Scoring Texas Holdem Poker Hands

  • Home » Learn Poker » How to Play Texas Holdem. Texas Holdem Rules: Learn How to Play in under 10 minutes. Texas Holdem is the most popular variant of poker and the one we recommend beginners start with. Once you have a good understanding of Texas Holdem, other poker variants are quite similar and will be easier to learn.
  • What hands are rank highest in Poker. ABOUT CARDPLAYER, THE POKER AUTHORITY CardPlayer.com is the world's oldest and most well respected poker magazine and online poker guide.Since 1988.

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Table Of Contents

What is Omaha Poker?

Omaha poker is one of the most popular poker variants. For many poker players who start out learning how to play Texas hold'em, Omaha is often the next game they learn to play, in part because Omaha poker is somewhat similar to hold'em in the way the game is played.

There are different types of Omaha poker games, the two most popular being pot-limit Omaha (which we are focusing on here) and Omaha hi-lo. You can read about Omaha hi-lo poker rules here.

If you know the rules for Texas hold'em, you are more than halfway to knowing how to play Omaha poker. However, let's first sort out how the two games are different.

What is the difference between Omaha and Texas hold'em?

Like hold'em, Omaha is a 'flop' game that uses community cards. Just like in hold'em, players are dealt their own hands face down — their 'hole cards' — and use those cards in combination with the five community cards (the flop, turn, and river) to make five-card poker hands.

However, there is one big difference between Omaha and hold'em. Whereas in hold'em players are each dealt two hole cards, in Omaha they are dealt four hole cards. From those four cards, players must choose two of their hole cards to go along with three of the five community cards in order to make their five-card poker hands.

Note how that also marks an important difference between Omaha game rules and hold'em. In Omaha, players must use exactly two of their hole cards and three of the community cards to build a poker hand. That's different from hold'em where players can use both of their hole cards (and three community cards), just one hole card (and four community cards), or no hole cards (and all five community cards, which is called 'playing the board').

In pot-limit Omaha, the hand rankings are just the same as in Texas hold'em. Like hold'em, pot-limit Omaha or 'PLO' is played as a 'high-hand' game, which means the hands go (from best to worst): royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high-card.

How To Play Omaha Poker

Beginning players who have only been introduced to Omaha poker rules often make mistakes when it comes to building five-card hands, forgetting the rule about it being mandatory to use two of the four hole cards along with three community cards to make a hand.

For example, a new player holding AQ76 might look at a board of 942JQ and think he has made the nuts with an ace-high flush. Online casino pay for it.

The problem is, you cannot make a hand using only one hole card (in this case the A) and four community cards (the four hearts on the board). In fact, this player only has a pair of queens, not a flush at all. Meanwhile any player with two hearts would have a flush, which means the player should certainly fold this weak hand to any bets on the river.

Betting in Omaha poker works exactly like it does in Texas hold'em, with a small and big blind as well as a rotating button, and four betting rounds following each round of dealing — preflop, flop, turn, river. See 'How to Play Texas Hold'em Poker' for an overview of how the game is dealt and the order of play during the betting rounds.

Hand values in Texas hold'em versus Omaha poker

Pot-limit Omaha (or 'Omaha high') is known as an 'action game' which is one reason why it is popular among high-stakes players. Since players start with four hole cards in Omaha instead of two, they can make a much wider range of hands. For that reason, hand values tend to be higher in Omaha than in hold'em, with players making 'the nuts' or the highest possible hand much more frequently.

If you think about it, in PLO players aren't dealt just a single two-card combination (as in hold'em), but six different two-card combinations (among the four hole cards) from which to choose the best hand. It isn't surprising, then, that players tend to make much better hands at showdown in Omaha poker.

In Texas hold'em making two pair or three of a kind can be a very strong hand, but in Omaha there will often be better hands out there to beat those holdings.

For example, say you have been dealt 10987 and by the river the board is 79KJ2. Using the ten and eight in your hand along with three community cards, you have a jack-high straight. The problem is any opponent holding Qx10xXxXx would complete a higher, king-high straight and defeat you — and if the betting gets heavy on the river, that's probably exactly what is happening.

Another example would be holding JJ99 on a board of 9KQ53. Yes, you have a set of nines, which would be a nice holding in Texas hold'em, but in Omaha poker there are several hands that could defeat you here. Anyone with KxKxXxXx or QxQxXxXx would have a higher set, and an opponent with Jx10xXxXx would have made a straight. There is also a flush possibility, meaning anyone with XXXxXx (two diamonds) would make a flush.

Due to the nature of so many better hands, an opponent may just be calling your bets with a set of kings or queens as they may fear a straight or flush, so even if you are not facing any immediate aggression, you could still be beaten so proceed with caution.

Omaha Poker Rules

Another factor to consider when it comes to Omaha rules when playing the most popular pot-limit Omaha version of the game is the pot-limit betting format, which is another way PLO can play differently than no-limit hold'em.

Like in hold'em, the minimum bet allowed in Omaha is always the equivalent of the big blind. For example, if the game is $1/$2 PLO, the minimum a player can bet would be $2. However, while in no-limit hold'em a player can always bet all of his or her chips at any point, in Omaha the maximum bet allowed is the size of the pot.

Calculating what exactly is a 'pot-sized' bet can be trickier than it might seem at first glance. If the pot is $10 and a player is first to act, $10 is the maximum bet that player can make — simple enough. However, if there has already been a bet and a player wishes to 'raise pot,' that gets a little tricky.

Say there is $10 in the pot and a player bets $5, then the next player wants to 'raise pot.' The most that player can bet would be $25, a total calculated by adding the $5 to call plus the $20 that would be in the pot after the call ($5 + $20 = $25).

In fact, preflop the blinds are considered forced bets, so once again a bit of math has to be done in order to figure out how much a player can raise even when acting first. In a $1/$2 PLO game, the maximum a player can open-raise is $7, the total coming from adding $2 or the equivalent of the big blind to $5 or the size of the pot after calling the big blind ($2 + $5 = $7).

When playing in a casino, the dealer will take care of the math for you should you announce you wish to bet the pot. Meanwhile, when playing online poker the calculations are automatically made right on the screen.

Other Omaha Poker Tips

Just like in hold'em, position is an important element in Omaha. Casino queen payouts ultimate poker. Many consider it to be even more important, both because of the pot-limit betting format and because of all the possible combinations a player can make with an Omaha hand. When sitting in position, you can follow the actions of your opponents and make your decisions based on the information you received. When out of position, it is much harder to make the correct decisions because you are dealing with incomplete information more often.

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Another benefit of being in position is that you have a better chance of controlling the size of the pot, which is often based on the strength of your hand and your overall goal in the pot. Being out of position to one or more opponents gives them the ability to control the pot size and also capitalize on the added information of knowing your actions first.

Because Omaha is so focused on the nuts, it might seem like bluffing plays an important role in the game. A player can represent a wider range of hands in Omaha, and also open up with a bit more with so many more semi-bluffs available. In fact, experienced Omaha players will often bet big draws heavily on the flop, since in some cases those draws are actually mathematical favorites versus made hands.

All of which is to say players do bluff in pot-limit Omaha, but with so many possible hands out there you have to be judicious when deciding when it is best to bluff. The more you learn about the game, the easier it will become to pick up on these spots and determine how to proceed against various opponents.

Relatedly, blockers also become much more prevalent in Omaha than in Texas hold'em. Blockers are those cards you hold in your hand that prevent an opponent from making a specific hand.

For example, if a board reads K10524 and you hold the A in your hand but no other spades, you may not have a flush, but you know your opponent cannot make the nut flush. This gives you added power in the hand being able to push your opponent off certain hands as your opponent is guaranteed to not contain the nuts.

Conclusion

Omaha poker is a game of action, but it can also be a game of big swings. Many players first learn Texas hold'em before taking up learning the rules of Omaha. Having a good knowledge of fundamentals in Texas hold'em helps a lot when making the transition into Omaha.

Table Of Contents

Do you want to know what beats what in poker? Use the official poker hands rankings chart and seem them from best to worst!

Whether you play live at your local casino or card room, you have your home game going, or you prefer the online action at websites like PokerStars, 888Poker, or partypoker, you need to learn the order of poker hands from best to worse.

Use the list of poker hands below to know beats what in poker.

Commit this poker hands ranking list to memory today and print it if you need it (there's a button for it at the bottom). Knowing the correct poker hands rank is key to start making winning poker hands.

Poker Hands From Best To Worst

Poker Hands From Best To Worst

1. Royal Flush10JQKAThe best possible hand in Texas hold'em is the combination of ten, jack, queen, king, ace, all of the same suit
2. Straight Flush56789Five cards of the same suit in sequential order
3. Four-Of-A-Kind3333KAny four numerically matching cards
4. Full HouseJJJKKCombination of three of a kind and a pair in the same hand
5. Flush2459KFive cards of the same suit, in any order
6. StraightA2345Five cards of any suit, in sequential order
7. Three-Of-A-Kind77745Any three numerically matching cards
8. Two Pair99KK4Two different pairs in the same hand
9. One Pair10103QKAny two numerically matching cards
10. High CardK248QThe highest ranked card in your hand with an ace being the highest and two being the lowest
Download as PDF / ImageImage

Not Sure What Beats What in Poker?

Many consider poker less of a gambling game than other casino games. For that to be true, players need to improve their understanding of game play and the strategy required to be a winning player.

The first step toward learning how to play poker is to learn the poker hand rankings.

Most poker players have these rankings memorized, which allows them to think about other things at the table when deciding the best way to play their hands.

The good news is these hand rankings tend to be the same among a wide variety of poker variants, whether it is Texas Hold'em, Omaha, seven-card stud, or other games.

All of those games use the same traditional poker hand rankings that were first developed way back in the 19th century when five-card draw first started to be played.

On this page, you find a complete list of poker hand rankings going from the highest possible hand (the Royal Flush), down to the lowest hand in which there is no pair among the five cards.

Hand rankings in poker correspond to the likelihood of making such hands.

A royal flush, consisting of the cards ranked ace through ten all being the same suit, is extremely rare — in fact, some players go their entire lives without making a royal flush.

A regular straight flush with any five consecutive cards of the same suit is a little less rare, four of a kind occurs slightly more frequently, and so on.

Notice that a full house is ranked higher than a flush.

That's because a full house comes just a little less frequently than a flush, thereby making it the higher-ranked hand of the two.

Additional readings for beginners:

  • Poker Tips: A collection of tips 'to bring your game from 'meh' to amazing' created to help beginners become better players.
  • Texas Hold'em Strategy: a complete manual to read as soon as you start to remember what beats what in poker.
  • Poker starting hands chart: the only article you need to read to learn how to use your cards to the fullest.

Understanding Winning Poker Hands

Players new to the game of Texas hold'em often struggle, at least at first, with what the best poker hands are.

Once they have read this easy-to-digest guide that will no longer be the case.

The aim of Texas hold'em is to make the best five-card poker hand at showdown.

You can win without having to show your cards if you force someone to fold before the river. Nonetheless, for the purpose of this article, we'll pretend that we've gone to showdown and need to know what beats what in poker.

Winning Poker Hands: What Are The Best Hands In Poker?

First up is the weakest possible holding you can make in poker, a hand that can still win you the pot, although the likelihood of that happening decreases in a pot involving multiple players.

We are of course talking about high card.

As the name suggests, you don't even hold a pair here and instead are using the highest card among the five you are playing.

Example:

You have and the board has come .

Your best five-card hand would be where you would hold queen-high.

Next up is one pair, one of the more common Texas hold'em hands and one that will win you plenty of pots.

Example:

You have and the board comes .

Your five-card hand is — you have a pair of aces. Nice poker hand!

One place higher up on the poker hands chart is two pair.

Example:

You have and the five community cards are .

Your best five-card hand at showdown is or two pair, tens and nines.

One note of warning on this specific poker hand: if you are verbally declaring your hand, try to announce the higher pair first as to help avoid confusion.

Good Poker Hands

Now we're getting into the realm of the best poker hands because once you make three-of-a-kind (sometimes called a set or trips), you are much more likely to win the pot than with any of the previously mentioned hands.

Example:

Your five-card poker hand is — you have three-of-a-kind kings, often a very powerful hand in hold'em.

To beat three-of-a-kind you're going to need at least a straight.

A straight is five consecutive cards where at least one of them is a different suit from the others.

Example:
Should your hand read you would hold a six-high straight.

If someone held a seven-high straight, then that player would win the hand.

There are two straights that have nicknames that are worth remembering.

A wheel is a straight that runs from ace-to-five, and a Broadway straight — the strongest straight — runs from ten-to-ace.

A flush is one of the most powerful Texas hold'em hands because it is only beaten by a handful of others.

Any hand that that has five cards of the same suit is a flush.

Aces are always high when it comes to flushes, which means a hand such as beats .

There are few hands that can beat a flush — one that does is a full house. Also called a 'boat,' a full house is when your five-card hand is made up of three of a kind plus a pair.

Example:

With you have kings full of deuces, while is fives full of queens.

When it comes to full houses, the higher three of a kind determines which hand wins, so in this case 'kings full' would beat 'fives full.'

The Stronger Hands in Poker

The next three holdings are so rare that if you hold them, you can almost guarantee that they are winning poker hands.

Four of a kind is the minimum holding you'll need to beat someone with a full house.

Again, as the name suggests, four of a kind means having four cards of the same rank.

Example:

is four-of-a-kind tens and an extremely powerful holding.

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Your only way to beat four of a kind, or 'quads' as they are often called, is to hold either a straight flush or a Royal Flush.

The former is five consecutive cards all of the same suit, so would be an eight-high straight flush and practically unbeatable.

If you manage to make (or the same holding in any of the other three suits), you have a Royal Flush and the only way to lose the hand would be to fold by accident!

Poker Hands Probability

If you are into numbers (most poker players are), you might be wondering about the probability of poker hands.

We said that she platers might go entire lives without ever getting the highest hand in poker but, looking at the numbers, what are the odds of a Royal Flush?

In this section of our complete analysis of the poker hand ranking and what beats what in poker, you get a clear overview of the probability of poker hands.

How to calculate the probability of poker hands?

When you know that there are 52 cards in play and 2,598,960 possible combinations, the calculation is easy.

You just need to divide the number of possibilities to build a specific poker hand by the number of total poker hands.

Let's run a few examples:

What are the odds of a Royal Flush? 0.000,001,539
(4/2,598,960)

What are the odds of a Straight Flush? 0.000,015,39
(40/2,598,960)

Use the table below to calculate the probabilities of all poker hands.

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Poker HandNo. WaysProbability
Royal Flush40.000,001,539
Straight Flush400.000,015,39
Four-of-a-Kind6240.000,240,1
Full House3,7440.001,440,58
Flush5,1080.001,965,4
Straight10,2000.003,924,65
Three-of-a-Kind54,9120.021,128,45
Two Pairs123,5520,047,539,02
One Pair1,098,2400,422.569.03

Absolute Value vs. Relative Value of Poker Hands

It should be noted also that while poker hand rankings never change, sometimes circumstances can make a good hand less valuable and a poor hand more valuable.

In other words, when it comes to poker hands there's a difference between absolute value (reflected in the list of poker hands above) and relative value.

For instance, in a game of Texas hold'em, if you have two pair that might seem like a good hand.

But if your opponent keeps betting into you and it's possible he could have a straight or flush, your two pair is no longer looking so good.

Meanwhile, if you have just one pair but your opponent keeps checking to give you a free play at the pot, you might well have the strongest hand and should bet your hand.

The 'absolute' value of your hand may not be great, but in that case the 'relative' value very well could be.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that in some games like razz, deuce-to-seven triple draw, Badugi, and others you might encounter when playing online poker, the hand rankings listed below do not apply.

These hand rankings are for regular or 'high-card' games, not 'lowball' games with alternate hand rankings.

Holdem

Poker Hand Rankings F.A.Q.

What is the order of poker hands?

As shown in the poker hand rankings chart, the order of poker rankings (from the highest to the lowest) is: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, High Card.

What is the best hand in poker?

The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker. To have a Royal Flush, you need an Ace, a King, a Queen, a Jack, and a 10. All the cards that compose the hand need to be of the same suit.

What beats what in poker?

As you can see in our poker hand rankings chart, the hands in poker follow a clear hierarchy.

Texas Holdem Poker Scoring

In a game of poker, the hand rankings work as follows:

  • a pair beats a high card;
  • a two pair beats a one pair;
  • a three-of-a-kind beats a two pair;
  • a straight beats a three-of-a-kind;
  • a flush beats a straight;
  • a full house beats a flush;
  • a four-of-a-kind beats a full house;
  • a straight flush beats a four-of-a-kind;
  • a Royal Flush beats a straight flush.

The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker, so no one other hands beat this one.

What is a straight in poker?

You have a straight when all the five cards that compose your poker hand are consecutive ones. E.g. 5-6-7-8-9.

If the cards are of the same suit, you have a straight flush, which is a considerably stronger hand compare d to the simple straight.

What beats a straight in poker?

Although many see the straight as a stronger hand, there are many other poker hands that beat it.

Scoring

The list of hands that beat a straight includes:

  • a flush;
  • a full house;
  • a four-of-a-kind;
  • a straight flush;
  • a Royal Flush.

What beats a flush in poker?

The list of hands that beat a flush includes:

  • a full house;
  • a four-of-a-kind;
  • a straight flush;
  • a Royal Flush.

What beats a full house in poker?

The list of hands that beat a full house includes:

  • a four-of-a-kind;
  • a straight flush;
  • a Royal Flush.

What is the highest suit in poker?

All the suits in poker have the same value. In some games, different suits can be assigned different values.

When that happens, the value is as follow (from the lowest to the highest): clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. In that case, spades is the highest suit.

How many poker hands are there?

Texas Hold'em Poker Hands In Order

The total number of poker hands in a game of poker is 2,598,960. Since a game of poker uses a 52-card deck of French cards, there are 2,598,960 different possible combinations (aka. poker hands).

What hands to play in poker?

The type of hands to play in a poker game depends on the game you play and other factors like your position in the hand, your stack, and the action at the table.

In a famous poker strategy article, professional player Jonathan Little shared which hands to play in poker and how to play marginal hands.

Can you make three pairs?

Although it is possible to hold a pair in your hand and then have another two pair appear among the five community cards, you can only use a total of five cards to make your poker hand, so you don't win anything for three pairs.

Which is better, a set or trips?

They are both essentially the same hand because they are both three of a kind.

The terminology 'set' is used when you have a pair as your hole cards and then catch another one of those cards on the board.

Scoring Texas Holdem Poker Hands R Hands In Order

'Trips' is when there is a pair on the board and you have another of those cards as one of your hole cards.

Sets are easier to disguise than trips so many consider them to be a better hand, although they both rank the same.

What is a chopped or split pot?

If you and an opponent have the same five-card poker hand, then the pot is divided equally between you.

Say you have and your opponent has , and the board comes .

You both would be playing the same five-card hands in terms of their value (A-J-T-8-3), and so would split the pot.

If there is four of a kind on the board, who wins?

Because the aim is to make a five-card poker hand, whoever has the highest fifth card in this case wins.

If the board reads and you have in your hand and your opponent has , then you win because you hand is 7-7-7-7-A and your opponent's is 7-7-7-7-K.

You would also win even if your opponent holding was in this example.

Are the suits ranked in Texas hold'em?

No, they are not. Some poker variants have different ranks for suits, but hold'em is not one of them.

Why did my 4-4-4-T-T lose to my opponent's 7-7-7-8-8?

As mentioned earlier, it is the three-of-a-kind element of a full house that dictates the winner.

Texas Holdem Hands

If you're new to the game and want a reference of all of Texas hold'em hands, you can keep this page open or you could always download and print our poker hands ranking chart and keep it next to you while you're playing poker.

Useful Poker Tools

Texas Holdem Poker Hands Chart

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