Below is the complete guide for determining how to rank various poker hands. This article covers all poker hands, from hands in standard games of poker, to lowball, to playing with a variety of wild cards. Scroll to the end to find an in-depth ranking of suits for several countries, including many European countries and North American continental standards.
Standard Poker Rankings
Aces are always low card and straights and flushes do not count. Under Ace-to-5, 5-4-3-2-A is the best hand. As with standard poker, hands compared by the high card. So, 6-4-3-2-A beats 6-5-3-2-A AND beats 7-4-3-2-A. Aces may indeed be used as low in a straight in holdem. A2345 is the lowest possible straight, also sometimes called a 'wheel.' In any other context, aces will be ranked higher than other cards.
- Poker is played from a standard pack of 52 cards. (Some variant games use multiple packs or add a few cards called jokers.) The cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. (Ace can be high or low, but is usually high).
- The name gets styled differently, too, as 'Omaha High-Low,' 'Omaha poker high-low' and so on. For the low hand, the ace is considered a low card (the lowest), while it can also serve as the.
A standard deck of cards has 52 in a pack. Individually cards rank, high to low:
Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
In standard poker (in North America) there is no suit ranking. A poker hand has 5 cards total. Higher ranked hands beat lower ones, and within the same kind of hand higher value cards beat lower value cards.
#1 Straight Flush
In games without wild cards, this is the highest ranking hand. It consists of five cards in sequence of the same suit. When comparing flushes, the hand with the highest value high card wins. Example: 5-6-7-8-9, all spades, is a straight flush. A-K-Q-J-10 is the highest ranking straight flush and is called a Royal Flush. Flushes are not permitted to turn the corner, for example, 3-2-A-K-Q is not a straight flush.
#2 Four of a Kind (Quads)
A four of a kind is four cards of equal rank, for example, four jacks. The kicker, the fifth card, may be any other card. When comparing two four of a kinds, the highest value set wins. For example, 5-5-5-5-J is beat by 10-10-10-10-2. If two players happen to have a four of a kind of equal value, the player with the highest ranking kicker wins.
#3 Full House (Boat)
A full house consists of 3 cards of one rank and 2 cards of another. The three cards value determines rank within Full Houses, the player with the highest rank 3 cards wins. If the three cards are equal rank the pairs decide. Example: Q-Q-Q-3-3 beats 10-10-10-A-A BUT 10-10-10-A-A would beat 10-10-10-J-J.
#4 Flush
Any five cards of the same suit. The highest card in a flush determines its rank between other flushes. If those are equal, continue comparing the next highest cards until a winner can be determined.
#5 Straight
Five cards in sequence from different suits. The hand with the highest ranking top card wins within straights. Ace can either be a high card or low card, but not both. The wheel, or the lowest straight, is 5-4-3-2-A, where the top card is five.
#6 Three of a Kind (Triplets/Trips)
A three of a kind is three card of equal rank and two other cards (not of equal rank). The three of a kind with the highest rank wins, in the event they are equal, the high card of the two remaining cards determines the winner.
#7 Two Pairs
A pair is two cards that are equal in rank. A hand with two pairs consists of two separate pairs of different ranks. For example, K-K-3-3-6, where 6 is the odd card. The hand with the highest pair wins if there are multiple two pairs regardless of the other cards in hand. To demonstrate, K-K-5-5-2 beats Q-Q-10-10-9 because K > Q, despite 10 > 5.
#8 Pair
A hand with a single pair has two cards of equal rank and three other cards of any rank (as long as none are the same.) When comparing pairs, the one with highest value cards wins. If they are equal, compare the highest value oddball cards, if those are equal continue comparing until a win can be determined. An example hand would be: 10-10-6-3-2
#9 High Card (Nothing/No Pair)
If your hand does not conform to any of the criterion mentioned above, does not form any sort of sequence, and are at least two different suits, this hand is called high card. The highest value card, when comparing these hands, determines the winning hand.
Low Poker Hand Ranking
In Lowball or high-low games, or other poker games which lowest ranking hand wins, they are ranked accordingly.
A low hand with no combination is named by it’s highest ranking card. For example, a hand with 10-6-5-3-2 is described as “10-down” or “10-low.”
Ace to Five
The most common system for ranking low hands. Aces are always low card and straights and flushes do not count. Under Ace-to-5, 5-4-3-2-A is the best hand. As with standard poker, hands compared by the high card. So, 6-4-3-2-A beats 6-5-3-2-A AND beats 7-4-3-2-A. This is because 4 < 5 and 6 < 7.
The best hand with a pair is A-A-4-3-2, this is often referred to as California Lowball. In high-low games of poker, there is often a conditioned employed called “eight or better” which qualifies players to win part of the pot. Their hand must have an 8 or lower to be considered. The worst hand under this condition would be 8-7-6-5-4.
Duece to Seven
The hands under this system rank almost the same as in standard poker. It includes straights and flushes, lowest hand wins. However, this system always considers aces as high cards (A-2-3-4-5 is not a straight.) Under this system, the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 (in mixed suits), a reference to its namesake. As always, highest card is compared first. In duece-to-7, the best hand with a pair is 2-2-5-4-3, although is beat by A-K-Q-J-9, the worst hand with high cards. This is sometimes referred to as “Kansas City Lowball.”
Ace to Six
This is the system often used in home poker games, straights and flushes count, and aces are low cards. Under Ace-to-6, 5-4-3-2-A is a bad hand because it is a straight. The best low hand is 6-4-3-2-A. Since aces are low, A-K-Q-J-10 is not a straight and is considered king-down (or king-low). Ace is low card so K-Q-J-10-A is lower than K-Q-J-10-2. A pair of aces also beats a pair of twos.
In games with more than five cards, players can choose to not use their highest value cards in order to assemble the lowest hand possible.
Hand Rankings with Wild Cards
Wild cards may be used to substitute any card a player may need to make a particular hand. Jokers are often used as wild cards and are added to the deck (making the game played with 54 as opposed to 52 cards). If players choose to stick with a standard deck, 1+ cards may be determined at the start as wild cards. For example, all the twos in the deck (deuces wild) or the “one-eyed jacks” (the jacks of hearts and spades).
Wild cards can be used to:
- substitute any card not in a player’s hand OR
- make a special “five of a kind”
Five of a Kind
Five of a Kind is the highest hand of all and beats a Royal Flush. When comparing five of a kinds, the highest value five cards win. Aces are the highest card of all.
The Bug
Some poker games, most notably five card draw, are played with the bug. The bug is an added joker which functions as a limited wild card. It may only be used as an ace or a card needed to complete a straight or a flush. Under this system, the highest hand is a five of a kind of aces, but no other five of a kind is legal. In a hand, with any other four of a kind the joker counts as an ace kicker.
Wild Cards – Low Poker
During a low poker game, the wild card is a “fitter,” a card used to complete a hand which is of lowest value in the low hand ranking system used. In standard poker, 6-5-3-2-joker would be considered 6-6-5-3-2. In ace-to-five, the wild card would be an ace, and deuce-to-seven the wild card would be a 7.
Lowest Card Wild
Home poker games may play with player’s lowest, or lowest concealed card, as a wild card. This applies to the card of lowest value during the showdown. Aces are considered high and two low under this variant.
Double Ace Flush
This variant allows the wild card to be ANY card, including one already held by a player. This allows for the opportunity to have a double ace flush.
Natural Hand v. Wild Hand
There is a house rule which says a “natural hand” beats a hand that is equal to it with wild cards. Hands with more wild cards may be considered “more wild” and therefore beat by a less wild hand with only one wild card. This rule must be agreed upon before the deal begins.
Incomplete Hands
If you are comparing hands in a variant of poker which there are less than five cards, there are no straights, flushes, or full houses. There is only four of a kind, three of a kind, pairs (2 pairs and single pairs), and high card. If the hand has an even number of cards there may not be a kicker.
Examples of scoring incomplete hands:
10-10-K beats 10-10-6-2 because K > 6. However, 10-10-6 is beat by 10-10-6-2 because of the fourth card. Also, a 10 alone will beat 9-6. But, 9-6 beats 9-5-3, and that beats 9-5, which beats 9.
Ranking Suits
In standard poker, suits are NOT ranked. If there are equal hands the pot is split. However, depending on the variant of poker, there are situations when cards must be ranked by suits. For example:
- Drawing cards to pick player’s seats
- Determining the first better in stud poker
- In the event an uneven pot is to be split, determining who gets the odd chip.
Typically in North America (or for English speakers), suits are ranked in reverse alphabetical order.
- Spades (highest suit), Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs (lowest suit)
Suits are ranked differently in other countries/ parts of the world:
- Spades (high suit), Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts (low suit)
- Hearts (high suit), Spades, Diamonds, Clubs (low suit) – Greece and Turkey
- Hearts (high suit), Diamonds, Spades, Clubs (low suit) – Austria and Sweden
- Hearts (high suit), Diamonds, Clubs, Spades (low suit) – Italy
- Diamonds (high suit), Spades, Hearts, Clubs (low suit) – Brazil
- Clubs (high suit), Spades, Hearts, Diamonds (low suit) – Germany
REFERENCES:
http://www.cardplayer.com/rules-of-poker/hand-rankings
https://www.pagat.com/poker/rules/ranking.html
https://www.partypoker.com/how-to-play/hand-rankings.html
Roll Your Own
Roll Your Own is not so much a single game as a style of playing seven-card stud poker. Instead of dealing some cards face up, the dealer always deals face down, and the players, after looking at the cards, decide which of them to reveal before the following betting round. The procedure is as follows.
- After the players have placed their ante the dealer deals three cards each, face down. Each player chooses one card to reveal. There is a betting round.
- The dealer deals another card to each player. Each player turns one card face up - either the newly dealt card or one of the two face down cards the player already has. There is another betting round.
- Step 2 is repeated until everyone has six cards: four face up and two face down, and there is a fourth betting round.
- The dealer deals a seventh card to each player face down. There is a fifth and final betting round followed by a showdown in which the highest hand wins the pot.
There are several ways to organise the revealing of cards. For example:
- Each player selects a card and holds it face down. Then all turn over their chosen card simultaneously. The cards may be revealed on a signal from the dealer: the dealer calls 'one - two - three - flip'.
- Each player in turn selects a card to flip, beginning with the player to dealer's left if all cards are face down, or with the player who has the highest hand showing otherwise. Each player is allowed to see the previous player's new face up card before deciding which card to reveal.
Variations
Almost any seven-card stud variant can be played in Roll Your Own style rather than with a normal deal - for example Hi-Lo, Chicago or Baseball.
Dakota
Some play that a version of Roll Your Own in which each player's lowest face-down card and any others of the same rank are wild for that player only. You may pay a fixed fee to the pot to have your seventh card dealt face-up rather than face-down, to avoid the risk that a new low card will replace the favourable wild card that you had before. Dakota is an example of this type of game.
- Three cards are dealt to each player and all simultaneously turn one face up. There is a round of betting.
- Everyone is dealt a new down card and must turn one of their three face down cards face up. There is a new round of betting.
- Step 2 is repeated until the fourth round of betting, at which point everyone has six cards: two face down and four face up.
- Before the seventh and last card is dealt, each player must decide whether to buy 'the Option'. The cost is equal to the maximum bet at this point. This does not count as a bet: it is just an extra amount paid in chips to the pot. Players who buy the Option turn a fifth card face up after their seventh card is dealt; players who do not must keep their final card face down.
- There is a final round of betting after which active players declare high, low or both and reveal their hands. Each player's lowest face down card is wild for the high hand. There are no wild cards for the low hand. The highest and lowest hand split the pot.
Mexican Stud
This is sometimes played as a five-card stud roll your own game.
Two cards are dealt face down to each player, and they each choose one card to flip, either simultaneously or in turn as above. There is a betting round.
Players are dealt another card face down and reveal one of their two face down cards. There is another betting round.
This is repeated until everyone has four cards face up and one face down and there is a final round of betting and a showdown.
Mississippi Mud
This variant was described to me by Jim Ward. It is a high-low game with declaration. It is best played by 5-7 players.
In this game the dealer deals seven cards face down to each player at the outset. Every player selects two cards to discard, and then chooses one of the remaining five cards to expose. There is a round of betting, beginning with the player who has the highest card showing.
Each player exposes another of their five cards, and there is another round of betting. This is repeated until each player has four cards showing and one face down, and there is a final round of betting.
Active players declare whether they are competing for high hand or the low hand. Then the last card is exposed and the pot is split between the high and low winners, using ace-to-five ranking.
Variation
Some use ace-to-six ranking for the low hand, and A-2-3-4-5 counts as a straight. In the variant, A-2-3-4-5 can be played both high and low. The player can declare 'both ways', 'high' or 'low'. A player who goes 'both ways' must win both ways or gets none of the pot. See split pot games with declaration for details.
Pick a Partner
This game requires an even number of players who ante and are dealt five cards each face down.
Everyone rolls one card - that is everyone selcts a card and all simultaneously expose them. The player who has the highest card showing selects one other player as a partner; then the unpartnered player with the highest card showing selects an unpartnered player as a partner; and so on until all the players are paired up.
Poker Ace High Or Low Carb
Each partnership combines their remaining eight cards and selects three of them to use with their two upcards to form a poker hand. There are then three more betting rounds, with one of the three cards rolled (turned face up) after each round. The partners play their hand as a team, but bet as individuals: if one member of a team folds the other can continue playing.
At the showdown the team with the highest hand shares the pot. If one member of the winning team has folded, the other partner wins the whole pot.
Psycho
Five cards are dealt face down to each player. In turn, starting to dealer's left, players have the opportunity to discard and draw replacement cards as in five card draw poker.
Now all players select three cards to show, and when ready they expose them simultaneously. The game continues like seven card stud: after a round of betting, players receive a sixth card face up, there is another round of betting, a final card is dealt to each player face down, and there is a final round of betting. Players then declare high, low or both and there is a showdown.
Poker Rules Ace High Or Low
Even if the draw is restricted to three cards each, each player potentially has access to 10 cards, so with more than 5 players the cards may run out and discards will have to be reused.