High Card is the worst possible hand on the poker hand rankings list. It consists of no
pair or any 💋 other hand type – just a high card.
The words “High Card” should have you
thinking straight away about a hand 💋 with the highest card. However, this is the lowest
possible hand in Texas Hold’em.
Starting Hands like K♣10♠ on a board 💋 8♥7♥4♦J♣2♣ are
referred to as “King High” rather than no pair.
Even though you don’t have a pair, it
is still 💋 important to rank these hands for the system to work. In effect, a king-high
hand would beat a queen-high hand. 💋 Queen-high beats jack-high and so forth.
As is the
case in all Hold’em games, you can “play the board”. Say the 💋 board comes down
A♣6♦5♥10♠7♥ and you hold 3♠2♠. Your hand would be called Ace-High using all the cards
on the 💋 board.
When rating one High Card hand against the next, it’s the hand rank or
denomination that’s important. Therefore, the best 💋 High Card hand is Ace-High, the
second King-High, the third Queen-High and so on.
Kickers are a distinguishing factor
when players 💋 have the same high card.
We’ll discuss this in the next section.
How Does
a High Card Hand Rank?
In a 52-card deck, 💋 there are 1,302,540 possible High Card hand
combinations and 1,277 distinct ranks of High Card hands. Each High Card is 💋 ranked
first by its highest card, secondly by its highest-ranked kicker and so forth.
Here are
a few more examples of 💋 High Card hands:
A♠K♣ Q♥10♦8♠
K♠Q♦J♣9♥6♥
A♠K♦Q♣J♥16♥
A♠K♣
Q♥10♦9♠
K♦Q♣10♥9♣5♥
Can you tell which High Card hand ranks the best?
Keep in mind that
the suits are 💋 irrelevant and that the kickers should be used to rank hands with the
High Card.
How Does a High Card Hand 💋 Match Up?
High Card is the ninth best possible
hand in the poker hand ranking system – putting it in last 💋 place. One pair ranks
directly above it, with the best One Pair being Aces.
There are no hands that rank
below 💋 High Card. Therefore, it is the worst hand according to the standard poker hand
ranking system. It rarely wins at 💋 showdown unless someone’s making a superb bluff.
High
Card Poker Probabilities
Now, we’ll look at the pre-flop, flop, turn and river
probabilities 💋 of making a High Card hand in both Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha.
