The High Card Hand - the Lowest-Ranking Hand in Poker

A High Card Hand in poker is the lowest ranking hand you can form. On the poker hand rankings chart,

A High Card Hand in poker is the lowest ranking hand you can form. On the poker hand rankings chart, there is nothing worse than a High Card Hand. This poker hand does not contain a pair, or anything stronger. It is simply a high card.

You may be inclined to think that the definition of a ‘High Card Hand’ refers to a strong poker hand. The reality is that a High Card Hand simply refers to the highest-ranking card in your 5-card hand. In Texas Holdem poker games, this is the lowest possible 5 card hand that you can form.

If you’re holding the following hand K♥10♣ and the board (The Flop, Turn, and River) consists of the following cards 8♥7♣4♦J♥2♣, your hand would be referred to as a King-high hand as opposed to no pair.

Oftentimes in Texas Hold’em games, you will find that you don’t even have a pair. For that reason, these poker hands are referred to as a High Card Hand since there is a hand ranking system in place. A King-high hand beats a Queen-high hand, which beats a Jack-high hand and so forth. Even with this hand, there is a ranking in place.

If you opt to play the board, you can use any of the cards on the board to form a high hand. If the Flop, Turn and River result in A♦6♣5♥10♥7♠ and you are holding 3♥2♠, you can play the board and claim an Ace-high hand.

When it comes down to hand rankings, you can evaluate High Card Hands against one another by using the denomination of the cards. The strongest possible High Card Hand is an Ace high, followed by a King high, a Queen high, a Jack high, and a 10 high etc.

If several players have the same High Card Hand, then kickers come into play. Kickers are the additional cards that can determine a poker hand’s strength.

Ranking High Card Poker Hands

With a 52-card deck in play, there are 1,302,540 potential High Card Hand combinations that you can form. There are also 1,277 unique ranks of High Card Hands available. For each High Card Hand, the ranking is based on the highest card in the 5-card hand. Then, it is ranked by the highest-ranking kicker. This continues until one player’s High Card Hand is clearly better than another player’s High Card Hand.

Here are several examples of high card poker hands that can be formed:

Are you able to pick the High Card Hand which ranks the best from the selections above?

Note: You must turn to the kicker cards to evaluate the strength of each of the above High Card Hands.

How Do High Card Hands Compare to Other Hands in Poker?

On the listing of poker hand rankings, a High Card Hand sits snugly at the bottom as the ninth best hand you can form. Directly above a High Card Hand is one pair. The best pair that you can form is a pair of pocket rockets – Aces.

On the poker hand rankings chart, nothing sits lower than a High Card Hand. This makes it the worst poker hand that you can form based on standard poker rules. At the showdown, you’re unlikely to win with a High Card Hand, unless of course someone makes an incredible bluff and scoops the pot.

The Probabilities of Forming a High Card Hand in Poker

Let’s look at the probabilities of forming a High Card Hand pre-flop, on The Flop, the Turn, and the River. We will study the numbers in Texas Hold’em and in Pot Limit Omaha (PLO).

 

Texas Hold’em probabilities of forming a high card hand

The Pre-Flop Stage	Probability of 50.12%	From a 52-card deck with 5 randomly drawn cards
The Flop	Probability of 67.70%	With non-paired and unsuited hole cards
The Turn	Probability of 87.23%	With non-paired and unsuited hole cards
The River	Probability of 86.96%	With non-paired and unsuited hole cards

Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) probabilities of forming a high card hand

The Pre-Flop Stage	Probability of 50.12%	From a 52-card deck with 5 randomly drawn cards
The Flop	Probability of 31.08%	With non-paired and unsuited hole cards
The Turn	Probability of 73.33%	With non-paired and unsuited hole cards
The River	Probability of 72.73%	With non-paired and unsuited hole cards

Now that you understand everything you need to know about high card hands, let’s head over to the poker tables and play for monster pots!

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