Poker hand rankings are created based on the probability of being dealt a particular 5-card poker hand combination from a standard 52-card deck. The individual cards themselves are ranked from high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

Some players play their poker hands as if the Ace is a low card. Others again will consider the Ace as a high and low card in their poker hand. In poker hands, no suit should be favored over another. The secret of winning poker is how you play the poker hands that you lose. In most player’s desire to be “winners” though, they seemingly forget in a nine-handed game we are dealt the losing hand about eight out of nine times, so what really matters is what we do those eight hands, not what we do the one hand we win!

Low Poker Hands

When playing games in which the lowest hand wins, there are some modifications to the ranking. These may not be universal, so should be discussed in advance when starting a game with new players. As far as I can tell, the most usual rules are:

1. Straights and flushes do not count as combinations

2. Aces count as low, below the twos

3. A hand is always considered to belong to the highest category into which it fits - for example 7-7-7-5-5 counts as a full house - not (for example) as a pair with three odd cards that happen to be equal.

Poker Hands with Wild Cards

A wild card is a particular card, often a joker, which can be used to substitute for any card the holder wishes, even a duplicate of a card the holder already has. Several cards may be designated as wild - for example all the twos. This must be agreed in advance.

The hand ranking is the same as described above, except that it is now possible to have five of a kind - five cards of the same rank - in which of course at least one will be represented by a wild card. Five of a kind is the highest combination, beating a Royal Flush.