Get To Know Poker Hands And Ways To Get That Winning Hand

Your ultimate purpose of playing poker is to win the game and earn. The winning of the game is based on the cards that you hold in a hand. So, what are poker hands in poker? A poker hand is a set of five cards that you make while playing the game. Each hand in poker has a rank as compared to other hands taking part in a showdown to decide the winner of the game.

Poker Deck

Getting to Know Your Poker Deck

In poker, the standard 52 card deck is used. It has sometimes additional one or two wild cards known as jokers. There are 4 suits each containing 13 cards in the poker deck. The cards are ranked from high to low as Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2. A poker hand contains five cards.

Straight Flush

Hand Rankings from Highest to Lowest

The various combinations of poker hands rank from five of a kind to no pair in a descending order. 

Five of a kind – This is the highest possible hand, possible only in games where at least one wild card such as joker is used. 

Straight flush – This is the highest possible hand if only standard pack is used and there is now a wild card. A straight flush is considered as the best natural hand. 

Four of a kind – Four of a kind is the next highest hand. It is simply four cards of the same kind. For example, A-4-4-4-4

Full house – A full house is made up of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. It is simply three of a kind and one pair. For example, K-K-K-2-2

Flush – In a flush, there are five cards of the same suit but not all in sequence. For example, A-J-8-4-2

Straight – A straight is five cards in a sequence but not all of the same suit. For example, A-K-Q-J-T

Three of a kind – In this hand, there is a combination of three cards of the same rank with the other two cards each of a different rank. For example, A-K-5-5-5

Two pair – Two pair contains a pair of one rank and another pair of a different rank with the fifth card of a different pair. For example, Q-Q-7-7-4

One pair – This is a frequent combination that contains just one pair with the other three cards of different ranks. For example, A-A-7-4-2

No pair – This is the lowest hand in which none of the five cards pair up. For example, A-Q-9-6-3

Strategies You Can Use to Get That Winning Hand

Poker is a game of both chance and strategy. You have to employ various strategies in order to beat your opponent and get that winning hand! Here’s a list of such strategies below:
Play fewer hands and play them in an aggressive style.
Avoid limping as the first player to enter a pot. The only situation in which you should limp is when at least one other player has already limped.
One of the most effective strategies is to attack when your opponent shows weakness. This sentence is self-explanatory, so practice this strategy while playing.
Bluff effectively and let the cards you hold dictate if you are going to bluff or not.
Avoid tilt and don’t let your emotions to make result in your weak decisions