Below are the standard card rankings for poker, please note that suit does not count in poker hand rankings - a royal flush of diamonds is of equal strength to a royal flush of clubs.

Royal flush: Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace of the same suit.

Straight Flush: Straight with all five cards in the same suit. The higher the straight is the better.

Four of a kind: Four of a kind is next highest. It consists of the four cards of any one rank together with any fifth card; for example constitute four sevens. When both players have the same four of a kind then the fifth card will decide the bigger the better.

Full house: A full house ranks next; it consists of any three of one kind and any pair of another kind. The hand is referred to by the three-of-a-kind it contains; the example shown would be "sixes full of aces."

A flush: ranking next; it consists of any five cards of the same suit, but not in sequence, as referred to as a "jack high flush" if the highest card in the flush is a Jack.

A Straight: A straight consists of any five cards of two or more suits in sequence of rank, with the ace ranking either high in sequence or low in the sequence. The ace can be used as a low card and as a high card. One does not need to have an ace to have a straight, of course: any five cards in a row will do. It ranks next under flush.

Three of a kind: Three of a kind are any three cards of the same rank plus two other cards which do not constitute a pair and do not include the fourth card of the same rank; would be referred to as "three nines." Or “trip nines.” The two side cards will decide who is the winner in case of a tie.

Two pair : Two pair , which ranks next under three of a kind, consists of two cards of one rank, two cards of another rank, and any fifth card, which is neither of those ranks; it is referred to by the higher of the two pairs. In case of a tie the fifth card will decide as a kicker, in our case we have a two-pair of queens and eights with a four kicker.

One pair - any two cards of the same rank, together with three other cards which do not combine with the other two to form any of the higher-ranking hands above.

High Card – any hand that does not make up any of the above hands would be a high card. In our example we have the highest possible high card.