Each card has two qualities, Suit (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs) and Rank (Ace, Nine, four, etc.).

Hands are ranked in the following order:

Royal Flush - All cards of the same suit, with the ranks of Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten.

Straight Flush - All cards of the same suit, with ranks in sequence. For instance, All clubs with ranks of 7,8,9,T,J.

Four of a Kind - Four cards of similar rank. 5,5,5,5,3 is an example of a Four of a Kind.

Full House - Two cards of one rank, Three cards of another. Ace, Ace, King, King, King is an example of a Full House.

Flush - All cards of the same suit.

Straight - Five cards with ranks in sequence. For example, (Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine of varying suits).

Three of a Kind - Three cards of the same rank.

Two Pair Two different set of cards with similar rank. For example, (Ten, Ten, Five, Five, and another card).

One Pair - A hand with two cards of the same rank. For example, (Six, Six, Ace, Three, Two)

High Card - Five cards that do not make any of the prviously mentioned hands. The highest ranked card represents the hand. For example, the following hand is High Card Ace - (Ace, King, Ten, Six, Three of varying suits).

Pairs - When two players both have a pair, the highest pair wins. When both players have the same pair, the next highest card wins. This card is referred to as the 'kicker'. For instance, 5-5-J-9-8 beats 5-5-9-8-7.

If the pairs and the kickers are the same, the decision goes to the next highest card in the hand. 8-8-K-7-2 beats 8-8-K-5-3. This process continues until both hands are exactly the same or there is a winner.

Two Pair - the higher of the top pairs wins. A-A-8-8-2 beats K-K-J-J-10. If the top pair are equal, the second pair breaks the tie. If both the top pair and the second pair are equal, the kicker breaks the tie.

Three-of-a-Kind - the higher ranking card wins. T-T-T-9-8 beats 5-5-5-9-8.

Straights - the straight with the highest ranking card wins. A-K-Q-J-10 beats 8-7-6-5-4. If the straights both contain cards of the same rank, the pot is split.

Flush - the flush with the highest ranking card wins. A-9-8-7-5 beats K-Q-J-5-4. If the highest cards in each flush are the same, the next highest cards are compared. This process continues until either the hands are shown to be exactly the same, or there is a winner.

Full House - the hand with the higher ranking set of three cards wins. J-J-J-2-2 beats 9-9-9-A-A.

Four of a Kind - the higher ranking set of four cards wins. 6-6-6-6-2 beats 4-4-4-4-A.

Straight Flush - ties are broken in the same manner as a straight.

Royal Flush - Two or more Royal Flushes split the pot.