How to form a poker hand

Poker has become a global phenomenon. It’s on prime time TV, and played by rockstars and celebrities. But fundamentally, it’s still a straightforward game of cards where the best poker hand wins the pot.

How to form your poker hand

Let’s start at the top.

In Texas Hold’em, you’re dealt two ‘hole cards’ – private cards that nobody else can see.

You combine these with five ‘community cards’ – common cards that are laid face up on the table for everyone to share.

Using these seven cards (the two hole cards, and the five community cards) and make your best five card poker hand.

We’ll explain more further down the page. First, let’s take a look at the poker hands.

Poker hands rankings

Here’s how the hands are ranked.

How to form your poker hand

Let’s start at the top.

In Texas Hold’em, you’re dealt two ‘hole cards’ – private cards that nobody else can see.

You combine these with five ‘community cards’ – common cards that are laid face up on the table for everyone to share.

Using these seven cards (the two hole cards, and the five community cards) and make your best five card poker hand.

We’ll explain more further down the page. First, let’s take a look at the poker hands.

Poker hand rankings

Here’s how the hands are ranked.

Royal flush

A royal flush is the best hand in poker. It’s a 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace – all of the same suit.

Straight flush

A straight flush is a poker hand which contains five cards in sequence, all of the same suit.

Four of a kind

A four of a kind, also known as ‘quads’, contains four cards of one rank.

Full house

A full house contains three matching cards of one rank, and two matching cards of another rank.

Flush

A flush contains five cards of the same suit.

Straight

A straight contains five cards of sequential rank but in more than one suit.

Three of a kind

A three of a kind contains three cards of the same rank

Two pair

Two pair contains two cards of the same rank.

One pair

A pair are two cards of the same rank

High card

A high card is what you call your hand when you don’t have anything. You refer to it by your highest card.

So in the case below you have Queen high:

Q♥ J♣ 8♣ 7♦ 3♠

Tie-breakers

What happens when two players have the same hand?

In Texas Hold’em each player makes his best five card hand. And sometimes, several players can end up with the same hand.

When this happens, we use each player’s kicker to decide the winner.

When you have a hand like a pair (which involves only two cards) or three-of-a-kind (which involves three), the remaining cards are known as kickers. Kickers are used to break ties when several players have the same hand.

Example

Tom 10♥ 10♣ 10♠ K♥ 7♣

Jenny 10♦ 10♣ 10♠ K♥ 9♠

Tom and Jenny both have three of a kind, but Jenny wins the pot. Although they both have three of a kind, her kicker (9♠) beats Tom’s (7♣).

The Showdown – Deciding Who Wins.

Once all the betting rounds are over, each player still in the hand turns up his cards. This is called the showdown. The showdown decides who gets the pot.

The player with the strongest hand wins.