Poker Hand Levels



As a poker player, knowing poker hand odds and rankings is crucial to knowing where you stand when calculating your odds of winning. This guide is for players from beginner to intermediate level – meaning those with a basic knowledge of poker but who don’t know how best to calculate poker odds to gauge the chances of success – and will give you everything you need to beat others when. Micro Stakes Poker Levels of Thinking In micro stakes online games or low stakes live games most people will be playing on level 1 or 2, which means, you should be aiming at level 2 or 3. Beginner guide on poker rules and hand rankings make it simpler to play poker online. Brush up your adroitness by playing real money poker tournaments that include Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and other online poker games. Offering players a platform to win prizes is what drives our efforts. We will go today straight to show you all the answers of What is this poker hand? For level 238.In fact our team did a great job to solve it and give all the stuff full of answers. This is what we are devoted to do aiming to help players that stuck in a game. This is the highest poker hand. It consists of ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all in the.

Standard Poker Hand Rankings

There are 52 cards in the pack, and the ranking of the individual cards, from high to low, is ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. There is no ranking between the suits - so for example the king of hearts and the king of spades are equal.

A poker hand consists of five cards. The categories of hand, from highest to lowest, are listed in the chart below. Any hand in a higher category beats any hand in a lower category (so for example any three of a kind beats any two pairs). Between hands in the same category the rank of the individual cards decides which is better, as described in more detail below.

In games where a player has more than five cards and selects five to form a poker hand, the remaining cards do not play any part in the ranking. Poker ranks are always based on five cards only.

1. Royal Flush

This is the highest poker hand. It consists of ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all in the same suit. As all suits are equal, all royal flushes are equal.

2. Straight Flush

Five cards of the same suit in sequence - such as J-10-9-8-7. Between two straight flushes, the one containing the higher top card is higher. An ace can be counted as low, so 5-4-3-2-A is a straight flush, but its top card is the five, not the ace, so it is the lowest type of straight flush. The cards cannot 'turn the corner': 4-3-2-A-K is not valid.

3. Four of a kind

Four cards of the same rank - such as four queens. The fifth card can be anything. This combination is sometimes known as 'quads', and in some parts of Europe it is called a 'poker', though this term for it is unknown in English. Between two fours of a kind, the one with the higher set of four cards is higher - so 3-3-3-3-A is beaten by 4-4-4-4-2. It can't happen in standard poker, but if in some other game you need to compare two fours of a kind where the sets of four cards are of the same rank, then the one with the higher fifth card is better.

4. Full House

This consists of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank - for example three sevens and two tens (colloquially known as 'sevens full' or more specifically 'sevens on tens'). When comparing full houses, the rank of the three cards determines which is higher. For example 9-9-9-4-4 beats 8-8-8-A-A. If the threes of a kind were equal, the rank of the pairs would decide.

5. Flush

Five cards of the same suit. When comparing two flushes, the highest card determines which is higher. If the highest cards are equal then the second highest card is compared; if those are equal too, then the third highest card, and so on. For example K-J-9-3-2 beats K-J-7-6-5 because the nine beats the seven.

6. Straight

Five cards of mixed suits in sequence - for example Q-J-10-9-8. When comparing two sequences, the one with the higher ranking top card is better. Ace can count high or low in a straight, but not both at once, so A-K-Q-J-10 and 5-4-3-2-A are valid straights, but 2-A-K-Q-J is not. 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest kind of straight, the top card being the five.

7. Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank plus two other cards. This combination is also known as Triplets or Trips. When comparing two threes of a kind the hand in which the three equal cards are of higher rank is better. So for example 5-5-5-3-2 beats 4-4-4-K-Q. If you have to compare two threes of a kind where the sets of three are of equal rank, then the higher of the two remaining cards in each hand are compared, and if those are equal, the lower odd card is compared.

8. Two Pairs

A pair is two cards of equal rank. In a hand with two pairs, the two pairs are of different ranks (otherwise you would have four of a kind), and there is an odd card to make the hand up to five cards. When comparing hands with two pairs, the hand with the highest pair wins, irrespective of the rank of the other cards - so J-J-2-2-4 beats 10-10-9-9-8 because the jacks beat the tens. If the higher pairs are equal, the lower pairs are compared, so that for example 8-8-6-6-3 beats 8-8-5-5-K. Finally, if both pairs are the same, the odd cards are compared, so Q-Q-5-5-8 beats Q-Q-5-5-4.

9. Pair

A pair is a hand with two cards of equal rank and three other cards which do not match these or each other. When comparing two such hands, the hand with the higher pair is better - so for example 6-6-4-3-2 beats 5-5-A-K-Q. If the pairs are equal, compare the highest ranking odd cards from each hand; if these are equal compare the second highest odd card, and if these are equal too compare the lowest odd cards. So J-J-A-9-3 beats Poker Hand LevelsJ-J-A-8-7 because the 9 beats the 8.

10. High Card

Five cards which do not form any of the combinations listed above. When comparing two such hands, the one with the better highest card wins. If the highest cards are equal the second cards are compared; if they are equal too the third cards are compared, and so on. So A-J-9-5-3 beats A-10-9-6-4 because the jack beats the ten.

A plastic wallet sized Poker Card Ranking card is available at F.G. Bradley’s stores or online here.

Most beginning poker players consider their cards first. After all, it doesn’t take long to realize that starting with a big pocket pair such as Aces or Kings – or even big connected cards such as A-K or K-Q – is a lot better than being dealt absolutely horrid hands like 7-2 unsuited, 9-6, and so on.

Then there are other poker players, who may not appear to be much different at first glance, that are likely to be playing very differently, especially if they are skilled players. While beginners are considering their own cards and not much else, skilful poker players are thinking on at least two and probably three levels. It’s impossible to succeed at hold’em poker if you don’t.

A beginning player will be looking at the cards he’s been dealt and say to himself, “A pair of Aces … sweet,” but more than likely it’ll be something like, “I’ve been dealt … another essentially worthless hand. I’ll have to toss it away.” That’s an example of playing a card-dependent strategy. This is what most beginning players do – they raise with big hands and fold the weak ones, but there’s more to consider before making a decision.

If on the other hand you’re playing against a skilled opponent, he is thinking not only of his own hand, he’s also thinking about what you were dealt. That’s called second-level thinking. And if he’s also thinking about what you think he has – that’s called third-level thinking – and making his decisions based on all of these assessments.

The Different Levels of Thinking

In order to get beyond the cards you need to be thinking about your opponents and the situation you’re presented with. Here are the basic levels of thinking:

  • 1st Level – What cards do I have?
  • 2nd Level – What do my opponents have?
  • 3rd Level – What do they think I have?
  • 4th Level – What do they think I think they have?
  • 5th Level – Yes, you can keep going and going…..

Theoretically we could keep going to deeper levels of thinking, but you’re only going to find a very limited percentage of players who are capable of thinking this deeply – and if they are, they’re probably over thinking the situation anyway.

While getting to deeper and deeper levels of thinking does mark a more mature stage of poker skill, the best players recognize if their opponents are even capable of thinking that deeply.

Poker Hand Levels

Adjusting Your Strategy

What separates the good players from the great is their ability to recognize what level their opponent is thinking on and adjusting their strategy accordingly.

If I know, for example, that my opponent only thinks about his own cards and will raise before the flop with J-J, Q-Q, K-K, A-A as well as A-K, A-Q and K-Q suited, I can fold if I have a hand that doesn’t slot into the top half of his probable holdings, and I can bet or raise anytime he checks with a weaker hand. If he checks all his weak hands and folds when I bet, I have a big advantage. If he calls because he doesn’t want to fold his hand regardless of what I might have, I’ll simply bet my good hands for value and he’ll call off all his money with cards that don’t figure to be as strong as mine.

Even if I know my opponent is starting with a bigger pocket pair than I have, sometimes I can still play against him and gain an edge. Let’s suppose I have and he has . I can call before the flop if I know my opponent is prone to keep calling with hands like pocket Aces or Kings, just because they don’t come around that often and look so good when they do. Most of the time, I’ll have to fold on the flop because my small pair probably won’t improve.

But if the flop is my opponent will bet his Aces, figuring that I’ll fold. My edge is that by thinking about each hand on a deeper level, I know with near certainty what my opponent has, but he has no idea about my hand. If my opponent is playing his pair of Aces for their intrinsic value, and doing so without a single thought about what I might have, I might be able to take all his chips – and that’s the objective of no-limit hold’em.

Third Level Play

If first level play is the elementary process of considering the strength of your hand, and your hand only, and second level involves thinking about what your opponent might be holding, third level play involves making a determination about what your opponent thinks you have in your hand. Most poker players talk this talk but far fewer walk the walk.

If your opponent is reading you as you’re reading him, and you can take whatever steps are needed to plant a seed in his mind that you have a very different hand than whatever it is you’re really holding, you can simply play off the way your opponent reads you, and the actual hand you have is of little importance.

For instance, if you can convince your opponent that you have a huge hand, you can bet or raise, secure in the knowledge that he will fold because you know that your opponent has convinced himself that you have a huge hand.

If you’re able to convince him that you are horribly weak but really have a very big hand, you can play off of your opponent’s read of you and allow him to do the betting until the time is right for you to put the hammer down and take all of his chips. That’s third level play, and very few of us do it as well as we’d like to.

Thinking Takes Time

There’s a lot to grasp here, and if you’re a beginning player you don’t need to absorb all of it in one fell swoop. It’ll take time. But from the get-go, if you realize that your opponent is thinking about what you might be holding as well as thinking about what you figure he has in addition to playing his own cards, you’re already getting a leg up on the learning curve.

Just knowing this concept is a big plus for beginners. If all your playing decisions – do I bet, call, raise, fold, or reraise – are predicated only on the strength of your own hand, you will play predictable poker, and therefore become a target for exploitation.

Ideally you should be thinking one level deeper than your opponent. If they are only thinking about their cards, you need to be at the next level thinking about their cards – but stop there. If they aren’t capable of going to the second level to put you on a hand, you shouldn’t be trying to represent something different.

But just by thinking about it, and reviewing hands you’ve played in terms of third level thinking, your game will improve by leaps and bounds.

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By Lou Krieger

The author of many best-selling poker books, including “Hold’em Excellence” and “Poker for Dummies”. A true ambassador of the game and one of poker’s greatest ever teachers.

Poker Hand Levels

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