1. Poker Strategy Hand Range Selection
2. Razz Poker Hand Selection
3. Poker Starting Hand Selection
4. Poker Hand Selections

• 3 What factors do I need to consider?

Once someone has raised ahead of you, your hand selection should be narrowed down to only the hands that can give you the nuts, and help keep you out of any situation which has you dominated. For example: you should never play KQ into a raise, as AA, KK, QQ, AK, and AQ all have you dominated. 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. Poker Hand Selection Optimally constructing ranges enables us to play more hands, find more spots, and win more chips. Once you start thinking about the game on a higher level, you’ll start seeing the big picture. Hand selection is one of the first building blocks when constructing your foundation as a poker player.That said, you also need to adjust accordingly when your premium hand might not be so premium after the flop. For instance, imagine you raise preflop with the A♦K♦ and receive two callers. Preflop hand selection is vital. The decision you make most often during a poker game is whether to fold or play the hand dealt to you. Live poker players receive around 25-35 hands per hour, online poker players receive 60 hands per hour (and that’s per table, as of course online players can multitable).

Preflop hand selection is vital

The decision you make most often during a poker game is whether to fold or play the hand dealt to you. Live poker players receive around 25-35 hands per hour, online poker players receive 60 hands per hour (and that’s per table, as of course online players can multitable). If you get your preflop hand selection wrong, then you are setting yourself up for a fall postflop. It will be difficult to recover.

One of the reasons why live low stakes poker is profitable for studied players is because a lot of their unstudied (or poorly studied opponents) take the wrong hand selection to the flop (usually playing way too many hands), and then they cannot profitably continue postflop.

Once they have started off with too big of a preflop hand selection, they end up either
– playing fit or fold, and with so many weak hands in their range they eventually have to fold – if they are the type to go after every single draw, they usually put way too much money into the pot.
– Or, they end up never folding once they have caught a sliver of the flop (however weak), allowing you to call them down with stronger hands).

Should I memorize hand charts?

Live – No
If you are a live low stakes poker player, we at UnfairPoker.com absolutely do NOT recommend you memorize any starting hand charts whatsoever, even if you are a beginner. Instead learn the theory of what goes into preflop hand selection. Of course, have a rough idea of the types of hands you will be looking to get involved with, from each position. But, whilst you are playing be consistently on the lookout for potential profitable opportunities to vary this. There are 2 big reasons why we recommend this.

• Stack depth can vary a lot from table to table or even from player to player on the table. This means even in the course of the same session you may be playing deepstacked poker for a while, shallow stacked poker for a while, and somewhere in between for a while.
• You are looking to exploit your weaker low stakes opponents in every way possible (this is the best way to be profitable in this arena – this is not possible online except at micro-stakes, because players are trying to play close to GTO and the best way to respond is to also try and play GTO). Sticking to a rigid preflop hand selection that you have memorized, is not a good way to exploit the opportunities that may come your way.

Online – If you want
If you are only playing non micro-stakes online poker, where your opponents are playing close to GTO, and stack sizes are consistent (e.g. usually 100bb or 40bb) then there is absolutely a case for memorizing starting hand charts (providing they have been well researched). There is an even stronger case, if your are multitabling online, as you have less time to make decisions (and you will want to spend that time on important postflop decisions). Having said that, if possible we would recommend that consider understanding the theory of what goes into preflop hand selection, come up with your own charts, and adjust these based on what you learn as you play. If however, you want to find starting hand charts for this purpose, there are many websites where you can access these for free – we won’t recommend one over another (just do a search, and see which is best for you).

What factors do I need to consider?

For any hand that you are considering playing (i.e.not folding preflop), ask yourself HOW you expect to make money (in the long run) by playing this hand? If you don’t know how you are going to make money by playing this hand, you should fold.

Position

• If your are playing 9 handed, and are UTG and thus are first to act preflop, you have to make your decision before knowing what the other 8 players are going to do in this particular hand. Of course, you should have ideas of each of their general tendencies from previous hands on the table (and any other data you have on them – e.g. in the live arena, via profiling and from your previous experiences/notes on them, and perhaps via HUD data or notes online).
• Nevertheless, you have not yet seen what they intend to do in this particular hand. Also, if you decide to play this hand then postflop you will have to act first (unless your are up against the blinds, and even if you are if one or more of the 6 players who have position on you also came along you don’t have absolute position).
• In a turn based game, such as poker, where players do not make their decisions simultaneously, making your decision last is obviously going to be advantageous the majority of the time. All this leads to the obvious conclusion, that the earlier your position the more strict your starting hand requirements will have to be.
• On the button, the opposite is true – you are guaranteed position (and thus get to see all other opponents actions on every street, before doing anything) and you should look to be playing a wide range from the button.
• In between UTG and the button, the amount of hands in your starting range should increase position by position.
• How about from the blinds? The blinds are interesting, because preflop they act last (the small blind acts after the button, and the big blind acts last of all), but postflop they will be at a positional disadvantage (unless it is folded to the small blind, in which case if the big blind comes along he will be in position). preflop hand selection from the small blind is often poor from beginner players. In the small blind, you will always be first to act postflop. Also, a call from the small blind, can often give the big blind a great price to come along (as he only has to call the difference between the big blind amount and the call amount), meaning you will be out of position to another player also. This is why small blind preflop hand selection should involve a lot more 3 betting, and and a lot less calling, than many beginner players may think. From the big blind, consider the price you are getting. You should be able to continue with a wide range if you are getting a good price. However, do not feel the need to continue with weak hands when the price is poor (for example in live poker, when opens can be large).

Stack depth

The shallower the effective stacks, the more the (hot and cold) equity of your preflop hand is important versus your opponent(s) ranges.

This is because with less money behind, your opponent(s) will find it more difficult to get you to fold your hand, allowing you to realize your raw equity more often. Of course, you will also find it difficult to get your opponent(s) to fold out their equity when stacks are shallow, meaning you want to have as much (hot and cold) equity as possible. You will not be punished as much for having capped ranges at shallower stack depths, nor can you punish your opponents as much for having capped ranges.

The deeper the stacks, the more you would prefer to hold hands that can make the nuts postflop.

When effective stacks are deep, the hot and cold equity of your preflop hand versus your opponent(s) ranges is less important. This is because there will be a lot of money behind. This means it is easier for your opponent(s) to make you give up on your equity, when you are not overly confident in your hand – they can do this by aggressively betting (or even overbetting, which may not even be possible with shallower stacks) or raising.

You have the opportunity to win a massive pot, when you make the nuts, versus a strong hand (that’s weaker than yours) that your opponent holds. With deeper stacks your preflop hand selection will consist of hands than can retain their equity over multiple streets, and board types. Hands that have playability and the ability to signal to you if you should continue, are useful. Small/medium pairs which can make sets go up in value the deeper the stacks. The same can be said for suited connectors (which can make flushes or straights), suited gappers (which can do the same, often in more hidden ways), suited aces (which can make the nut flush). Broadway suited aces are even better as they can make nut flushes and nut straights. You do not want to cap your ranges when playing deep stacked, and you should look to take advantage of any of your opponents who have capped their ranges.

Live poker preflop hand selection tips

When playing live always look to your left (hopefully subtly, so as not to give the game away). You might be surprised as to how often some of your opponents, give away what they are about to do. THIS INFORMATION IS REALLY VALUABLE!

• A player who might be about to fold might be holding their cards slightly off the table in a ‘fold hold’ (once you start playing live poker, you will be able to recognize this).
• A player who might be thinking of calling or raising a previous bet, might have their chips in their hand to call or raise. Although it is less common to see players who want to raise have raising chips in their hands, as players with strong hands usually want to hide this fact and want more money to go in before acting.
• A player who wants to leave the table either temporarily or because this was their last hand and they want to fold (in most live cardrooms the rules/etiquette mean that you cannot fold out of turn), are doing nothing to hide the fact.
• A player might be busy chatting away, but has stopped talking when he receives his cards (perhaps he has a strong hand, and is considering what to do).

Of course, all this varies from player to player. Strong players usually won’t give away any information (but even they might do so sometimes). Someone may also try and reverse these tells, so you need to be on the lookout for that also. If you know one or more players who have position in you are folding, then your position improves (e.g. if you can see the button is about to fold), and you are in the cutoff, then you are effectively the button (and thus can play a wider hand range from the cutoff, as you know you will act last postflop). Conversely, if you know a player is likely to get involved and they will have position on you, consider if you want to play your hand at all. If it is folded to you on the button, and you can see the players in the blinds are not interested, open any 2 cards etc.

When playing live poker, it is often easy to spot the whale that comes to the table. You know this player is likely to lose all his money, and you want to be the one to get it. Other players on your table may also have the same plan as you. This is where, you should really look to play hands you otherwise wouldn’t to get involved with this whale. It is even OK to make -EV decisions in one hand, if you think it will improve your EV overall.

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 what 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

'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?

Poker Strategy Hand Range Selection

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?

Razz Poker Hand Selection

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.

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.

Poker Starting Hand Selection

Useful Poker Tools

• Poker Odds Calculator: Add your cards to the calculator to discover your chances to win the hand.
• How to use PokerStars Tools to Your Advantage: As a beginner, this article can save your life! Let us show you how you can use all the tools available on the PokerStars client to become an outstanding poker player!

Must Have Rooms

Home to the biggest tournaments online, these rooms also have the largest player base, great bonuses, tons of action and the best software. If you don't have accounts here, you are missing out on the best that online poker has to offer.

PartyPokerplatinum

Up to $30 of Free Play

RATING

9.9 ★

Key features

Poker Hand Selections

• Excellent mobile poker games
• Lots of free and real-money action
• One of the most trusted brands in online gaming