What beats what?

Poker has a fixed ranking. It is not a matter of taste and not negotiable: one hand beats another because it is rarer. That is the whole rule behind it — the harder a combination is to hit, the more it is worth.

Once you know the ladder, you never have to look it up again. It holds in every variant, at every table, in cash game and tournament alike.

One thing first, so the cards below read easily: ace (A), king (K), queen (Q) and jack (J) appear on the cards as their letter, the ten as 10. From here on the short form applies.

The ladder, from bottom to top

Ten rungs. At the very bottom what almost everyone gets; at the very top what most players never lay eyes on.

1. High Card A♠J♦8♥5♣2♦ none of the above hit. The highest card counts.
2. One Pair 9♥9♠K♦6♣3♥ two cards of the same value, say two nines.
3. Two Pair Q♣Q♦6♠6♥A♣ two of those, say two queens and two sixes.
4. Three of a Kind 7♦7♠7♣K♥4♦ three cards of the same value.
5. Straight 5♣6♦7♠8♥9♣ five values in a row; the suit does not matter.
6. Flush 2♦6♦9♦J♦K♦ five cards of the same suit; the order does not matter.
7. Full House 4♥4♠4♦10♣10♥ three of a kind and a pair together.
8. Four of a Kind 8♠8♥8♦8♣Q♠ all four cards of one value.
9. Straight Flush 5♠6♠7♠8♠9♠ a straight that is also a flush.
10. Royal Flush 10♥J♥Q♥K♥A♥ 10-J-Q-K-A in one suit: the highest straight flush there is, and with it the best hand in poker.

The two mix-ups

Beginners almost always mix up two places on the ladder, and both times the same question helps: which is rarer?

Straight or flush? The flush wins. Hitting five cards in a row is easier than hitting five cards of the same suit.

Flush or full house? The full house wins. Here too the higher rung is the rarer one — three of a kind plus a pair comes together less often than five cards of one suit.

There are no more traps at this point. Anyone who has these two pairings down has the ladder.

When both have the same

Two players with a pair of kings — then the highest side card decides, the kicker. If that is equal too, the next one. Only when all five cards have the same value is the pot split.

The same applies within every rung: of two straights the higher one wins, of two flushes the one with the highest card.

One exception is worth remembering: ace-two-three-four-five is a straight — and the lowest one at that. Here, for once, the ace counts downwards.

It is always exactly five cards

Never a single card and never six are scored. Every player puts together their best hand of five cards from what is available — and the two fives are compared.

That is why two players can share cards: what lies in the middle of the table belongs to everyone. How those cards get there is in chapter 2.

Exercise: who wins?

Two finished hands, three answers — player A, player B or split. After every guess, the reason in one sentence.

Ten pairs, each for exactly one thing. Shown are the best five cards of both players; that the two share cards is normal and not a mistake.

Your six chapters

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