Before you start your online poker career or even begin to learn the online poker rules, you need to first learn the hand ranks in poker, or in other words: “What Beats What In Poker”.

Poker Hand Ranks
Royal Flush

T♥ J♥ Q♥ K♥ A♥

Straight Flush

5♠ 6♠ 7♠ 8♠ 9♠

Four of a Kind

Q♣ Q♦ Q♥ Q♠ 2♥

Full House

Q♣ Q♥ Q♠ 5♥ 5♣

Flush

3♥ 5♥ 8♥ 9♥ Q♥

Straight

5♠ 6♣ 7♥ 8♦ 9♠

Three of a Kind

Q♠ Q♣ Q♥ 5♠ 8♦

Two Pair

5♠ 5♥ Q♠ Q♥ A♣

One Pair
5♥ 5♣ 7♥ 9♦ Q♣

A trap that brand new poker players fall into is that they do not understand how the poker hand is always made up of the best 5cards. Hopefully they are playing online poker for free so that it does not cost them very much money, or at least on a table with me so that I can take their money .In Hold em this is very important because new players who have not learned the basic rule of poker , will  disrespect their “kicker”.

Example: You hold A♥5♠ and the flop is  Q♠ Q♥ A♣

There is a lot of betting and the turn of river is  3♥ 5♣

Giving you a final hand of 2 pairs A♥ A♣Q♠ Q♥ with a    5♣ Kicker !!

Your opponent turns over    A♠ 10♠

Giving him a final hand of     A♠ A♣Q♠ Q♥ with a  10♠ kicker !!

If you are in this stage of learning I strongly suggest that you play online poker for fun, or free first unil you learn the hand rankings. Not knowing what beats what in poker before playing for real money can be a costly.