Poker Hand Ranking Order

Posted February 28, 2026 by TPBC in Poker Strategy.

Poker Hand Ranking Order

Poker is a game played with a standard 52 playing card deck. There are 4 suits: spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts. Each suit has the same 13 cards. There are 9 numbered cards: 2 through 10, and 4 face cards: jack, queen, king and ace. Each player is dealt 5 cards from the deck. The object is to get a 5- card combination (known as a hand) that is more valuable than everyone else’s. The harder it is to get a particular hand, the more valuable it is. Here are the hands in order from most importance to least:

Royal Flush

A, K, Q, J, 10 of the same suit

Straight Flush

Any five sequential cards of the same suit.

Four of a Kind

4 cards of identical rank

Full House

3 cards of one rank, paired with 2 of another rank

Flush

Any five cards of the same suit

Straight

Any five cards in sequence, for example 10s, 9h, 8d, 7c, 6d.

Three of a kind

3 cards of identical rank

Two Pair

2 cards of identical rank, paired with 2 of another rank

Pair

2 cards of identical rank

High Card

The highest card in the hand