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The card game poker traces its roots back almost 1,000 years, although it is widely believed to have surged in popularity in France in the 17th century when it went by the name “Poque”. It became known as a poker when French colonists brought the game to North America around the turn of the 18th century, where it boomed in the casinos and gambling halls of New Orleans.
As with all great games, the poker format was tweaked and expanded over time, with a five-card draw, seven-card stud, and then Texas Hold’Em all becoming popular.
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How to play online poker?
The aim of online poker is to have the best hand when each player’s cards are shown at the end, known as the showdown. The action typically starts with forced bets, often called the Big Blind and Small Blind, which make up the starting pot of any hand. Further bets and raises increase that pot up until the showdown stage.
Each player is dealt their initial cards, and the object of online poker is to combine your cards with the “community cards” (dealt later) to try and make the best hand possible. Play proceeds clockwise, and on your turn.
Learn more on how to play poker with William Hills’ must-read guide.
There are tons of different online poker games you can play at William Hill, each with its own gameplay variations. Be sure to check out the full rules on each individual game page before you play.
The top three hand rankings to try and achieve are:
Royal Flush: 10, J, Q, K, A, all of the same suit
Straight Flush: a run of five cards of the same suit, e.g. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of diamonds.
Four of a Kind: four cards of the same face value, e.g. all four aces.
Follow the link for a full list of Poker hand rankings and other hands you can try and build.
It’s vital to know which poker hand wins when you’re playing online or anywhere else for that matter. All varieties of Poker games are supported by a common poker ranking hands system that classifies the different poker hands so that players know which hand is the best.
It’s employed in all popular poker games like Texas Holdem and Omaha, as well as poker-based casino games like 3-card poker. If you’re serious about winning, you’ll need to know which poker hand wins.
Poker ranking hands in order – which poker hand wins?
- Royal flush – As the best possible hand in poker, the royal flush is at the top of the rankings. It consists of five cards of the same suit arranged in order of value from ten to ace.
A, K, Q, J, 10, all the same suit. - Straight flush – Five cards in a sequence, all in the same suit. A straight flush is any five cards in the same suit with sequential values that aren’t a royal flush. Only a royal flush or another straight flush with higher-ranking cards can beat it.
- Four of a kind – The same card in all four suits. The five-card hand is completed by the highest card among the others on the table or in your hand.
All four cards are of the same rank. - Full house – A hand consisting of three identical value cards in three distinct suits (three of a kind) and two identical rank cards in two different suits. When more than one player has a full house, the winning hand is the three-of-a-kind with the highest value. Three of a kind with a pair.
- Flush – Five cards of the same suit, shuffled in any sequence. The flush with the highest valued card is the winning poker hand when two players have a flush.
Any five cards of the same suit, but not in a sequence. - Straight – Five cards in a sequence, but not of the same suit. Five cards of sequential numerical value are composed of more than one suit. An ace can usually rank as either high (above a king), or low (below a 2), but not both in the same hand.
- Three of a kind – Three cards of the same rank in three different suits make up a poker hand. Aside from the three-of-a-kind, the hand is completed with the two highest accessible cards.
- Two pairs – Two different pairs. There are two different sets of two cards with the same rank. The hand is completed by the highest-ranking card remaining.
- Pair – Two cards of the same rank. A pair of cards in different suits with the same rank. The rest of the hand is made up of the three highest-ranking cards in the deck.
- High Card – When you haven’t made any of the hands above, the highest card plays. The lowest-ranking of all the hands. Your ‘best hand’ is the one with the highest card in the deck.
Hi-Lo games are the three types of poker hands.
Let’s move on from poker-winning hands to types of poker games. It’s worth noting that not all poker games determine the best hand based on the poker hand rankings’ highest-ranked hand. In most game types, poker-hand rankings determine the best poker hand in one of three ways. Best Poker sites UK
Poker ranking hands with a high or low hand
Knowing which poker hands win. Poker winning hands. The simplest straightforward application of rankings is in ‘Hi’ games, in which the best poker hand is determined by the hand that ranks highest.
Texas Holdem and Seven-Card Stud are two popular variants. Poker is sometimes known as lo, low-hand, or lowball. Lowball poker hand rankings invert traditional poker hand rankings, making the lowest-ranking hand the best possible. Depending on whether the ace is high or low, and whether straights and flushes are considered, different versions of low-hand poker exist.
Split poker, is known as hi-lo or high-low split poker.
High-low split games are the third approach to poker hand rankings, in which the pot is shared between the player with the highest-ranking poker hand and the player with the lowest-ranking poker hand. Examples that are frequently used include: Hi-Lo Omaha
Types of Poker Games
Best Poker sites UK. An outline of the various types of poker games to play online.
Texas Hold’em
In hold ’em, players receive two down cards as their personal hand (hole cards), after which there is a round of betting. Three board cards are turned simultaneously (called the flop) and another round of betting occurs. The next two board cards are turned one at a time, with a round of betting after each card.
The board cards are community cards, and a player can use any five-card combination from among the board and personal cards. A player can even use all of the board cards and no personal cards to form a hand (“play the board”).
A dealer button is used. The usual structure is to use two blinds, but it is possible to play the game with one blind, multiple blinds, an ante, or a combination of blinds plus an ante.
Omaha
Omaha is similar to hold ’em in using a three-card flop on the board, a fourth board card, and then a fifth board card. Each player is dealt four hole cards (instead of two) at the start. To make a hand, a player must use precisely two hole cards with three board cards.
The betting is the same as in hold’em. At the showdown, the entire four-card hand should be shown to receive the pot.
The best possible five-card poker hand, using exactly two hole cards and three community cards, wins the pot.
Seven-Card Stud
Seven-card stud is played with two downcards and one upcard dealt before the first betting round, followed by three more upcards (with a betting round after each card) and one more downcard. After the last downcard is dealt, there is a final round of betting.
The best five-card poker hand wins the pot. In all fixed-limit games, the smaller bet is wagered on the first two betting rounds, and the larger bet is wagered after the betting rounds on the fifth, sixth, and seventh cards. If there is an open pair on the fourth card, any player has the option of making a smaller or larger bet.
Deliberately changing the order of your upcards in a stud game is improper because it unfairly misleads the other players. Now we know which poker hands win.