Poker hands and the deck
Start with the cards, the suits, and what beats what.
The deck in one minute
Standard video poker uses a 52-card deck. Each card has a rank and a suit. The 13 ranks are 2 through 10, then jack, queen, king, and ace. The four suits are clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), and spades (♠), with 13 cards in each suit.
Five ranks and all four suits. Suits have no pecking order: a spade is not worth more than a club.
An ace is normally the highest rank. In a straight it can also sit below the 2, making A–2–3–4–5. It cannot wrap around the other end: Q–K–A–2–3 is not a straight. You will also see “10” written as T in compact card notation.
Hand rankings, highest to lowest
A poker hand is a group of five cards. Its pattern determines its name. Read this list from top to bottom: a hand nearer the top outranks one below it. You do not need to memorize every line before continuing; this table is here to return to.
| Rank | Example | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 01Royal flush | A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠ | Ace through ten, all one suit. It is the highest possible straight flush. |
| 02Straight flush | 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥ | Five consecutive ranks, all one suit. |
| 03Four of a kind | 7♣ 7♦ 7♥ 7♠ K♦ | Four cards of one rank. Often shortened to “quads.” |
| 04Full house | Q♣ Q♦ Q♠ 4♥ 4♣ | Three of one rank plus two of another. |
| 05Flush | A♦ J♦ 8♦ 5♦ 2♦ | Five cards of one suit that are not consecutive. |
| 06Straight | 9♣ 8♦ 7♠ 6♥ 5♣ | Five consecutive ranks in more than one suit. |
| 07Three of a kind | 5♣ 5♦ 5♠ K♥ 8♣ | Three cards of one rank. Often shortened to “trips.” |
| 08Two pair | J♣ J♥ 3♦ 3♠ A♥ | Two cards of one rank and two of another. |
| 09One pair | K♣ K♦ 9♥ 6♠ 2♣ | Two cards of one rank. Some games pay only for a high pair. |
| 10High card | A♣ J♦ 8♠ 5♥ 2♣ | None of the combinations above. The highest card names the hand. |
A recognized hand is not always a paying hand
Traditional poker rankings tell you what a five-card hand is. A video poker pay table separately tells you whether that hand pays and how much. In Jacks or Better, a pair of jacks, queens, kings, or aces returns the wager. A pair of tens or lower is still a pair, but it pays nothing.
There is no opponent to beat, so ordinary tie-breakers rarely matter. A king kicker may decide a winner in table poker; in basic Jacks or Better, a fifth card beside four aces adds nothing. If a bonus game rewards a particular kicker, its pay table says so explicitly.
Some games change the vocabulary
The ranking list is the foundation, not the complete rulebook for every variant. Deuces Wild lets any 2 stand in for another card, so five of a kind and wild royals become possible. Bonus games split four of a kind into several payout categories. Always learn the named game and read its full table before applying a strategy.
If the deck and rankings already felt familiar, you are ready to move on. The next prerequisite explains what actually happens during one video poker hand.