Poker Hand Values
One of the first things that you need to learn when you’re playing any poker game is the hand values. No matter what poker game you’re playing the hand values are the same, so it’s fairly easy to remember them all. The reason it’s so imperative to understand the hand values is simple. If you don’t know the hand values you’re not going to have any clue how strong your hand is.
When you’re playing you often won’t end up going down to the showdown in a hand. When you don’t go to a showdown it means that nobody had to even show their cards. So although hand values don’t come into play until the showdown it’s important you know what they are. One more quick tip I would like to share is that the hand values at the top of the list are very rare too have. Don’t expect to be dealt a royal flush every single time you sit down to play poker.
Below is a list of the different hand values, courtesy of www.PokerRockets.com, along with an example of each hand so that you can learn them as quickly as possible. Make sure you read through the list a few times or until you feel you have them memorized.
* Royal Flush – Any Ace-10 of the same suit (A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit)
* Straight Flush – Any five cards in sequential order and the same suit (9-8-7-6-5 of the same suit)
* Four of a Kind – Any four of the same card (A-A-A-A-K)
* Full House – Any three of the same card plus a pair in the same hand (A-A-A-K-K)
* Flush – Any five cards of the same suit (A-9-7-4-2 of the same suit)
* Straight – Any five cards in sequential order and any suit (6-5-4-3-2)
* Three of a Kind – Any three of the same card (7-7-7-4-3)
* Two Pair – Any two pairs in the same hand (7-7-5-5-2)
* One Pair – Any pair (6-6-4-3-2)
In most games you’ll commonly see some of the above hands dealt out to you or other players. I would say that anywhere from one pair to a flush is pretty common in most poker games. You will see some full houses in most poker games, but this hand is a lot rarer and less likely to see while playing. If you ever have four of a kind or better in most poker games you will generally have the nuts although in Omaha Poker you sometimes see multiple big hands so be careful.
Even though a pair and two pair are the worst valued hands in poker they will often be strong enough to win the pot. You won’t find three of a kind or better in every single hand of poker so don’t feel like you have a weak hand if you’re sitting with two pairs or top pair. Now that you have an idea about poker hand values I would recommend moving onto some beginner strategy. This is only the beginning of your long learning experience in becoming a better poker player.