Poker (Five-card draw) Hand Values
Below is a list of Poker hands ranked from highest to lowest in hand value.
Five of a Kind: The highest hand possible and can only be achieved when using wild cards. All cards have the same face value.
Ex. Having 4 queens and a wild card taking on the value of a queen.
Straight Flush: Five cards of the same suit that are in ascending order. Ex: (4,5,6,7,8) of spades. Like a regular straight, you can have and 'ace' that counts as either a high card or low card. Ex: (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten) of Hearts where the 'ace' is the high card. This is also called a Royal Flush. A hand where the ace counts as the low card or 1 would look like (5,4,3,2,1) of hearts.
Four of a Kind: Four cards with the same value in a hand. Ex: 4 of Diamonds, 4 of Hearts, 4 of Spades, 4 of Clubs, 9 of Hearts. If two players have a "four of a kind" hand, the hand with the highest value set of cards wins. Ex: player A has (5,5,5,5,K), player B has (9,9,9,9,2). Player B would win. In certain versions of poker where there are many wildcards, it is possible that two or more players might have equal "four of a kind." hands. In the event of a tie, the hand with the highest value fifth card would win.
Full House: Three of a kind and a pair. Ex: Queen of Spades, Queen of Hearts, Queen of Diamonds, 4,4. If two players have a full house, the player with the higher value first three of a kind wins. Ex: King of Spades, King of Hearts, King of Diamonds, 4,4 beats Jack of Spades, Jack of Hearts, Jack of Clubs, 4,4.
Flush: All of the cards are of the same suit. Ex:(2,4,6,7,9) of Spades. In the event of a tie, the person holding the highest valued card wins. Ex: (2,3,5,7,J) of Hearts beats (3,5,6,7,9) of Clubs because the high card out of the two hands is the Jack. In the event that two or more players tie on the high card, the 2nd highest card determines the winner from all hands. Ex: (2,4,5,9,J) of Diamonds beats (4,5,7,8,J) of Clubs. Both of the hands contain a Jack as the high card, therefore the second highest card in each hand is used to determine the winner. The second highest card is the 9 of diamonds in the first hand which beats the 8 of Clubs in the second hand.
Straight: Five cards of any suit in ascending order. Ex:(3,4,5,6,7) of any suit. An 'Ace' can counts as either a high card or low card. Ex: (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten) of any suit where the 'ace' is the high card. A hand where the ace counts as the low card or 1 would look like (5,4,3,2,1) of any suit. In the vent of a tie, the hand with the highest straight wins. Ex: (3,4,5,6,7) of any suit beats (2,3,4,5,6) of any suit.
Three of a Kind: Three cards with the same value and two that are not a pair. Ex: 7 of Hearts, 7 of Diamonds, 7 of Spades, 2 of Clubs, 6 of Clubs. If two or more players hold the same hand due to wild cards, the player with the highest valued card of the remaining two cards wins. Ex: (5,5,5,2,9) beats (5,5,5,2,4).
Two Pair: Two sets of distinct pair of cards. Ex: (2,2,K,K). The highest set of pair wins in the event of a tie. Ex: (5,5,7,7) beats (4,4,5,5).
Pair: One pair of cards in the hand. Ex: (5,5,7,J)
High Card: This is any hand that does not have any of the properties of the hands listed above. In the event that no player has at least a pair, the player with the highest card wins.
