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What is the hardest hand to get in poker?

Royal flush The royal flush Royal flush The royal flush sits atop the poker-hand rankings as the best hand possible. It features five consecutive cards of the same suit in order of value from 10 through to ace.

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The poker-hand rankings classify the strength of the different hands you can play and are an essential aid for in-game decision making A common poker-hand rankings system underpins all forms of the game by classifying the relative strength of different types of poker hands so players can determine which hand is best. It is used in massively popular forms of poker such as Texas Holdem or Omaha and poker-based casino games such as 3-card poker. Knowing it is essential if you’re serious about winning. You can find all the best new customer poker offers on our poker bonus sign up offers page.

Poker-hand rankings: from strongest to weakest

1. Royal flush

The royal flush sits atop the poker-hand rankings as the best hand possible. It features five consecutive cards of the same suit in order of value from 10 through to ace.

2. Straight flush

Any five cards of sequential values in the same suit that’s not a royal flush is a straight flush. It can only be beaten by a royal flush or another straight flush including higher-ranking cards.

3. Four of a kind

The same card in all four suits. The five-card hand is completed by the highest card among the others on the table or in your hand.

4. Full house

A hand comprising the same value card in three different suits (three of a kind) and a separate pair of the same rank card in two different suits. When more than one player has a full house the winning hand is the one with the higher or highest value three of a kind.

5. Flush

Five cards of the same suit in any order whatsoever. When two players have flushes the flush featuring the highest valued card is the winning poker hand.

6. Straight

Five cards of sequential numerical value composed of more than one suit. An ace can usually rank as either high (above a king), or low (below a 2), but not both in the same hand.

7. Three of a kind

A poker hand containing three cards of the same rank in three different suits. The two highest available cards besides the three of a kind complete the hand.

8. Two pairs

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Two different sets of two cards of matching rank. The highest-ranked remaining card completes the hand.

9. Pair

A pair of cards of the same rank in different suits. The remainder of the hand is formed from the three highest ranked cards available.

10. High card

The lowest-ranked hand of them all. The highest card in the hand is your ‘best hand’. In this case it's the king of spades.

Poker hand-rankings cheat sheet: Download here (pdf)

Whether you want to save it to your desktop or your mobile, our poker-hand rankings cheat sheet is a nice ally in your physical and online poker playing until you’ve committed the rankings to memory.

Poker hand rankings: ‘Hi’ games, ‘Lo’ games and ‘Hi-Lo’ games

It’s important to note that not all poker games decide the best hand according to the highest ranked hand on the poker hand rankings. The best poker hand in most game types is governed by poker-hand rankings in one of three ways.

Hi or high-hand poker

Perhaps the most straightforward use of rankings, ‘Hi’ games are ones in which the best poker hand is decided according to the hand that ranks highest on the chart outlined above.

Commonly played examples include: Texas Holdem, Seven-Card Stud

Lo, low-hand or lowball poker

Lowball poker-hand rankings invert the normal poker-hand rankings so that the lowest-ranking hand is the best possible one. Versions of low-hand poker sometimes differ according to whether the ace is high or low and whether straights and flushes are counted.

Commonly played examples include: Razz

Hi-lo or high-low split poker

The third approach to the poker-hand rankings is high-low split games, where the pot is divided between the player with the highest-ranking poker hand and the lowest-ranking poker hand.

Commonly played examples include: Omaha Hi-Lo

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