The best full house is the one with the highest three-of-a-kind. If you and your opponent(s) have the same three-of-a-kind, you’ll look at who has the higher pair to go along with it. The one with the higher pair, than wins the hand. If you have the same three-of-a-kind and pair, you split the pot.

A Full House means that the 5-card poker hand contains a Triple (Three of a Kind) and a Pair (2 cards of the same rank). When you have a Full House, you’re holding two different poker hands – A Pair and Three of a Kind, all in one! It also beats other hands that have a lower rank than a Full House.

If two or more players have a full house then the player with the best three of a kind wins. If those are the same then the player with the best pair wins. Four of a Kind: Four of a kind (four cards of the same rank) beats a full house.

In home games, so called “kitchen poker,” some players can play variants in which wraparound or “round the corner” straights are good. In these games the straight is as valuable as the highest card on the front end, (4-high in the case of KA234).

A2345 is the lowest possible straight, also sometimes called a “wheel.” In any other context, aces will be ranked higher than other cards.

An ace can be the lowest card of a straight (ace, 2, 3, 4, 5) or the highest card of a straight (ten, jack, queen, king, ace), but a straight can’t “wrap around”; a hand with queen, king, ace, 2, 3 would be worthless (unless it’s a flush).

The usual rank of a jack is between the ten and the queen. As the lowest face (or “court”) card, the jack often represents a minimum standard — for example, many poker games require a minimum hand of a pair of jacks (“jacks or better”) in order to open wagering.

Straight Flush: A straight flush (five consecutive cards all of the same suit) beats four of a kind. Aces can be high or low. An ace-high straight flush is called a royal flush, the best possible hand in poker.

What poker hand is better – two pair or three of a kind? Three-of-a-kind always beats two-pair. The only “made” poker hand that two-pair beats is one pair.

In games using standard poker hand rankings, both three-of-a-kind and straights are quite strong hands. But which one is best in a head-to-head showdown? The simple answer is: no, three-of-a-kind does not beat a straight. Straights are superior in head-to-head showdowns with three-of-a-kind.

Flush beats three of a kind (trips) because it is harder to hit. Not only that, but flush also beats a straight, two pairs and one pair type of hands. It wouldn’t make much sense if a certain hand combination would be worth more but also more likely to hit.

When suit ranking is applied, the most common conventions are:

• Alphabetical order: clubs (lowest), followed by diamonds, hearts, and spades (highest).
• Alternating colors: diamonds (lowest), followed by clubs, hearts, and spades (highest).
• Some Russian card games like Preference, 1000 etc.