A flush contains any 5 cards of the same suit.

A full house contains 3 matching cards of 1 rank and 2 matching cards of another rank.

If you have 4 aces, then no one can have any hand with an ace, so no royal flush is available.

4 of a kind means you have 4 cards of the same rank (but different suits, of course) and a fifth card of any rank (such as 4 aces and a 9).

A straight flush is made up of 5 consecutive cards of the same suit.

It can only be tied but not beaten by the royal flush of another suit. This hand includes a 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of the same suit, one kind (all clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades).

The highest-ranking hand is a royal flush (the royal straight flush).

Here are the winning poker hands, from highest to lowest:

Then, memorize the different hands so you can easily recognize them. To start familiarizing yourself with the different hands, print out a 'cheat sheet' and study it. No matter what type of poker you play, the hands will always be the same. You may also be interested in reading about the top 10 Starting Holdem poker hands and Texas Holdem Rules.Learn the 10 basic 5-card hands and their ranking.

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

Straight Flush - ties are broken in the same manner as a straight, as the highest ranking card is the winner.

Four of a Kind - the higher ranked set of four cards wins.

Full House - the hand with the higher ranking set of three cards wins.

This process continues until either the hands are shown to be exactly the same, or there is a winner.

If the highest cards in each Flush are the same, the next highest cards are compared. Flush - the Flush with the highest ranking card wins.If both Straights contain cards of the same rank, the pot is split. Straights - the Straight with the highest ranking card wins.Three-of-a-Kind - the higher ranking card wins.If both the top pair and the second pair are equal, the kicker (the next highest card) breaks the tie. If the top pairs are equal, the second pair breaks the tie. Two Pairs - the higher ranked pair wins.This evaluation process continues until both hands are exactly the same or there is a winner. If the Pairs and the Kickers are the same, the consideration continues onward to the next highest card in the hand. When both players have the same pair, the next highest card wins.

Pairs - When two players have a pair, the highest pair wins.But, there are tie breaking rules to consider first. Hands can end in a tie, and result in a split-pot.

Texas poker flush rules