A hand over the mouth is usually to conceal a smile, while shaking hands usually reveal nerves.Some classic tells include shallow breathing, sighing, nostrils flaring, flushing red, eyes watering, blinking, swallowing excessively, or an increasing pulse seen in the neck or temple.Physical tells can also give you an estimation of your opponent’s strength of hand and help you keep your own strategy secret by avoiding such patterns. Watch for betting patterns such as betting early, very often (probably with weak hands), or late in a hand (as intimidation). This is a more advanced aspect of the game, but it’s always good to be aware of players’ tells-especially your own. Playing your opponents is arguably even more important than playing your cards in poker.

High card is the lowest-ranking (called a 'nothing') hand, when no two cards have the same rank, the five cards are not consecutive, and they are not all from the same suit.

Pair means you have 2 cards of the same rank, plus 3 other unmatched cards.

2 pair is made up of two cards of one rank, plus two cards of another rank (different from the first pair), plus one unmatched card.

3 of a kind means you have 3 cards of the same rank, plus two unmatched cards.

A straight contains 5 cards of consecutive rank but from more than one suit.

These skip around in rank or sequence, but are from the same suit.

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. Learn the 10 basic 5-card hands and their ranking.

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