Poker Hands: What Wins Most

In poker, there exists a ranking of poker hands, and winners are decided based on how their hands rank accordingly. Betting and play rules may vary among different types of poker. Nevertheless, hand ranking is a fixed universal poker rule; it is at the heart of every form of poker.

Winning poker hands are those hands that are included in the hierarchy of poker hands. As it is with hierarchies, some cards are just better than others.

Not considering wild cards, there are nine winning poker hands enumerated here in descending rank order.

On top of the hierarchy is the Royal Flush. Royal Flush is a hand consisting cards 10-J-Q-K-A. All 5 cards must bear identical suits.

Next in hierarchy of poker hands is the Straight Flush. Straight Flush is also a sequential 5-card poker hand other than the 10-J-Q-K-A sequence. All 5 cards must bear identical suits as well. Example of a Straight Flush is an all-spades 8-9-10-J-Q.

Four of a Kind is a quad of alike indexes or denominations. The last card can be of any index, suit, or denomination. 5-5-5-5-J and J-J-J-J-5 are examples of such poker hand.

Full House refers to a hand consisting of a trio and a pair. Q-Q-Q-2-2 is a Full House.

Flush refers to a non-sequential combination of cards of alike suits. 5-7-8-10-Q, all clubs, is an example of Flush.

Straight is another type of sequential hand. Cards don't bear alike suits. 6(heart)-7(diamond)-8(diamond)-9(spades)-10(heart) is a Straight.

Three of a Kind consists of a trio plus two cards of differing indexes. K-K-K-9-4 is an example.

Two Pairs consists of any two pairs plus a card of any suit or index such as K-K-4-4-Q.

Pair consists of two same-indexed cards. The three other cards can be of any suit or denomination. K-K-Q-5-2 is considered a Pair.

If, at the end of a game, no player shows up with any of the above winning poker hands, the pot is given to the hand with the highest card value such that K-9-8-6-2 (cards of unlike suits) beats Q-9-8-6-2 (cards of unlike suits as well). Q-9-8-6-2, however, beats Q-9-7-6-2. In this case, winning poker hands are hands consisting of a card or cards with highest numerical or index value during a showdown.

Winning poker hands may also refer to cards that have stayed in the game after every other hands have been folded.

Poker is a game where winning means having poker hands of strongest value. Poker has a built-in hand ranking system, and winning poker hands are those that are included in the rank. The higher your hand in the scale, the more potentially winning it is. A good working memory of how winning poker hands are ranked can aid a player in deciding on which to set one's strategy about.