If you are into playing Texas Holdem, hand ranking is something which you need to understand. There are many players who really don’t understand the hand ranks. Understanding them is crucial if you are looking at playing Holdem professionally or if you want to gain that extra advantage. The various types of hands in Holdem are explained below.

Royal Flush

The strongest hand is Holdem is the Royal Flush. The hand is formed with Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten. All the cards are of the same suit and this is one of the best hand to have in Holdem.

Straight Flush

Five cards of a same suit in a sequence would make a Straight Flush. An example of straight flush would be, 2,3,4,5 & 6 of clubs. It’s not very often that two players have straight flush, however, if they do then the highest card value wins.

Four of a kind

Any four cards of the same value or kind with any other card forms Foru of a kind. Example of this would be 4,4,4,4 and 9. Similar to straight flush, if any two players have four of a kind the highest value card wins.

Full House

Next comes the full house. A full house consists of three cards of same kind and the remaining two of other kind. Example of this would be 5,5,5,7 & 7. Here the card value would be considered of 5 and if any other player beats that then they win the game.

Flush

Any five cards of the the same kind forms the flush and if two players have flush then the card value is considered to decide the winner.

Straight

A straight is any five cards in a sequence and it necessarily need not be of the same suit. Again, in case of tie the card value comes into play and the winner is decided based on it.

Three-of-a-kind

Three of a Kind is where the player forms three cards of the same kind. Its also called as set or trips. Higher the card value, better the chances of winning.

Two Pair

Two pair is two cards of one rank and two other cards of another rank. The higher the pair value the better the chances of winning. The rank of first pair is used to decide the winner in case of a tie and if both of them have the same first pair then the second is used to decide the winner.

One Pair

One pair is two cards of the same rank and three unrelated cards. This is considered as the weakest hand as the chances of winning are low. The higher the rank in one pair, stronger the hand becomes.

No Pair – High Card

Not very often it so happens that no player has formed a hand and in such situations the player with the highest card wins the game.

With the basic understanding of hand, you will be able to structure your game well and ensure that you don’t miss out on the opportunity to form a better hand then your opponent.