The Best Poker Hands
Alongside strong poker hands, it is also essential to understand weak ones. These hands can quickly cost a great deal if your opponent makes a set on the flop and begins betting and raising aggressively.
These hands are best played late position and raised preflop when no action has occurred before you. Examples include KQ or QJ broadway suckers as examples of this type of poker hand.
Royal Flush
A Royal Flush, comprising five consecutive cards from one suit, is considered the premier poker hand of all time and can only be defeated by a Straight Flush or Full House.
Straight Flush is a poker hand consisting of five consecutive cards from one suit, such as three spades, four hearts, five diamonds and six clubs – often called four of a Kind or four-of-a-Kind if tied between multiple Straight Flush hands; their highest kicker card determines who wins in such cases.
Four of a Kind is another powerful poker hand, made up of four identical cards with one side card and one rank card arranged in sequence. This hand can be used to start raising preflop against aggressive opponents; however, pocket pairs typically provide greater value in the long run.
Straight Flush
Straight Flushs are one of the greatest poker hands possible and often lead to winning pots if held.
Straight Flush poker hands feature five consecutive cards of one suit beginning with the Ace, and there are 36 possible Straight Flush combinations with odds of 72,192-to-1 to form them – making this hand incredibly desirable over any other form.
As soon as you have a Straight Flush in hand, be very aggressive during preflop. Try to draw opponents deeper into the hand with value bets that continue building the pot size; this will increase your odds of improving to the nuts and winning a large pot. Knowing the ranking of poker hands will also allow you to know how much to raise when an opponent opens with weak hands like Two Pair.
Four of a Kind
Four of a Kind is one of the weaker poker hands that still beats most other holdings, featuring four cards of equal rank joined by a fifth card of any suit or suit type – commonly referred to as quads – making it one of the top preflop poker hands you should hold preflop and only losing out to Royal Flush and Straight Flush in terms of winning odds. It makes an ideal starting hand that gives you an advantage against your opponents.
This poker hand may not be as strong as premium pocket pairs, but it is still an effective starting hand. You can use it to build up a large pot and win against passive opponents; just beware overcards as they can quickly dominate your hand and bluff against aggressive ones! However, always be ready for an encounter that involves overcards; be prepared to fold if the flop contains overcards as this might happen unexpectedly!
High Card
No matter the venue or game type, understanding the rules of poker and how hands are ranked will enable you to make smart decisions while at the table.
High Card is considered to be one of the worst poker hands, consisting solely of one high card without any matching pair. Due to this weakness, this hand cannot compete against higher pairs or full house hands and can easily be overshadowed.
Preflop situations where it is easy to determine your opponent’s range through his actions on previous streets and community cards are ideal for playing this hand, though for optimal winning results it should be avoided as any holding can vary in strength according to its circumstances. Also remember that all hands can vary greatly based on situational factors like kickers – more on which will be discussed below.
