The Basics

Poker is played with a standard 52-card deck, with an ace being the highest-ranking card, followed by a king, queen and jack. Poker games can either be high poker or low poker. Here are the ranks of hands in descending order:

Royal Flush: An ace, king, queen, jack and 10 in the same suit.
Straight Flush: Any five sequential cards of the same suit.
Four Of A Kind: Any four cards of the same rank and any unmatched card.
Full House: Any three cards of one rank and two other cards of another rank.
Flush: Five cards of the same suit.
Straight: Any five sequential cards, not of the same suit.
Three Of A Kind: Three cards of the same rank and two unmatched cards.
Two Pair: Two cards of the same rank, two cards of the same rank, and an unmatched card.
One Pair: Two cards of the same rank and three unmatched cards.
Highest Card: The highest-ranked card out of five unmatched cards.