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.
The Big Slick this refers to the Ace-King combination in Texas Hold’em. This is the best non-paired poker hand you can form. Cowboys are known as a pair of Kings. Open Ended is poker lingo for a Straight draw that’s open on both ends. If you’re holding 9-8 pocket cards and the board reads 7-6-2, you can form a Straight with 10 or 5 on the Turn and River. There are 13 pocket pairs you can be dealt as starting hands: 2-2 through A-A. There are 78 unpaired hands that you can be dealt in Texas Hold’em, ignoring suit (e.g. A-2, K-10, 6-2). Those same hands make up another set of 78 when suited (e.g. 9♥-8♥, A♣-8♣, Q♦-J♦).
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.
Texas Holdem Hand Rankings | ||
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Royal Flush | The highest hand in Texas Holdem. A royal flush consists of a straight from ten to the ace with all five cards of the same suit. | |
Straight Flush | Five cards in numerical order, all of the same suits. If tie: Highest rank at the top of the sequence wins. | |
Four of a Kind | Four cards of the same rank, and one side card. If tie: Highest four of a kind wins. In community card games where players have the same four of a kind, the highest fifth side card wins. | |
Full House | Three cards of the same rank, and two cards of a different, matching rank. If tie: Highest three matching cards wins. In community cards where players have the same three matching cards, the highest value of the two matching cards wins. | |
Flush | Five cards of the same suits. If tie: The player holding the highest ranked card wins. In necessary, the second, third, fourth, and fifth-highest cards can be used to break the tie. | |
Straight | Five cards of any suit in sequence. If tie: Highest rank at the top of the sequence wins. | |
Three of a Kind | Three cards of the same rank, and two unrelated side cards. If tie: Highest ranking three of a kind wins. In community card games where players have the same three of a kind, the highest side card, and if necessary, the second-highest side card wins. | |
Two Pairs | Two cards of a matching rank, another two cards of a different matching rank, and one side card. If tie: Highest pair wins. If players have the same highest pair, highest second pair wins. If both player have two identical pairs, highest side card wins. | |
One Pair | Two cards of a matching rank, and three unrelated side cards. If tie: Highest pair wins. If players have the same pair, the highest side card wins, and if necessary, the second-highest and third-highest side card can be used to break the tie. | |
High Card | Any hand that does not qualify under a category listed above. If tie: Highest card wins, and if necessary, the second, third, fourth and fifth-highest card can be used to break the tie. |
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.
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.
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.
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.
In Texas Hold’em, the person who starts or goes first is dependent on what stage of the hand being played. Before the flop, the first person to act is the player seated directly to the left of the Big Blind. This seat is often referred to as Under The Gun (UTG). After the flop, the first person to act is the player seated in the Small Blind (SB) position. Thereafter, the order stays the same for the rest of the hand through the Flop, Turn, and River.
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The order of play is based on how the players are seated at the table. There are typically 6 seat names in poker. UTG (also known as first position) is divided up into multiple seats (UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2) for games larger than 6-handed.
Here is what a 6-max poker table looks like. In the chart, the seats are called Under The Gun (UTG), the Hijack (HJ), the Cutoff (CO), the Button (BTN), the Small Blind (SB), and the Big Blind (BB).
Before the flop, the last player to act is always the Big Blind.
On a 6-handed table, the order of play would be UTG, HJ, CO, BTN, SB, BB. Once the first player acts, play continues around the table in a clockwise fashion until it reaches the Big Blind, who acts last on the first round.
On a 9-handed table, the order of play would be that the UTG starts followed by UTG+1, UTG+2, UTG+3, HJ, CO, BTN, SB, BB.
On the Flop, Turn, and River, the last player to act is always the Button.
Accordingly, on a 6-handed table, the post-flop order of play would be the SB starts followed by the BB, UTG, HJ, CO, and BTN.
The post-flop order never changes. However, the pre-flop order of play can be slightly altered if there is a player who straddles. A straddle is when the player seated just to the left of the Big Blind (usually UTG) posts a double big blind bet in front of him prior to the cards being dealt.
Essentially, he is buying the right to act last before the flop. In the case of a straddle, the person seated just to the left of the “straddler,” goes first pre-flop once the straddle has been wagered.
The first person to act after the flop is also the first person to receive a card; the small blind. The easy way to remember this is that the dealer must always deal clockwise to his or her left.
The pre-flop order also changes in a heads-up match. Instead of the Button acting last before the flop, he or she acts first instead. The easy way to remember it is that the Big Blind always goes last before the flop. And, in the case of heads up, the Button is the Small Blind, and therefore acts before the Big Blind player.
During post-flop, nothing changes heads up. The button still acts last, even though technically he or she is the Small Blind.
In heads-up play, the Big Blind is dealt to first and the Button 2nd. The button always receives the last card when dealing no matter how many players are seated at the table.
The same rules apply whether there are 3 players or 10. Before the flop, the player to act first is just to the left of the big blind. In the case of three-handed play, that would be the button. After the flop, the small blind acts first as always.
After the flop and before action is opened, any player can perform one of two actions. They can either bet or check. Of course, the person who acts first has the first option to bet.
There are a couple of ways that a poker hand can end. First, someone can bet and all the other players fold. This can happen on any street. The second time a hand can end is when the action closes on the river and showdown is achieved. In the latter case, all live hands are revealed and the winner is determined.
Once the hand has ended on the river and showdown has been achieved, the order that each player reveals their hand is exactly the same as the post-flop betting order. The first person to reveal is always the first person to the left of the Dealer and the last person to reveal is the player on the button.
Of course, if a player only has to show their hand if they want to. Many players will choose to “muck” or throw away their hand instead of showing if they are sure they have no chance of winning the hand at showdown. This is sometimes a wise choice in order to not give away information about your hand.
Being in position (acting last) is much better than being out of position (acting first) in poker. Poker is an informational game and the person that gets to act last has more information than everyone else. I wrote a detailed article on position; check it out for more details.
Since we have established that acting last is most advantageous in poker, the Button would be the best seat at the table. However, in reality, the seat name is irrelevant, as long as you are acting last. Therefore, let me refine my definition slightly: the best seat in poker is any seat that has you acting last in the current hand on the current street. For example, if it is blind versus blind after the flop, then the player in the Big Blind has the best seat possible for that hand.
When poker began the players had to deal the cards. In order for everyone to get equal opportunity to share the burden of dealing, the moving dealer button was born. Today, in casinos and even in some home games, there are dedicated dealers to speed up play, enforce the rules, and lessen the likelihood of cheating.
The exact reason that the blinds act last before the flop has been lost to history. However, one could deduce that the reasoning is simple. Since the blinds are the only players to pay to play a particular hand, it only makes sense that they should be rewarded by being given an informational advantage via acting last. This theory is bolstered by the existence of “straddles” where one can essentially “buy” position before the flop.
There is no difference between Texas Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) when it comes to the order of play. In fact, the order of play is the same for every poker game that has two blinds and a dealer button.