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Winning Hold'em Strategies - Understanding Hand Rankings

Deanna Goodson
 
  

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In Hold'em, the hand rankings go from the strongest to the weakest. The most powerful hand to have at the end of all betting rounds in Texas Holdem is a Royal Flush. By contrast, the weakest is a high card.

Hold'em hand rankings are based on the best five-card possibility using the player’s hole cards and the board. 
Here's the order:

Royal flush - The highest hand you can have. A royal flush is comprised of the five highest cards, each in the same suit. 
Example:  A,K,Q,J,10

Straight flush - A straight flush is any five cards of the same suit in sequential order.
Example: A,2,3,4,5

4 of a kind - Four of the same type of card. 
Example: 2,2,2,2

Full house - Two cards of a kind and three of another kind.
Example: 6,6,9,9,9

Flush - Five cards of the same suit.
Example: A,2,6,4,J

Straight - Five cards in sequential order, not all of the same suit. 
Example: 3,4,5,6,7

3 of a kind - Three of the same type of card
Example: A,A,A

Two pair - Two of the same card held twice
Example: K,K,3,3

One pair - Two of the same card
Example: 6,6

High card - The highest card in your hand once all cards have been deal
Example: A,K,3,2,6

Things to keep in mind:

  • Full houses read as X full of Y, with X being the triple and Y being the pair. For example, Jill holds 6,6,9,9,9 – nines full of sixes. You have 6,6,6,10,10 (sixes full of tens). Jill wins.
  • Where a flush is concerned, you want to be as close to the Ace as possible. For example, if the board reads A,2,6,3,J, you would want to hold the Ks or Qs in your pocket. If not, someone probably has a bigger flush than you do and will take down (win) the pot.
  • In straight-land, the Ace can be either high or low. The wheel, or bicycle, is the term poker players use to describe the lowest possible straight A,2,3,4,5. As a rule, you’d rather be high. Otherwise you could be looking down the idiot end of a straight. That occurs when you draw to the bottom end of it. Example: If you have a J,10 in your pocket and the board comes K,Q,9,7,J, you could lose to a broadway, an Ace-high straight (A,K,Q,J,10).
  • Now, if you hold a pocket pair (example 8,8), the possibility that you’ll hit a set (trips, three of a kind) on the flop is 8 to 1. That’s not that good. Of course, if you do hit, trips are often good enough to win a pot with.
  • Two-pair is tricky, especially if you hit ‘em on the flop. The hand is solid at that point, but can become more problematic if you don’t improve to a full house on the turn or river.
  • When you have a high card, don’t expect to win unless you’re heads up.

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