Hands and Order of Highest Cards in Poker

The order of highest cards in poker is the first thing the casino newcomer has to learn. The second one is the variety of hands and their ranking from the weakest to the strongest. Read the guide about the poker basics to start your journey in the gambling world.

Poker is one of the most popular games in casinos. Both land-based gambling rooms and online casino sites offer a great variety of poker games, from a classic Texas Hold’em to Irish and Caribbean. If you also want to learn how to play poker, there are two basic rules to start with.

Knowledge of the order of highest cards in poker and the hands ranking is the most important thing. This is the very beginning of your journey to becoming the best poker player or at least a pro. After you learn everything about cards in poker, you can try various playing tactics and types of the game. But let’s start from the beginning.

What is the order of highest cards in poker?

The common poker game requires a deck of 52 playing cards. They are divided into four suits: diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades. A set of 13 cards belongs to each suit. They are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace. Usually, poker players use all of them during the game. However, some poker games like Russian require only 36 cards starting with 6 and ending with ace.

The ranking of the standard 52 deck starts with 2 as the weakest card. To make it clear in a short way, the bigger number, the stronger card. The next strong card after 10 is jack, then queen, king, and ace as the top card. However, in most poker games ace can be used both as the lowest and the highest card to complete the playing circle.

When it comes to card suits, none of them dominates above the others. In other card games like The Fool, players must choose the highest suit (trump), but it has nothing to do with poker. However, learning about your lucky card suit will be very useful while playing poker games too.

What are hands in poker?

What is a hand in poker games? This is a set of 5 cards you need to collect to win. In certain poker variations, there can be a 4-card or a 6-card hand, but most games require a standard 5-cards hand. There are ten hands you need to know about to start playing poker. Here is their ranking from the weakest to the strongest.

Hands ranking

10. High card. The highest card makes you a winner when none of the players has other hands. In this case, the stronger card you have (e.g. king), the bigger are your chances to win.

9. Pair. A pair of two cards of the same rank (like 2 aces) bring your victory if they are bigger than the pair in your opponent’s hands. 

8. Two pairs. If you have two pairs of different cards (e.g. 2 aces and 2 kings) and your opponent has weaker hands or weaker pairs, you win.

7. Three of a kind. A hand of three cards of the same rank (like 3 queens) makes you the winner if other players have lower cards.

6. Straight. This is a hand of 5 cards in a sequence, but of different suits (e.g. 7, 8, 9, 10, and jack).

5. Flush. Flush is a hand of 5 cards of the same suit (e.g. hearts), but not in a sequence. Try to collect them in live poker once you feel confident!

4. Full house. This 5-cards hand is a combination of Three of a kind with a Pair (like 3 queens and a pair of 10).

3. Four of a kind. If you collect 4 cards of the same rank (like 4 jacks), you have a hand called Four of a kind.

2. Straight flush. The second-strongest hand with 5 cards in a sequence and of the same suit, but not with an ace on top (e.g. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of spikes).

1. Royal flush. The strongest combination of ace, king, queen, jack, and 10 of the same suit. The winner’s hand!

Where can I practice poker?

After reading and learning about suits, hands & order of highest cards in poker, the thing you can do is practice. Unibet Casino will help you to try playing poker games online or live as it has the most variations of all poker sites. Here you can find Three card poker, Caribbean stud, classic Hold’em, video poker, and way more. Read our review about this casino before you start sharpening your skills in the #1 card game in the world.

You can learn more about Unibet Casino here.