Poker is played with a deck of 52 cards. The card ranking has the ace card with highest rank followed by king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2. The suit ranking is the same for all the suits. That means that the Queen of diamonds and Queen of spades have the same ranking.  Below is the list of poker hand rankings. Any higher poker card hand beats the lower poker hand. When both the poker hands fall in the same category, then the ranking of the individual cards decides the winner.  

Ø   Royal Flush 

Royal Flush is the highest poker hand. The combination consists of a hand of Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten. All cards should be of the same suit.  

Ø     Straight Flush 

Five cards of same suit in sequence. If two players have straight flush as the poker hand, then the player with higher top card is higher. In Straight Flush, the Ace card is counted as the low card.  

Ø     Four of a Kind 

Fours card of the same rank form a Four of a Kind combination, like four Kings. The fifth card has no role in determining the winning combination in the game of standard poker. But in some other poker variations, when the set of four cards of the Four of a Kind combination are the same, then the hand with the higher fifth card is declared a better hand. Four of a kind combination is also known as ‘Quad’.  

Ø     Full House 

A combination of three cards of one rank (same number or same face value) and two cards of another rank. For example a combination of 3 sevens and 2 aces form a Full House combination.   

Ø     Flush 

Five cards of the same suit form a Flush winning combination. The rank of the highest card is compared when comparing two flush combinations. If the highest card is the same, then the second highest hand is compared.  

Ø     Straight 

Five cards with the ranks in sequence form a Straight combination. The suits can be different. When two Straight combinations are compared, the highest ranking card of both the hands is compared. The Ace card can be taken as high or low. That is in a combination A-K-Q-J-10, the ace has high value. But in a combination 5-4-3-2-A, Ace has low value.  

Ø     Three of a Kind 

Three cards of the same face value form a Three of a Kind combination. It is also known as Triplets or Trips. When two Three of a Kind hands are compared, the hand which has the higher rank of three same card is taken as better hand. In cases where the set of three card are the same in both the hands, then the higher of the two remaining cards of both the hands are compared.   

Ø     Two Pairs 

Two cards of same rank form a pair. A hand with two pairs form a Two Pairs winning combination. When two hands of Two Pairs is compared, the hand with the highest pair wins. In case the higher cards are same, then the other pair is compared. If both the higher and lower card in the two hands are same, then the fifth card which does not form the combination is compared.  

Ø     Pair  

A hand with two cards of same rank form a pair. The other three cards of the five card poker hand do not match these pairs or each other. When two hands are compared, the one with the higher pair is considered better. If the pairs are equal, then the highest ranking card of the odd cards(the cards which do not form the combination) is compared. In case the highest cards are the same then the next highest is compared and if these are also same then the lowest is compared.  

Ø     High Card