Poker is a very intricate sport and while many people attempt to understand it in order to get involved in the game, it can be overcomplicated at times. Sometimes, it is best to review the little details of poker in a very simple manner and move on from there in order to develop a deeper understanding of the game. One of the simplest aspects of poker is the poker hand and which hands are best. The way you win a poker round is to have the best of all the possible poker hands.

The best of all possible poker hands is when you develop, with your five cards, a royal flush. This hand involves the cards ten, jack, queen, king and ace, all of the same suit, in that order. The next best possibility when it comes to poker hands is known as the straight flush. A straight flush is established when a player is able to create five cards in a sequence, all of the cards being of the same suit. If two people have a straight flush, the winner is determined by whoever has the highest card as the top card of their straight.

Next come poker hands where a player has four of a kind, or all four cards of a certain rank. For example, four aces and one of any card would be the highest available four of a kind poker hand. Fourth would be a full house. Full house poker hands are made up of three cards of one rank and two of another. Lastly in the list of the top five poker hand list would be a flush, which is five cards of the same suit, but they do not need to be in any specific order.

One of the most important skills you can acquire during your poker card rules and poker career understands poker hand values and how they vary at different stages of the game. Indeed it’s this skill that separates the pros from the amateurs.

When playing texas holdem you obviously have two cards dealt to you and you need to make a decision about what action to take next, based on your chances of winning the hand.

This decision is obviously determined largely by the strength of your two cards. A common mistake amateur players make, however, is that they understand what kinds of hands are strong and which are weak, but they don’t alter this mindset at different stages of the game.

For example, a pair of 2’s is a pretty average hand in a 10-seater game, and is not going to be a clear favourite to win the hand, but in a 2 or 3-seater game this suddenly becomes a much stronger hand and one that you can be more aggressive with.

It’s always important to understand how your odds of winning with any hand can differ based on the number of players you are up against. This becomes increasingly important when you start playing heads-up games, or you start getting to the final stages of tournaments.

When there are just 2 or 3 of you left in, then you need to completely reassess the strength of your hand compared to say a 6 or 10-seater game you may be more familiar with.

Previously weak hands suddenly become slightly more playable, as you will often find 2 low, but live cards regularly overcome stronger hands.

Similarly, average or marginal hands suddenly become hands you can play with, and even raise with, depending on the circumstances.

Also, if you get a strong hand like a high pair in heads-up play, then this obviously becomes a monster hand and one you can be very aggressive with.

So to conclude, if you’re serious about becoming a successful and profitable poker player, then you have to understand poker hands value and how they differ at different stages of the game. Try experimenting with poker odds calculators and you will see for yourself how the probabilities vary as you change the number of players.

After all it’s no good taking part in tournaments, becoming good at reaching final tables, only to never emerge victorious because you haven’t acquired the skills needed to master heads-up play.