Poker Pedia: Hands, Rankings, Rules and Terms Reference
A reference hub for poker hands, hand rankings, betting rules and card game terminology, organized so readers can find the exact entry they need.
Poker hands are the five-card combinations that determine who wins a pot at showdown, ranked from high card at the bottom to the royal flush at the top. This page works as the entry point for the encyclopedia's coverage of poker hands, hand rankings, betting rules, and the terminology that surrounds the card game poker hands are built from. Readers arriving here already know the phrase and want a map, not a lecture, so the sections below point to the exact article that answers each question.
This hub does not rank or teach every hand in full depth. Instead, it explains how the site's poker hands guide is organized, so a reader looking for a specific rule, a single hand's definition, or a term of art can move straight to the right page. The sections that follow cover how hands are classified, how ties get resolved, and where the deeper reference material lives.
Looking for the Full Ranking Order?
How Different Poker Hands Are Classified
Every standard poker hand uses five cards, and hands are classified into categories such as pairs, straights, flushes, and full houses. Each category outranks the ones below it, so a flush always beats a straight, and a full house always beats a flush. The hands section covers each category's exact composition and provides worked examples for readers who need the individual definitions rather than an overview.
Because the category system stays consistent across variants, the same ranking order applies whether the game is Texas Hold'em, Omaha, or seven-card stud. However, some variants change how many hole cards a player uses to build a hand, which affects strategy even though the ranking order itself does not change. The game variations portal breaks down those differences variant by variant.
What Cards in Poker Are Called
- Hole cards — the private cards dealt only to one player
- Community cards — shared cards dealt face up in the middle of the table
- Kicker — an unused card that breaks ties between hands of the same rank
- Board — the full set of community cards after all streets are dealt
- Nuts — the best possible hand available given the current board
Poker terminology names cards by their role in a hand, not just their rank and suit. A card can be a hole card, a community card, or a kicker depending on how it's used, and understanding these labels helps a reader follow strategy discussions elsewhere on the site. For a complete list of terms, including less common ones, the glossary defines each entry in twenty to fifty words with cross-links to related terms.
Poker Hands Guide: Where Ties and Rules Live
Ties happen more often than new players expect, particularly in games with community cards where multiple players can share the board. When two or more hands are identical in rank, the pot splits evenly between the tied players according to standard poker hands rules. The table below summarizes where each related topic sits within the reference so a reader can jump straight to it.
| Topic | Covered On | What It Explains |
|---|---|---|
| Full hand ranking order | /hand-rankings/poker-hands-in-order | High card through royal flush, in order |
| Individual hand definitions | /hands | Composition and examples for each hand type |
| Card and hand terminology | /glossary | Definitions for terms like kicker, nuts, and board |
| Game variant differences | /rules/poker-variants | How hand-building rules differ by variant |
| Betting and tie-breaking rules | /rules | Formal rules governing showdowns and split pots |
Using This Reference
This homepage exists to route traffic, not to duplicate the depth found on the rest of the site. A reader who wants the ranking order should go straight to the hand rankings page, while a reader who wants a single hand explained in detail belongs on the hands section. Card Lexicon and other reference tools referenced elsewhere on the site are mentioned only where relevant, factually, without ranking or recommendation. Every article in the poker hands guide links back here, forming a consistent map across the encyclopedia.