What Beats What in Poker? By Sean Moronse At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Some may find the game of poker confusing, assuming that the game has far too many rules and conditions to understand. In truth, one simply gets baffled by the hand rankings of poker. In order to be truly familiar with the game, one must know about what beats what in poker.

When determining what beats what in poker, one must first look at the individual cards, for doing so will help evaluate the hand value properly. First of all, individual cards are ranked from highest to lowest, starting with Ace, King, Queen, and descending towards two. Ace can also be low if it is part of the straight Ace, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Another general rule is that suits do not have any value: a club hand of 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 is no better than a diamond hand with the exact same numbers. Players who end up with similar hands such as those end up splitting the pot. Lastly, a hand always consists of five cards.

What beats what in poker? In order to win a game, one must have a hand that beats all other hands, and that is why there are such things as card rankings. Hand variations have been given names such as straight flush, royal flush and other terms. However, the higher-ranking hands are much harder to get, because the probability of getting them is low.

The highest ranking standard poker hand is the royal flush, which is an ace-high straight flush. The combination of the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 is an example. Directly below that is the straight flush, which consists of five cards in sequence. All must be of the same suit, and if two or more players have straight flushes, then the hands are compared using their highest card. For anyone wanting to know what beats what in poker, they now have knowledge of the highest ranked hands.

A four of a kind, also known as quads, contains four cards of one rank (meaning four cards with the same number) and another card. It is better than a full house, but has less value than a straight flush. The next best hand is the full house, which consists of three matching cards of one rank, and two matching cards of another rank. For players who each have a full house, the highest ranking set of three (or the three cards with the highest number) will win.

A flush comes after that, and it contains five cards that are not in rank sequence but have the same suit. The highest ranking card is the basis for comparison if each player has a flush. Ranked below the flush is the straight, which consists of five cards in rank sequence but now having the same suit. It defeats the three of a kind poker hand, which is similar to the full house. The only difference is that the other two cards do not have the same numbers. The two pair, on the other hand, has two different pairs of cards with the same number, and one other card. The lesser ranked one pair has only one, while the high card is the lowest-ranked hand, consisting of no pairs, no sequence and no similar suits. The high card is a poker hand that is beaten by all other hands.

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