Playing your opponents is arguably even more important than playing your cards in poker.

High card is the lowest-ranking (called a 'nothing') hand, when no two cards have the same rank, the five cards are not consecutive, and they are not all from the same suit.

Pair means you have 2 cards of the same rank, plus 3 other unmatched cards.

2 pair is made up of two cards of one rank, plus two cards of another rank (different from the first pair), plus one unmatched card.

3 of a kind means you have 3 cards of the same rank, plus two unmatched cards.

A straight contains 5 cards of consecutive rank but from more than one suit.

These skip around in rank or sequence, but are from the same suit.

A flush contains any 5 cards of the same suit.

A full house contains 3 matching cards of 1 rank and 2 matching cards of another rank.

If you have 4 aces, then no one can have any hand with an ace, so no royal flush is available.

4 of a kind means you have 4 cards of the same rank (but different suits, of course) and a fifth card of any rank (such as 4 aces and a 9).

A straight flush is made up of 5 consecutive cards of the same suit.

It can only be tied but not beaten by the royal flush of another suit. This hand includes a 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of the same suit, one kind (all clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades).

The highest-ranking hand is a royal flush (the royal straight flush).

Here are the winning poker hands, from highest to lowest:

Then, memorize the different hands so you can easily recognize them.

To start familiarizing yourself with the different hands, print out a 'cheat sheet' and study it. No matter what type of poker you play, the hands will always be the same. Learn the 10 basic 5-card hands and their ranking.

Poker straight rules king ace two