One of the most important concepts to learn when a novice player is starting out in the game of poker is the types of cards and the rankings of the hands. There are generally 52 cards in a standard deck and this is the number used by casinos and usually in home games alike. The cards consist of an ace, a king, a queen, a jack, and then the number cards. The number cards range from 10 down to two. There are, of course, several different combinations that can be made up from each of these cards.

The Rankings

Learning the rankings of the hands is extremely important to playing the game of poker successfully. It is nearly impossible to play a good game of poker if the player is not aware of the rankings of the hands. This is because the rankings of the hands can completely determine the outcome of the game. If a player is not aware of which types of hands are considered to be winning hands, then the player risks passing up a great hand during game play or using a less than stellar hand and losing his share in the pot.

There is considered to be no ranking of the cards between the suits. This means that a king of hearts and a king of spades are considered to be equal. Likewise, a queen of clubs and a queen of diamonds would be considered equal and so on. The highest ranking hand is a royal flush. This would be a hand to beat all in poker but it rarely happens. A royal flush consists of an ace, a king, a queen, a jack, and a ten all in one suit. The next highest hand to win would be a straight. This is comprised of five cards from the same suit in sequence. This could consist of a joker through the seven card or a five through the ace card, although in this hand the five would be considered higher than the ace. However, one important thing to remember is that the cards cannot roll over. This means that the hand can’t go from the four card to the king card.

Other hands include the four of a kind, the full house (which is three of one suit and two of another) and the flush.