of hands. You should use the
opportunity of needing to learn proper hand hierarchy to improve
your understanding of poker strategy.

The tips below will help you understand the proper order of
poker hands better and introduce you to some basic poker
concepts to help you improve your overall game.

Low-Value Poker Hands

To remember the order of the four lowest-value hands, just
remember the number series “0, 1, 2, 3.”

• 0 means “high card.” Having nothing in your hand means
  the value of your hand depends on the value of your highest
  card. Remember – in poker, aces rank high, while 2’s rank
  low.
• 1 means “one pair.” Any hand that contains just a single
  pair of cards and nothing else valuable is a 1.
• 2 means “two pair.” This is a hand that contains two
  pairs of cards.
• 3 means “three-of-a-kind.” It’s the most valuable of the
  low-value hands.

High-Value Poker Hands

For the purpose of this post, I’m calling every hand above a
three-of-a-kind a “high-value hand,” but lots of poker
strategists would consider a straight to be a low-value hand.
This is really a difference in philosophy and a language issue
more than anything else.

For that reason, and for simplicity’s sake, I like to think
of straight as a “/” symbol in my mnemonic. That means our
current mnemonic string goes: “0, 1, 2, 3, /.”

It’s easier to memorize the order of the other high-ranking
hands if you count the number of letters in the hand’s name.
It’s made all the easier to remember by the fact that the number
of letters increases as you move up the scale.

Here’s how I break it down:

• 5 – The word flush contains five letters.
• 9 – The words full house contain nine letters.
• 11 – The words four of a kind contain eleven letters.
• 13 – The words straight flush contain thirteen letters.
• 18 – The words royal straight flush contain eighteen
  letters.

Putting them all together, our mnemonic is: “0 – 1 – 2 – 3 /
5 – 9 – 11 – 13 – 18.”

Other Ways to Memorize Hand Hierarchy

Texas Holdem Hierarchy Of Hands

I’m not going to pretend that the method I used to learn hand
hierarchy is the only one that will work. The three ideas below
are the most popular tactics on the Web besides the use of
mnemonics, based on my research. You can use any of the four
methods described on this post to keep track of what hand beats
what other hand. That way, you’ll be able to plan your tactics
ahead of time and make smart bidding decisions.

Rote Memorization

Some people learn best by repeated drilling of the material
to be memorized. I’ve heard of actors reading their scripts over
and over, playing tapes of the script in their sleep, and
learning their lines by rote. I can’t think of any reason why
you shouldn’t try this method.

Hand Evaluation Diagrams

Various poker trainer programs and strategy gurus have put
together diagrams to help you analyze your hand. You can use
these in poker rooms, and obviously you can use them online, so
long as you don’t care about the other guys at the table making
fun of you. They’re available for free with a simple Google
search.

Frequent Exposure

The more rounds of poker you play, the more you’ll become
familiar with all the rules, including the rules of hand
ranking. You may lose a bunch on the way there, because of your
lack of familiarity with hand ranks, but, by God, you’ll get it
eventually.

Hold'em Poker Hands

Conclusion

Remember that some poker variations assign different values
to cards and hands. Some games are totally reversed, rewarding
the lowest-value hand instead of the highest-value one. Other
games may consider an Ace to be low, or use Jokers, which throws
off the hierarchy and strategy a bit.

Highest Hand In Texas Holdem

I hope that this page helped you learn about the value of the
cards you’re dealt. I believe the best way to practice your
newfound understanding of hand hierarchy is to get out there and
play a bunch of poker. If you’re still new to the game and not
yet comfortable with your understanding of hand rankings, you
can always play in free-to-play apps or use play-money at your
favorite online poker room.