The Ranking of the Poker Cards
Baby Straight Poker
The Ace is the highest ranking poker card, followed by King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2.
Poker as a Statistical Experiment. We want to compute the probabilities associated with each type of poker hand. That is, we want to compute the probability of being dealt a straight flush, four of a kind, a full house, etc.
An Ace can also count as a low card to form a straight of Ace-2-3-4-5.
- Designing the Poker library: Checking for Poker hands. IsStraight( Card h ): detects whether the Poker hand h contains a straight; is4s( Card. (Because x a or x b, we have a Full House hand!) Checking for One Pair. How do we detect a One Pair hand.
- Four of a kind, also known as quads, is a hand that contains four cards of one rank and one card of another rank (the kicker), such as 9 ♣ 9 ♠ 9 ♦ 9 ♥ J ♥ ('four of a kind, nines'). It ranks below a straight flush and above a full house. Each four of a kind is ranked first by the rank of its quadruplet, and then by the rank of its kicker.
Suits are irrelevant to poker card rankings. A Queen of hearts is equal to a Queen of clubs or any other Queen.
Ranking the Poker Hands
The possible winning poker hands are as follows, in order, starting with the best possible hand:
Poker Hands Full House Vs Straight
- Royal Flush: 10-Jack-Queen-King-Ace, all of the same suit.
- Straight Flush: Five cards in consecutive order, all of the same suit, such as 5-6-7-8-9 of clubs.
- Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank, such as four 8s.
- Full House: Three cards of the same rank and two cards of another rank, such as three 9s and two 6s.
- Flush: Five cards of the same suit, such as five diamonds.
- Straight: Five cards in consecutive order, such as 8-9-10-Jack-Queen.
- Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank, such as three 6s.
- Two Pairs: Two cards of the same rank and two cards of another rank, such as two Jacks and two 4s.
- One Pair: Two cards of the same rank, such as two Jacks.
- High Card: When all else fails, and you don’t have any of the winning poker hands described above, look at the highest card in your hand.
Determining the Winner of the Poker Game
To determine the winner of the poker game, look first at the type of hand each player has and its rank according to the table above. As the table indicates, a flush beats a straight, three of a kind beats a pair, and so on.
If two players have the same type of hand, look next at the rank of the cards within the hand. A straight consisting of 7-8-9-10-Jack beats a straight of 4-5-6-7-8. A pair of Queens beats a pair of 5s. For flushes, the highest-ranking card within the flush determines the winner.
If the hands are still tied, look at the highest-ranking remaining card in the hand. This is called the “kicker.” A pair of 9s with a King kicker beats a pair of 9s with a 10 kicker.
Finally, for High Card hands, the highest card in each hand determines the winner. A King-high hand always beats a Queen-high hand. If the high cards tie, look at the second highest card. If there is still a tie, look at the third highest card to break the tie, and so on. Thus, a hand of King-Jack-8-4-3 beats a hand of King-Jack-7-6-5.
Playing and Winning Poker Online
In some online poker games, like Cyberstud Poker, you have an objective of beating the dealer with a higher ranking poker hand. In others, such as Poker Pursuit, you are simply trying to get the best possible hand according to the payout table. There are some online poker games, like Texas Hold’em, in which you can use the community cards to supplement the cards in your own hand. In the Video Poker games, including Jacks or Better, you can discard the cards you don’t like and try to draw better ones.
All of this variety makes playing online poker interesting and exciting, as every type of online poker game has its own strategy to win. But the core of every online poker game is the poker hands. Once you know the definitions of the hands and their value in the hand-ranking order, you’re well on your way to many fun-filled hours of playing poker online at Allslots Casino. Enjoy, and Good Luck!