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Suits

Rank

Poker Rankings - Card Ranks

by Shirley Rosario
Suits

Heart

Poker Hand Ranks
Rank
1. The numerical value of a card.
2. The value of a hand.


In a standard deck of 52 cards, there are 13 ranks of cards. From lowest to highest, they are: Two (deuce), three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace. Note: In most poker games, an ace can also be used as a lower value than a deuce (i.e. – a value of "one”) as part of a straight or “low” hand in split pot games.

Suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs) are not usually considered, but they do help determine the bring-in in Stud games. For example, in the game of 7-Stud, the “low” card on 3rd street must post a bring-in bet. If there are two deuces showing on the board, then suits are taken into account to “break the tie”. The order of suits from lowest to highest is: Clubs (c), diamonds (d), hearts (h) and spades (s). Thus, if both the ‘2d’ and the ‘2s’ are showing after the deal, the player with the ‘2d’ must post the bring-in bet.

Ranks determine the relative strength of poker hands when comparing pairs, two pairs, three of a kind, straights, flushes, full houses, etc. Hence, a pair of kings is stronger in value than a pair of jacks. When comparing two pair, the player with the highest pair wins, regardless of whether his opponent’s second pair is higher than his own second pair. Thus, KK558 is higher than QQ994. However, if both players’ highest pairs are the same, then the “rank” of the second pairs determines the winner, such as KK883 is stronger than KK66A. In the case of two full houses, the rank of the “3 of a kind” portion of the hand determines the winner. 77733 is higher than 222AA (despite AA being higher in rank than 33). A straight consisting of 89TJQ is higher than another straight made up of 56789, as determined by the highest “ranking” card in each. The same principal applies to flushes, whereby KQ976 of hearts beats KQ865 of spades because the first “rank” of cards not shared by both players is a 9 over an 8.

Usage: Hand Rankings, My Suit Ranks Higher, Higher Rank, Card Rank

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(c) Shirley Rosario

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