Posts Tagged ‘Poker’
What Are the Best Poker Hands?
What are the best poker hands? That is the question that plagues every newbie poker player when they have just started out. One cannot play poker if they do not know how to win, and that is why poker hands have rankings. When learning how to play, it is best to have someone teach the basics, including the best hands one can get. This is to prevent any player from embarassing himself or herself when each player reveals their hand at the end of the round.
There are many different hands that one can get when playing online poker. Therefore, the answer to the question “What are the best poker hands?” can be answered by revealing the various hand rankings. The best poker hands are simply the highest ranked cards that one can get. Each hand is grouped in a certain category, and those categories are ranked from highest to lowest.
The Royal Flush is the technical answer when asked what are the best poker hands. It is the best possible hand that can be gotten in a standard five-card poker game. It consists of an Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10, and all of them must be of the same suit. The suit does not matter, for no suit is better than the other, but the chances of getting such a hand is extremely low, which is why it is considered the best.
The second best kind of poker hand is the Straight Flush. Any sequence of five cards that have the same suit is considered a Straight Flush. An example is 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, all of spades. If two or more people have a Straight Flush, then the person with the highest-numbered card will win. This applies to other poker hands as well.
Ranked below the Straight Flush is the Four of a Kind hand, meaning that one must have four cards with the same value, such as a 3, 3, 3, 3, and another card of any value. The Full House comes right after Four of a Kind, and has three cards with the same value, and two other cards which also have the same value. An example is a hand with 5, 5, 5 and 2, 2.
The Flush is the fifth best poker hand, and isn’t as hard to get. To get a Flush, one needs five cards, all of which having the same suit. They don’t have to be in sequence. The Straight comes after the Flush, and instead of all the cards having the same suit, it consists of the cards being in sequence. The Three of a Kind follows the Straight, and one needs to have three cards of the same value. For the Two Pair, two different pairs of cards with the same value are needed. If one only has one pair of cards, then it is simply called the Pair. Lastly, if one asks “What are the best poker hands?” then they might as well ask what the worst poker hands are as well. The answer to that is the High Card, which consists of random cards that are different in every way.
Top 10 Best Hold’em PokerHands
1. Ace-Ace
This is the best Hold’em poker hand you can hope to have. It’s the best of the best, and will win more than any other hand. Also known as American Airlines, pocket rockets, and bullets.
2. King-King
This 2nd-best hold’em hand is still incredibly strong and will win you a good chunk of change. Two kings, or “cowboys” are only dominated by aces.
3. Queen-Queen
Two queens, or “ladies” are a very good hand. Sure, kings and aces will beat you, but you’ve got the upper hand on jacks and below.
4. Ace-King
Ace-king is a strong but tricky hand. It is the strongest of the drawing hands, but the flop needs to work with you to give you a pair of aces or kings for it to really pay off. Suited it is slightly stronger than unsuited, as then you can also make the nut flush much more easily.
5. Jack-Jack
A pair of jacks, ten-handed, will win almost 20% of the time. If the flop shows a queen, king, or ace, watch out, but otherwise, it’s smooth sailing.
6. Ace-Queen
Ace-queen is the second best drawing hand, and when suited, will win about 20% of the time as well.
7. King-Queen
King-queen, especially suited, is a great drawing hand that is only afraid of an Ace falling on the board.
8. Ace-Jack
Ace-jack is another great drawing hand. Suited is always better here, but unsuited is still playable.
9. King-Jack
King-jack, especially in later positions, is a fine hand to play, but can be beat by any of the hands listed above and should be folded to big raises. Statistically, suited it will win just under 19% of the time, but unsuited that drops to just 15%.
10. Ace-Ten
Ace-ten is still a good hand — you’ve got the ace, and can make a straight if the miracle J-Q-K falls on the board. But be wary of playing it too strong, especially unsuited, as if all you end up with is a pair of aces, you may be out-kicked.
