Building Poker

Winning Hands

Texas Hold ‘Em Winning Hands

To win effectively at Texas Hold ‘Em, you need to know your winning hands inside out. Here we have listed the winning hands in the order of best to worst.

Straight Flush - This hand beats all other hands. To get a straight flush you must have five cards of the same suit in sequence. This hand is extremely rare. To get this hand you would have to discard all cards not of the same suite and then hope you can pick up cards of sequence from the community pile. Do not try to get this hand unless you have at least three of the cards needed and you see another needed card in the community pile. Bet high when you have a straight flush.
An example of a straight flush: Five sequenced cards (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) in the suite of diamonds.

Four of a Kind - Four cards that have the same face value. These cards are not of the same suite. To get this hand you should at least have two of the same cards in your pocket cards and see one needed card in the community pile. Bet high if you have this hand.
An example of four of a kind: 4 of diamonds, 4 of hearts, 4 of spades, 4 of clubs.

Full House - A full house consists of three cards of the same numerical value and two cards of the same numerical value. This is a hard hand to get. You should have at least a two of a kind in your pocket cards to consider trying for a full house. You can be confident in raising if you have this hand.
An example of a full house: 3 of diamonds, 3 of hearts, 3 of clubs, 8 of spades and an 8 of clubs.

Flush - To get a flush you need to have a hand made up of cards all of the same suit. These cards do not have to be in sequence. You can be confident in trying for a flush if you have at least two cards of the same suite and you see a third in the community pile. If you have a full house you can feel confident staying in the game.
An example of a flush: 10 of clubs, 7 of clubs, ace of clubs, queen of clubs, jack of clubs.

Straight - A straight hand is one with all cards in sequence. These cards do not have to be in the same suite. If you have any three cards in sequence you have a decent chance of getting a straight. Stay in the game but do not raise.
An example of a straight: 5 of clubs, 6 of clubs, 7 of diamonds, 8 of hearts, nine of spades.

Three of a Kind - This hand consists of three cards of the same numerical value. This is fairly easy to accomplish. If you have this you can be confident in staying in the game but consider the stakes before choosing to raise
An example of three of a kind: 3 of spades, 3 of hearts, 3 of diamonds.

Two Pair - This is an easy hand to get. All you need is to cards of one face value and another two cards with the same face value. If you have this you should consider whether or not you really want to stay in the game.
An example of two pair: 2 of hearts, 2 of diamonds and 4 of spades, 4 of hearts.

Pair - This is simply two cards with the same face value.
An example of two pair: 6 of hearts and 6 of diamonds.

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