Knowing what beats what in poker or Texas Hold'em is an important early step in learning the game. To help you out, I have provided for you an attractive printable or downloadable 'cheat sheet' for both 5 card hand rankings as well as top 24 pre-flop starting hands.
- Best And Worst Starting Poker Hands
- Poker Starting Hands Best To Worst Time
- Poker Starting Hands Best To Worst Dressed
- Poker Starting Hands Best To Worst World
Pogodon: so we all know that 27 is the worst mathmatical starting hand in poker althogh if its suited and your in the small blind and its folded around to you its a monster but thats the the point:D whats the worst starting hand in omaha, i play PLO HU and i play nearly every hand delt to me and i couldnt think what the worst hand is i guessed it would be 2:spade: 2:heart:2:diamond:2:club. Worst Hand is One You Play the Worst. Which of these starting hands can be played? Which can be pulled from the 'worst hand' dustbin? If you're skilled at getting away from problem situations, don't mind occasionally mucking what just might be the best hand and are exceedingly sensitive to position, you can play any of them, with great care. The best hands typically include the highest possible pairs like A-A, K-K, Q-Q, or J-J, which are already good so the pressure of improving their value down the road is not that much. These are made hands already and there is less chance of one of your opponents holding a higher pocket pair. Learn to Play Poker in no time: Our poker tutorial is a great way to learn the card.
Poker hands ranked from best to worst:
- Royal Flush
- Straight Flush
- Four of a Kind
- Full House
- Flush
- Straight
- Three of a Kind
- Two Pair
- One Pair
- High Card
To make things easier on you, I have included some handy charts that can be used to reference during play or even printed out.
Poker Hand Rankings Chart
Never forget what beats what again. Feel free to save this to your phone/tablet/computer or print the chart out.
Click below to download a high-quality PDF that includes a printable copy of both the showdown and pre-flop hand rankings.
The Top 24 Hold'Em Starting Hand Rankings
To help you out, I have also included the top 24 no-limit hold'em starting hands to give you a further idea of what beats what in poker. I based this list on both raw equities as well as post-flop playability.
I have used over 10 years of experience in both tournaments and cash games to compile this info. You get to benefit from my hard work!
How These Hands Were Determined
I took a look at a few of the pre-flop hand ranking charts out there and, while most appeared to get it right for the most part, there seemed to be something off.
The thing is, everyone always does pretty well on the top 5 or 6 hands. However, after that things get a bit murkier.
So, what really matters when it comes to weighing hand strength? I decided to take a close look at the problem. Using the knowledge I've gained over the past few years, I tried to come up with a better way of codifying hand rankings.
Determining the Overall Playability of Each Hand
I decided to go about it from a logical standpoint. When deciding whether to play a hand or not, what are the factors a strong player considers before acting?
So, I decided that there are basically two main factors to consider in determining the strength of a particular pre-flop hand. And, since equity is the tool we use to rank the value of hands I just had to figure out what type of equities matter most and then apply it to each factor.
Once I was able to define which equities to consider, it just took a bit of math.
1. Pre-Flop Equity
The first equity I decided to factor in is a hand's raw pre-flop equity. I mean, sometimes you need to get all-in before the flop, right?
Of course, some hands will get all-in more frequently than others but for the sake of simplicity, raw equity against a strong range will give us a decent enough metric to come up with a comparative ranking.
2. Post-Flop EquitySecondly, we need to factor in how a hand does post-flop. There's no doubt, that certain hands play much better after the flop than others.
To calculate how well a hand does after the flop I looked at what post-flop hands tend to get all-in most of the time in a post-flop scenario. This includes the strongest made hands, including top pair and better, as well as strong draws.
The first equity I decided to factor in is a hand's raw pre-flop equity. I mean, sometimes you need to get all-in before the flop, right?
Of course, some hands will get all-in more frequently than others but for the sake of simplicity, raw equity against a strong range will give us a decent enough metric to come up with a comparative ranking.
2. Post-Flop EquitySecondly, we need to factor in how a hand does post-flop. There's no doubt, that certain hands play much better after the flop than others.
To calculate how well a hand does after the flop I looked at what post-flop hands tend to get all-in most of the time in a post-flop scenario. This includes the strongest made hands, including top pair and better, as well as strong draws.
Once I was able to figure out what hands are likely to get all-in, I just had to figure out the equity of every hand versus that range on a random flop.
Compiling the Final List
Doing these kinds of calculations by hand would be extremely difficult and time-consuming. Luckily, there is a software program called Cardrunner's EV that does the math for me.
After I figured out both the raw pre-flop equity and the likely flop equity of each hand, I just used excel to average them. That data was used to compile the rankings.
Here are the final equity percentages:
Which Poker Starting Hand Ranges Should I Use?
Knowing which hands to open raise is important to your success. Don't worry, I've got you covered.
Free Basic Poker Strategy Charts
I have built charts that provide you profitable opening ranges from every position. As a bonus, the charts also include what to do at every decision point possible for playing a 20 to 40 big blind stack.
Just provide the following info, subscribe to my spam-free newsletter, and I will email you the charts along with the comprehensive 10-page strategy guide for free!
The guide will give you an excellent starting point for playing No-Limit Texas Hold'em and will get you off on the right foot by allowing you to play fundamentally sound poker right now!
FAQ
What if my opponent and I have the same hand at showdown?
If more than one player has the same hand then you have to follow the tie-breaker rules to determine the winner.
If two or more players have a flush or straight
In the case where two players have a flush or straight, the person who has the highest card in their hand wins. For example, T9876 beats 76543.
If two or more players have a full house
In the case of multiple full houses, the player with the highest 'trips' as part of their full house wins. For example, TTT22 beats 555AA.
What if two or more players have the same pair or two pair?
If multiple players have exactly the same two pair, the highest kicker is used to determine the winner. For example, JJ66Q beats JJ66T.
The same process is used for one-pair. The next highest kicker is used. If that is the same, you use the next highest kicker. So on and so forth until the tie is broken. For example, AAK85 beats AAK84.
Who wins if more than one person has the same high card?
Similarly to one pair and two-pair hands, you use the next highest kicker to determine the winner. You keep moving on to the next kicker until a winner is determined. For example, KT763 beats KT753.
Which is better, trips or two-pair?
Three of a kind beats two-pair. It also beats a pair and high card.
Which is better, a flush or a straight?
A flush beats a straight. It also beats three of a kind, two pair, a pair, and high card.
What is the worst hand in poker?
The worst hand against multiple players is 72 offsuit. The worst hand heads-up is 32o.
What are the odds of getting a Royal Flush in Texas Hold'em?
A royal flush is extremely rare. You can only expect to get a royal flush once every 650,000 hands. That doesn't mean it's guaranteed. Personally, I have played well over 5 million hands and have only had one royal using both cards.
Final Thoughts
I hope this article has helped you learn more about how hand rankings work in poker. If you want to learn about basic poker strategy, be sure to check out my detailed no-limit hold'em basic tutorial.
To understand what are Poker Hands and their immense importance, we need to unravel how the game is played. Many games are played under the name of Poker. However, the fundamental principle of all the game remains the same. In laymen terms, Poker could be a simple card game where players put a wager on their hand.
A hand is a set of five playing cards formed by players based on a pre-defined set of rules. The players are generally not allowed to see the distributed cards in the initial rounds and can see only their hand as the game proceeds.
These Poker Hands are ranked on a set principle, and this is a fixed entity in Poker. The players put wagers on their hands and try to outwit each other through bluff and other techniques in their desire to win the game.
Types of Poker Hands:
According to a pre-defined rule, there are ten types of hand in a game of Poker. These hands are ranked as per the different combinations made from all the four suits. These hands are:
1.) Royal Flush:
A royal flush is an unbeatable hand. A royal flush is made out of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10 of the same suit. It is one of the best and rarest hands that can be created. It is also referred to as the 'absolute nuts' since it wins over all other combinations. In Poker variants that don't include community cards, it is possible for more than one player to get Royal Flush hands. In this case, the ranking is based on the suit, in alphabetical order. Clubs is the lowest suit, followed by diamonds, hearts, and then spades. So, a Royal Flush of spades is the highest hand in poker.
2.) Straight Flush:
Straight Flush can be defined as five cards in sequential rank i.e. a Straight Flush needs to contain all the five cards from the same suit; however, various sequences are allowed. A straight flush can also be made of an A, 2,3,4,5 and 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or any combination of cards having consecutive rankings and the same suit. A Straight flush can only be beaten by another Straight flush.
3.) Four of a kind:
Four of a Kind is also known as a quad. In this type of Poker Hands, the same rank from four different suites appears in your pack along with one different card. For example, Aces of all the suites appear in your hand along with one different ranked card from any suite.
4.) Full House:
A Full house is another one of the rare Poker Hands. This combination contains two cards of a similar rank, whereas the remaining three cards are of the same rank. For example, if your hand contains two aces and three kings, then your hand will be called a Full House. A full house is also known as Full Boat or Boat.
5.) Flush:
A Flush is similar to a straight flush. It contains all the five cards from the same suit. However, the only difference between Flush and Straight Flush is that in a Flush all the five cards are not in any kind in sequential order. For example, A, 10, 5, J, 7 of Diamonds suite will be called as a flush.
6.) Straight:
A Straight is similar to Straight Flush in terms of ranks, i.e. all the five cards are in sequential order in Straight. However, the significant difference between a Straight and a Straight Flush is that all the major cards in a straight are not of a similar suite. For example, A of Clubs, K of Diamonds, Q of Hearts, J of Spades and 10 of Clubs can be one of the examples of a Straight. In even simpler terms when all the cards of a Poker Hands are in sequential ranks but belong to different suites, then such a combination is called a Straight.
7.) Three of a Kind:
In three of a kind Poker Hands, also known as trips or a set, three cards are of a similar rank. The other two cards can be of any rank and suit. For example, Three A from any of the Clubs, Diamonds and Spades along with two random cards can be one of the examples of Three of a Kind.
8.) Two Pair:
Best And Worst Starting Poker Hands
Two Pair is one of the lowest-ranked Poker Hands. In this type of Poker hand, a player gets two cards from a similar rank whereas another two cards belong from another same rank. The only remaining card is of another rank. For example, A, A, K, K, two will be one of the examples of Two Pair.
9.) One Pair:
Poker Starting Hands Best To Worst Time
One Pair which is also known as just Pair in simpler terms is a scenario in which the user gets only one Pair of cards which similar rank. The One Pair or Pair is the second-lowest ranked Poker Hands in the game. For example 2, 2,4,5,9 will be one of the examples of a pair.
Poker Starting Hands Best To Worst Dressed
10.) High Card:
Poker Starting Hands Best To Worst World
A High Card or no pair is the least favourable hand in the entire game. A high card means that no kind of combination has occurred in the card. The various players also define it as Nothing and suggest that a High Card is simply a hand which is Nothing else. For example, A, 6, 4, J, 8 is one such example of Nothing, which is the language of Poker Hands is known as High Card. Texas holdem poker pravila igre.
