Poker Hands

Poker has always been a popular game throughout the United States but ever since 2004 when ESPN broadcasted the World Series of Poker, it seemed to have jumped to incredibly new heights. The Internet and entrepreneurs have flooded computers with gaming sites that allow people to gamble on line or just play for fun. It is slowly becoming once again, a national past time here in America. Whenever I play, there always seems to be one person who does not know what they are doing and needs help along the way. I'm not a professional poker player by any means, but I do understand the hands that you can get and the chances of getting specific hands. Knowing these key things, will help you play poker and play it well. Here is the breakdown of the possible hands in order of best to worst.

1. The Royal Flush. The Royal Flush is considered "The Nuts" in any hand. "The Nuts" means a hand that cannot be beat by any other hand. Basically if you draw a Royal Flush, you win the hand unless you fold. A Royal Flush is a 10 through Ace all in the same suit. There are only 4 possible combinations in a game of poker and the probability of getting this hand is less than two thousandth of a percent. I myself have never received the hand in the six years of playing.

2. A straight flush. A straight flush is only superseded by the Royal Flush. A straight flush is five cards in a row all in the same suit. An example would be a 5 through 9 all diamonds. There are forty possible combinations and the chances of getting this hand are less than two hundredth of a percent.

3. Four of a kind. Just as it sounds, four cards that have the same rank. There are 624 possibly combinations and the probability of getting one these is less than .03%.

4. Full house. A full house is a pair, plus three of a kind. This is usually the most common of the strong hands and there are 3,744 possible combinations and the chances of getting this hand is around 0.15%.

5. Flush. A flush is five cards of the same suit, regardless of the order. There are 5,108 possible combinations and the possibility of getting this hand is exactly 0.2%.

6. Straight. A straight is a sequence of five cards in a row, regardless of suit. There are 10,200 possible combinations and the chances of getting this hand is less than 0.5%.

7. Three of a kind. Three cards that are of the same rank, such as three kings, or three two. There are 54,912 possible combinations and the chances of getting this hand is a little more then 2%.

8. Two pair. As simple as it sounds, two cards of the same rank plus another two cards of the same rank. A common hand there are 123,552 combinations and you have about a 5% chance of getting this hand.

9. One pair. Two cards of the same rank. There are 1,098,240 possible combinations, and in a given hand you have a 42% chance of receiving this hand.

10. No pair. No cards that match anything stated previously. There are 1,302,540 combinations and in a given hand, 50% of the time you will get this hand.