When you are a beginning poker player, you may find a number of terms being used in the game a little confusing. Aside from that, certain basic poker rules likewise offer more confusion. It is therefore important to familiarize one's self with some very basic poker essentials before engaging in this highly popular card game.
One of the things that you need to learn before you can play poker effectively is to be able to identify the different values that every poker card possesses. These are more commonly known as hand ranking, though some players tend to refer to them as poker ranks.
In general, these poker ranks are the same anywhere and anytime you play poker games. A possible exception of course is when you play the game at home because by then, you and your co-players are allowed to assign a certain value on any particular card.
Essentially, ranking poker cards are made in the following manner: the Ace card has the highest value. This is followed by: King, Queen, Jack, and the cards of ten all the way to two, all having descending values. The number two card is sometimes called a Deuce. This particular term is rather tricky especially in games when the Ace is categorized as having a lower value than a Deuce.
Practically all poker games involve only five cards, and usually these are what compose a player's best possible card combination. Even the so-called Seven Card Stud does not really consist of seven cards by the time the winning player reveals his card combination in the game's showdown stage.
Since most poker games involve only five cards, familiarizing one's self with the many poker ranks is not really a terribly exhausting undertaking. Actually, there are only about 10 poker ranks that can help you win that highly-coveted pot in a large-scale poker competition. These include the following:
*Royal Flush. This is considered as the best combination that a player can come up with in any poker game. It is composed exclusively of four face cards (Ace, King, Queen, Jack) and a Ten, all having same suits:
    
Suits are a set of cards bearing the same symbols such as a set of spades, a set of hearts, a set of diamonds, a set of clubs.
*Straight Flush. The next best hand in any poker game. Ideally, for a player to come up with this combination, he or she should have five similar suits of cards all in a row. A good example of this would be five heart cards from Jack down to number 7 card:
    
*Four of A Kind. These are cards which consist of four cards having similar ranks and a fifth card regardless of rank and value. An example of this would be a set of four Jacks and one Ace card:
  
Of course, the higher the rank, the better, as higher-ranked cards will automatically win over lower-ranked cards.
*Full House. These are card combinations made up of three similarly-ranked cards and another two cards having a different rank. To further clarify this winning hand, say you have a trio of 10's regardless of the suit, then what you now need is a duo of 2's to get a full house:
   
In the case of two full houses, the determining factor will be the trio of higher ranked cards. For example, a full house card of 44422 will always win against a full house card of 333AA, even though the Ace cards have higher values than the winner's 2 cards. Also, as in the Four of A Kind, the higher ranked cards will always win against the lower ranked cards.
*Flush. This is simply five cards having similar suits regardless of the ranks. An example of this would be a set of five diamond cards which feature a Queen, a Jack, a Five, a Three, and a Two:
  
To determine which flush combination wins in a poker game, the cards are arranged starting from highest to lowest, with the higher ranked set naturally the victor as in J7532 winning over 108654. In cases when two flushes carry the exact same cards but having different suits, as in a five-set diamond card having KJ863 and a five-set heart card, a tie is usually declared and the prize is split among the players.
*Straight. These are five consecutive-numbered cards regardless of the suit such as 65432:
   
When there are two straights in a game showdown, the higher card combination wins, as J10987 defeating 98765. This particular hand rank can use the Ace card either as a high card or a low card. When the Ace is used as a high card, like in AKQJ10, the hand is called a Broadway straight, but most probably, this should be a Royal Flush. When the Ace is used as a low card, the hand is called a wheel straight, like in 5432A.
*Three of A Kind. Essentially composed of three cards having similar ranks plus two different cards regardless of rank and suit such as 88863:
 
Again, as in similar hand ranks, the higher ranked cards will defeat the lower ranked counterpart. In certain poker games like in flops, players can possibly form the same three of a kind cards. In such cases, the two extra cards, called kicker cards, will decide who the winner is. As an example, AAA53 will win over AAA32.
*Two Pair. This particular card combination consists of two same-ranked cards, another pair of different but same-ranked cards plus a solo card having another rank such as a QQ442:
 
As in previous discussions, the higher ranked cards gets the upper hand against the lower ranked cards.
*One pair. This is made up of two same-ranked cards plus three cards bearing different ranks like 99A63:
  
When there are similar pairs in a game, the highest valued card in the unrelated trio of cards calls the shots. A case in point: 77J52 defeats 77953.
*No Pair, High Card. This is simply a hand having no pair that may be considered a winning combination in any poker game. In coming up with a winner in this hand rank, what determines the victor is the card having the higher value, arranging every card in descending order, such that KJ942 wins against J9853.
These are the most common hand ranks accepted as winning card combinations. Some variations may be created in the years to come. For beginning players however, these are the hands that they need to memorize by heart in order to win in any poker game.
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