Online Poker » Poker Strategies - Learning to Spot a Winning Hand

One of the most important elements of the game of poker is learning to spot a winning hand. It is not simply enough to know the rules of the game; it is vital to develop a feel for which hands will win at which games.

Any good poker strategy, of course, does start with a thorough understanding of the rules, and how well you know the hands will affect everything from your ability to bluff to how much you bet on a particular hand.

It is important to understand the suits of the cards, and the various hands. The suits, of course, are clubs, diamonds, spades and hearts, and the value of the cards increases along with the number printed on the cards. Card values increase from 2 through ten, then continue with Jack, Queen, King and Ace.

Every player will need to learn which cards make up a winning hand and which cards do not make a play. The poker hands in order of their value are:

• One pair – any matching set of numbers, regardless of their suit
• Two pair – any two matching sets of numbers, regardless of their suit
• Three of a kind – any three matching numbers, regardless of their suit
• Straight – any five cards in numerical order, regardless of their suit
• Flush – any five cards of the same suit, regardless of their numerical order
• Full house – three of a kind, plus two of a kind, regardless of their suit
• Four of a kind – any four matching set of numbers, regardless of their suit
• Straight flush – any five cards of the same suit, in numerical order
• Royal flush – a royal flush is the Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of the same suit

Any hand on the list beats the hand above it, with the royal flush beating any other hand at the table.
To complicate matters a bit further, wild cards are often used in the game of poker. The rules of the game will state which, if any, cards are wild cards. The game could be aces wild, deuces wild or whatever else the dealer states, so it is important to factor those wild cards into your strategy. The wild cards of course can be used to stand in for whatever card you need to make the best hand, so wild cards can be incredibly valuable indeed.

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