5 Card Texas Holdem Hands
Hand Rank > FAQ : Quiz
- Texas Hold'em Hands Names
- 5 Card Texas Holdem Hands Play
- 5 Card Texas Holdem Hands
- Texas Hold'em Hands Ranking Odds
- Texas Holdem Hands In Order
Learning the rank of hands in Texas Hold'em is just as important as learning the rules themselves. Be sure to know what beats what, so you won't be surprised the next time that flush beats your straight. Check out the hand rank FAQ to help answer questions you might have about the ranking of hands in Texas Hold'em.
If you are playing the Texas Hold’em, you will start the game with two hole cards and another 5 shared cards in the middle of the table or the board, and these are dealt out in 3 rounds. Out of the 7 cards available, you are expected to come up with the best hand value using 5 cards. In poker, a drawing hand is when a player has an unmade hand that is not likely to be best on the current street but has the potential to “draw” to the best hand by the turn or river if a particular card comes. The most common draws that come to mind for most people is the flush draw or straight draw. Players are trying to make the best five-card hand according to the poker rankings. In hold’em, each player is dealt two cards facing down, called the “hole cards”. Then over the course of the. One of the keys to being a strong Texas Hold 'em poker player is to know which hands are playable and which are not.This list of the top 10 best starting hands for Texas Hold 'em is a good place to start learning. Do keep in mind, however, that there is some disagreement over which hands are the best, and it does depend in part on your skill level and style of play. What hands are rank highest in Poker. ABOUT CARDPLAYER, THE POKER AUTHORITY CardPlayer.com is the world's oldest and most well respected poker magazine and online poker guide.Since 1988.
The hands are in order from top to bottom, decreasing in value as you move down.
Rank of hands.
#1 Royal flush.
An ace-high straight flush. It's just a straight flush really, but it's made with the 5 highest value cards.
A royal flush is the absolute best possible hand in the game of Texas Hold'em. You will rarely (if ever) see this hand.
#2 Straight flush.
5 cards of the same suit in sequential order. This is essentially the best hand in the game, only coming second to it's bigger brother; the royal flush.
#3 Four of a kind.
Four cards of the same value. Virtually a guaranteed winner.
Unfortunately you rarely really win as much money with it as you would like, as it's unlikely that other players in the pot will make a hand that they're happy to call lots of bets and raises with. Still, better than nothing!
#4 Full house.
Three of one and two of another. Or you could think of it as 3-of-a-kind + 2-pair. Also known as a 'boat'.
This is the most common out of the 'big hands' you will see in Texas Hold'em. You can win a nice chunk of money if another player ends up making a weaker hand like a flush or a straight.
If you think your opponent has a weaker full house than you, take advantage of Zeebo's theorem.
#5 Flush
Five cards of the same suit.
As long as there are no pairs on the board (e.g. 448JK or 27TAA), this will be the strongest type of hand anyone can make.
Beginner players love to chase flushes, and it usually results in losing money. Make sure you learn about pot odds before you chase your next flush.
Tip: If you're playing online, use the four colour deck feature. This turns the club cards green () and the diamonds blue (). So less chance of mistaking 4 diamonds and 1 heart as a flush.
#6 Straight.
Five cards in sequence.
This hand is beaten by a flush, so don't make the rookie mistake of over-valuing the straight when there are a number of cards of the same suit on the board. It is actually harder to make a flush than a straight.
#7 Three of a kind.
3 cards of the same value.
A 'set' is when you have 3 of a kind whilst holding a pocket pair. A set tends to be one of the most profitable hands in Texas Hold'em. It's handy to know the difference between sets and trips.
#8 Two pair.
Two pairs of course.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that this hand is stronger than 3 of a kind. It's actually easier to pick up two-pair than it is to get 3 of a kind.
#9 Pair.
Two cards of the same value. Almost like 'two of a kind' really.
A very common hand that can actually win a fair number of pots for you. Just be careful not to go overboard with this hand. The higher the pair the better.
Texas Hold'em Hands Names
#10 High card.
Just the highest value card.
If two players have the same value high card, you look at the next highest card (and so on) to find the winner.
This is not really much of a hand, but occasionally the winner of the hand will be decided on who holds the card of highest value. Don't expect to win any big pots with this one. It's usually there to determine the winner as a last resort.
Go back to the interesting Texas Hold'em articles.
There are two different types of post-flop hands that have value in poker: made hands and drawing hands. Made hands are more straightforward than draws and typically much easier to play. In fact, learning what a drawing hand is and how to play it is an often misunderstood yet extremely important component of mastering Texas Hold’em or any poker game for that matter.
So what is a draw in poker? In poker, a drawing hand is when a player has an unmade hand that is not likely to be best on the current street but has the potential to “draw” to the best hand by the turn or river if a particular card comes. The most common draws that come to mind for most people is the flush draw or straight draw.
There are varying strengths of drawing hands ranging from a gutshot straight draw (4 potential outs) all the way up to having a powerful combo draw such as a straight draw that includes a flush draw (up to 15 outs).
What Is an Out?
An out is a potential future card that could be dealt on the turn or river that has the potential of improving a poker hand. Usually, outs are associated with cards that would likely improve a player to the winning hand. For example, if you held Ace King and the board was 952, then all Aces and Kings left in the deck would be considered “outs” since either of them would make you top pair.
5 Card Texas Holdem Hands Play
What Is a Flush Draw?
A flush is when your hole cards and the community cards include 5 of the same suit. Therefore, a flush draw is when one or both of your hole cards have the possibility of making a flush on the next street.
Examples Two Card Flush Draws
Not all flush draws are created equally. The strongest flush draws are when you either have two of the same suit in your hand and two on the board, or have the Ace of one suit in your hand and 3 of the same suit on the board. Having a single card flush draw that is not to the nuts (the best hand possible) is often a sucker hand to play due to reverse implied odds.
What is Reverse Implied Odds?
Reverse implied odds means that you might improve your hand and still lose to a better draw. The weaker your flush draw the more likely it is that reverse implied odds is an issue. Therefore, unless both cards in your hand are suited, you generally do not want to invest a lot of chips chasing a flush draw. As a rule, straight draws tend to have fewer issues with reverse implied odds.
What Is a Straight Draw?
A straight draw is when one or both of your hole cards allow your hand to make a 5 card straight on the next street. The most common straight draw that most people are familiar with is the open-ended straight draw. This is where one or both of your cards are in between the community cards in such a way that you have 8 potential outs to make a straight.
While reverse implied odds problems are typically not that common with straight draws, it is still possible. If your cards are at the bottom of the potential straight and there are hands that can make a bigger straight, this is known as having the “dummy” end of the straight. The best straight draw to have is when all 8 cards are to the nuts, typically seen as open-ended straight draws.
Are There Any Other Drawing Hands?
Yes. In fact, any time you have a hand that has an obvious route to becoming the best hand on either the Turn or River, it is technically a drawing hand. Examples include:
- Bottom pair, which has 5 outs to make trips or two pair
- A gutshot straight draw, which has 4 potential outs to a straight
- A Backdoor flush draw, which can make a flush if the correct suit comes runner runner on the turn and river
See the image below for examples of the above hands, respectively shown in the same order as written.
Weak Draws
The possibilities are endless. What is really important is in determining which draws have enough value to continue with and then choosing the correct lines to maximize the expected value. Mastering tactical play in these spots takes lots of time and effort.
What Are the Odds of Making a Draw by the Turn or River?
Understanding the odds of drawing hands is one of the basic fundamental concepts of texas hold’em. The probability of completing a draw is based on the number of outs you have. Here is a poker outs probability chart showing the odds of making a few of the common draws on the turn or river, based on the number of outs.
An Easy Math Shortcut to Help You Figure out the Odds
If you can remember the numbers 4 and 2, you can figure out your approximate chances of hitting a flopped draw on the turn or by the river. For your chance of improving by the river, multiply your expected number of outs by 4. For your chance of improving on the turn, multiply your expected number of outs by 2. That’s it, easy peasy.
Of course, the numbers won’t be exactly correct and are going to be off by around 1% most of the time. Even so, it’s close enough to make intelligent decisions at the table. Let’s test it out, just to be sure. Say you have an open-ended straight draw and are curious how often you will hit your straight by the river. Since an open ender is 8 outs, we multiply that by 4 and end up with 32. If you check the chart above, you will notice that the actual number is 31.5%; pretty dang close. Feel free to test a few other possibilities to get the hang of it.
Why Are Drawing Hands so Valuable?
Now, let’s briefly get a bit more advanced and discuss the theory of why drawing hands are so valuable. In short, it’s because they tend to do very well against the strong made hands and have much better equity against the nuts (the strongest hand possible) or near nuts, even on the turn.
5 Card Texas Holdem Hands
Equity is basically what percentage of the pot your hand is going to win if everyone involved in the pot happened to get all-in right now at this very moment on this street. If you compare the equity of a made hand like top pair versus the nuts, you will see that that type of hand has very little chance of winning by the river. On the other hand, your run of the mill low flush draw will usually beat the stone cold nuts more than 1 in 3 times by the river.
As an example, 32s, with a two card flush draw, has over a 33% chance of winning the pot by the river versus QJo on an AKT, 36% if your opponent doesn’t share a suit with you. See the results below, as shown in a program called Pokerstove, which calculates raw flop equity based on known hole cards and the board.
Now, look at how top pair does versus the same hand.
Only 7.5% equity! Now you see the full impact of draws. Versus an opponent who likely has a really strong range, it is much better to have a draw than a medium strength hand, like top pair.
While it’s better to have a draw over a made hand when up against a really strong hand, the real power of a draw is the fact that sometimes your opponent(s) will fold and you take down the pot uncontested. This extra money you win the times that you get a fold is known as fold equity.
The Power of Fold Equity
The entire reason a draw is profitable has nothing to do with actually making your hand. Even most of the stronger draws will have less than 50% equity on the flop. If no one ever folded, then it would be virtually impossible to show a profit with a draw. Take a look at this screenshot of the graph from my recent play while holding either a flush draw or straight draw.
Hold’em Manager Graph Showing My Results With Flopped Draws
Texas Hold'em Hands Ranking Odds
As you can see, I won a lot of money with my draws but would have been a loser if it were not for the non-showdown earnings I achieved via fold equity. These “red line” earnings were made when I bet and my opponents folded. This is known as “Semi-Bluffing.”
Texas Holdem Hands In Order
What is a Semi Bluff?
When you represent a made hand by betting or raising while on a draw, it is known as semi-bluffing. One of the reasons that good poker players win is not because they have the best hand at showdown more than everyone else, but rather how they make opponents fold the best hand. The best hands to “bluff” are ones that are most likely to improve on a later street; namely draws. Therefore, the most effective bluffs are ones that have a lot of equity, such as flush draws or straight draws via semi-bluffs.
Summary
One of the keys to learning how to play winning poker is to master how to play a variety of hands after the flop. Not only do you have to know how to get value from made hands, you also have to learn how to maximize your drawing hands as well. In fact, learning how the equity of made hands versus draws works can make the difference between being a losing and a winning player. This makes mastering how to play a drawing hand of utmost importance.