Video Poker Hands

In poker, a deck of 52 cards is normally used which has four suits; Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds and there are 13 types of cards in each suit. In some games Jokers are used as well which are additional cards which are not part of any of the other suits. A poker hand is made up of five cards.
In video poker there is no ranking between suits and they are treated equally.
The order of the ranking for the cards within each suit is as follows (from highest to lowest rank): Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two.
In some video poker games, a wild card like Joker is used, which can be substituted for any card the player wants.

Video poker hands from the highest to the lowest ranking are as the following:

1. Royal Flush
The highest hand possible. Consists of Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of the same suit.

2. Straight Flush
These are five cards of the same suit that are in sequence, e.g. 4,5,6,7 and 8 of diamonds.

3. Four of a kind
This hand is made of four cards of the same number or face and one different card. Four aces are the best for this poker hand value.

4. Full House
Consists of three of a kind and a pair. When comparing two full house hands (poker only) the rank of the three cards determines the winner.

5. Flush
Five cards of the same suit no matter what ranking they have make this hand. Poker: When two flush hands are compared, the highest card determines the winner and if they are equal then the second highest one and so on.

6. Straight
Consists of five cards of any suit ranked in sequence, e.g. Queen, Jack and Ten, nine, eight


7. Three of a kind
This hand has 3 cards of the same value and 2 other cards, the three cards also called Trips. Poker: When comparing two hands like this the set of three with higher value is the winner and if they are the same value then the other two are compared.

8. Two pairs
A pair is made of two cards with the same value. In two pairs hand there is one pair of a value and another pair of a different value plus an odd card, e.g. 3-3-6-6-4. Poker: If comparing two hands with two pairs, the hand with higher pair wins and if the higher pairs are equal then lower pairs determine the winner and finally the 5th card if both pairs are the same.

9. A pair
This is simply two cards with the same value. Depending on the type game you are playing, only certain pairs count as a win. For example in Jacks or Better video poker the value of the pair must be a jack or higher, so a pair of tens is no win.

10. High card
Five cards that don't have any of the above combinations (A worthless hand). This is not a win in video poker but in Poker it is sometimes used to decide the winner when no player has any hand with a higher value.

* Pat hand : The followings are the pat hands where you don't have to draw any new cards;