Below you will find the hand rankings in No-limit hold ‘em, the most widely played variant of poker ascending order of strength.
Hand rankings in No-Limit Hold’em.
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1 High Card
A high card means having a card with the highest value in your hand. -
2 Pair
One pair is having two cards of the same value in your five-carder hand. -
3 Two Pair
As the name suggests, this poker hand comprises two pairs among your five-carder hand. -
4 Three of a kind
Three cards of the same value in your five-carder hand are known as three of a kind. -
5 Straight
Five connected cards in a sequence with no gaps in between is known as a straight. -
6 Flush
Having five cards of the same suit as your hand is known as a flush. -
7 Full House
Having both a pair and three of a kind in your hand is known as a full house. -
8 Four of a kind
You make four of a kind when you have four cards of the same value in your five-card hand. -
9 Straight Flush
It’s a combination of two hands, Straight and Flush. Basically, in this hand, the five cards are in a numeric sequence and are of the same suit. -
10 Royal Flush
A royal flush is a straight flush of any suit from Ten to Ace. It is the strongest hand in no-limit hold ‘em. So, T-J-Q-K-A of the same suit is known as a royal flush.
Poker Dictionary
ALL-IN
Betting all your chips into the pot is known as the act of going all in.
Ace High
A 5 card made hand without any pair where the highest card is an Ace.
Any Two
An expression that indicates an action will be taken no matter our cards - "I would fold any two cards in this sick spot".
BACKDOOR
Hitting your needed cards on the turn and the river to form your hand. for instance, if there's one spade on the flop and you've got two in your hand and two more spades come on the turn and river, you've hit a "backdoor" flush.
BUBBLE
In a tournament, the bubble is the name given to the last person who isn't paid or in the money. for example, if there are 200 players during a tournament and only the top 20 get paid, then 21st place is understood as "the bubble."
BUY-IN
The cost of entering a tournament, or the minimum amount needed to be dealt in a cash game at a particular table stake. this amount is usually 20 times the big blind. So, as an example, if you're at a $5/$10 table, you'll need $200 to require a seat.
CHECK
To pass the act of betting to the next player. If there is no action yet you cannot call anything but you can pass the action to the next player. If you do not want to bet, you will have the option to just "check." If that is followed by subsequent action from your fellow players within the betting round, then the action will return to you and you can either call, fold or raise.
COUNTERFEIT
A pairing card on the board that greatly devalues your hand. If you have got a pair of 3's in your hand, and the flop is King-King-8, the turn is a 2 and now the river card is 8, here you have been "counterfeited." You had two pairs, but now the board has a better two pair. so any player with a card higher than a 6 in his hand now beats you.
Cooler
The term "cooler" refers to being dealt a really strong hand in poker only to be up against an opponent with a monster hand even better than yours. Usually, there's no way you'll be able to avoid getting far from the hand in situations like these and will have to pay your opponent.
DRAW
Playing a hand with no made hand hoping to improve to one. as an example, If you have QJ clubs and the board is King of clubs, ten of clubs and 4 of spades you have a draw or you are "drawing". you do not have anything concrete yet but need one or more cards for a straight or a flush. If you call (or raise) a round of betting to ascertain if the needed card(s) come, you're said to be "drawing." the 2 most common draws are flush draws and straight draws.
DRAWING DEAD
You're drawing, but it's futile because you have no outs that can win the hand if you hit. As an example, If you've got a pair and hope to improve to three of a kind on the river, but your opponent already has a straight, you're "drawing dead"
Downswing
Refers to a chronic period of losses that deviate from the expected results in that period concerning how often we should have won but didn't.
Equity
Equity expresses how often you should win a pot or what percentage you share in a pot based on the strength of your holding.
Effective Stacks
Refers to the smaller of two stacks in the current hand. The larger stack can’t wager more chips than the shorter stack has left. the size of the shorter stack is, therefore, the "effective stack".
Exposed card
A card whose face has been deliberately or accidentally revealed to players normally not entitled to this information during the play of the hand. This is considered a severe mistake which may lead to a misdeal being declared.
FLOP
The first three community cards dealt after the preflop round of betting is done.
FOLD
To give up by taking your cards out of play against a bet, losing whatever you've already bet. you fold when you think your hand is just too weak to compete against the other players or not good enough to bluff them with.
Freeroll
1) A tournament with no buy-in required. 2)a hand can either chop or win but cannot lose therefore you are said to be "freerolling" it
Gutshot
Refers to an "inside straight draw". as an example, we have 45 offsuit and the flop is 2 7 8 rainbow where we want to hit a 6 so we can complete our straight.
Grinders
A professional player who earns a living by making small profits over an extended period of consistent, conservative play. Usually used to refer to up-and-coming poker pros.
Get away
To fold a good hand when you are up against a great hand. Example: I folded my JJ preflop and managed to get away from the nit who limp-raised me preflop with AA.
HEADS-UP
Playing a pot, tournament, or cash game against a single opponent is known as playing heads up.
HIGH CARD
In a hand combination of 5 that do not form any kind of a made hand, the highest card is known as the high card and it is used to determine who wins when neither player has a made hand.
High Roller
In poker, it describes the players who play the highest stakes available and have gigantic bankrolls to play them with.
ICM
Stands for "Independent Chip Modelling" and refers to a mathematical model of assigning monetary values to tournament chips in play.
Implied Odds
A pot odds-based calculation that also factors in the additional chips we stand to win on later streets if we do end up making our hand.
In the money
To finish high enough during a poker tournament to win a share of the prize pool.
Junk
A low-value hand that is not good enough to do anything but folding with.
Jam
Colloquial term for shoving all-in. See the entry "All-in"
Kicker
Side cards that break ties based on whose kicker is higher in a spot where two hands are equal in strength, for example, If you and your opponent jam AcKc and Ad4d preflop and the runout is As 2d 7s 6s 10s you will end up winning with your AcKc because your kicker Kc is higher even though you both have the same hand strength of top pair
Laydown
To reluctantly make a fold that you did not want to make.
LIMP
Calling the minimum instead of opening or rasing. limp is also called "live betting" to derogatorily refer to the passive nature of live games
Limp-reraise
A reraise from a player that previously limped within the same betting round. is also known as a back raise and considered an incredibly fishy move.
Muck
To return a losing hand to the dealer at showdown choosing to not show it to the table. Mucking is typically allowed once we are the caller on the last street, but not if we took the initiative by betting or raising in the round before the showdown.
Monster
Colloquial term for a really strong hand that you know you will be making money with.
Mental Game
The discipline of wanting to elevate one’s mental fortitude when playing poker at the tables.
Nit
Describes a particularly risk-averse player who hardly plays any of his starting hands. A nit simply hopes to play only premium holdings and obtain an enormous payout.
Nut hand (the nuts)
The nut hand is that the absolute best possible hand during a given situation. they are ranked as the pure nuts, the second nuts, or the effective nuts.
OFF-SUIT
Hole cards with two different suits are known as offsuit hole cards. Unpaired hands can be both offsuit and suited while paired hands are always offsuit.
Open-raise
The act of opening the action by making the first raise in a round of betting
OVER-PAIR
In hold'em, having a pair as your hole cards that are bigger than any pair that can be made with the community card on the board.
Protection
A bet or raise with a made hand, primarily to fold out our opponent’s hands with equity against us. We bet for protection when we think we might have the best hand right now but risk being outdrawn on future streets.
Postflop
In N.L.H.E, the term "postflop" describes everything that takes place "post" the second betting round which is known as the flop.
Passive
A style of play known for consistently only checking and calling, never raising. considered weak and exploitable.
QUADS
A colloquial term for when you have 4 cards of the same rank in your made hand.
RIVER
The final of the five community cards that are opened in a hand.
Re-raise
To re-raise means to increase the size of the previous raise made on the present street.
ROYAL FLUSH
A Royal flush is a colloquial term for a straight flush from T to A, this is considered the strongest poker hand and is unbeatable.
SEMI-BLUFF
A bluff with a hand that has the potential to become a made hand should the bluff itself prove to be ineffective.
Short Stack
A player with fewer relative blinds in their stack. usually used to refer to players with stacks of 20bb or lower
Set
A set implies hitting three of a kind while holding a pocket pair. For example, you have a set if you are dealt 33 and the flop is K 9 3 rainbow while you have three of a kind when you are dealt A3 and the flop is 3 3 K rainbow, there is no difference between a set and three of a kind in hand strength, only how you made the hand.
Tilt
Emotional turmoil, confusion, or frustration during a game that leads to suboptimal decisions as the player adopts a losing strategy because of their compromised emotional state during play, usually leads to terrible play.
TAG
Short for "Tight Aggressive". Describes an aggressive player who enters the pot with a comparatively tight and strong range.
Tell
Colloquial term for a "read". A tell is an unconscious or subconscious clue from our opponent that reveals information about their holdings. Typically refers to body language, expressions, and verbal communication but can also refer to exploitable patterns in someone's gameplay
Underdog
Describes a hand or player which is statistically less likely to win but still have outs that can win them the hand
Upswing
A period during which a player wins more (or loses less) than the expected results in the given time frame.
Up the Ante
A colloquial expression for increasing the stakes in a game. Also used to describe the increasing antes in tournaments with antes.
Value Bet
A bet we make with our made hands having the intentions of being called by worse hands and profiting.
Villain
Our opponent in a given hand is colloquially referred to as "villain" or the "villain" in poker
Variance
Variance is the statistical difference between actual and expected results in a given situation.
Wet
Describes a board texture with excellent coordination, allowing a huge number of possible draws.
Wake up
To "wake up with a hand" means to get a monster starting hand, often when there has already been action ahead of the player.
Whale
A weakfish with a really large stack or bankroll that can be targetted with minimal risk and maximum reward
