"What Beats What In Poker?"The answer to what beats what in poker covers more pages than most care to read, let alone have time to read! IF every possible hand was discussed. Instead of going over every hand or giving you the generic “a flush beats a straight, a straight beats three of a kind....” I’ll show YOU how to figure out what beats what FOR YOURSELF. This gets you actively thinking rather than acting like a robot on autopilot. Thinking players are more dangerous. All poker games are played for either HIGH, LOW or BOTH. When playing a poker game where high hands win the pot figure out what the best hand POSSIBLE is. This gives you a good idea of how your hand stands in relation to the best possible hand. We all know that a royal flush crushes all other hands. But if the board in a community card game is: Kc-10d-7s-5s-2h a royal flush isn’t possible so its not a hand you have to think of getting beat by. On that board the best hand possible is three kings. That’s the hand you worry about, if you don’t have it. Next best is three tens, three sevens, three fives. Do this until you arrive at your hand, to get an idea of its strength. The same is true in stud games. If an opponents cards look like this X-X-Ac-Js-8d-6d-X the best they could have is four of a kind which is improbable because ALL THREE down-cards would have to match one of their up-cards. A straight and flush are possible. NOTE: four of a kind is always possible in stud poker games, even if your opponent has no pair showing! So just by studying visible cards you can get a good idea of what hands are out there and what your cards can and cant beat. Kickers are also important when talking about what beats what in poker. A kicker is your unpaired card. Lets say you have Kc-8c and your opponent has Kd-6d and the board is Ac-Kh-Qc-9d-2h. What beats what in poker in this situation? (answer at bottom of page) Poker games played for low hands only are very easy to figure out what beats what. When reading low hands ALWAYS count from the top down. Some players have the tendency to count from the lowest card but really its your lowest high card that counts. The hand 5-4-3-2-A in low games is the equivalent of a royal flush, it cant be beat! The hand 6-4-3-2-A beats 6-5-3-2-A. This is why counting from the top card down is important. At the end of a hand players could flip their cards up and one says “I have a 7 high” the other says “me too!” then they go down to the next card. Whoever has the lowest wins. Obviously it’s a tie if they have identical hands. ANSWER: they split the pot! In this case the kickers don’t play because there are three cards on the board higher than both their kickers. Best five cards win! Had to keep you on your toes ;) Good luck! |
