The game of poker uses a standard hand ranking system.  Players create the best five card hand according to the specific rules of that particular variant.

The ace is the highest ranked individual card with 2 being the lowest.  The suit of each card determines whether there are any flush or straight flush possibilities during a hand.

The Royal Flush (A-K-Q-J-10 suited) is the absolute nuts, or best hand, in poker and cannot be beaten.  Immediately following in rank is the straight flush, which is comprised of lower suited runs.

Four of a kind, also known as quads, requires four cards of the same value.  The values determine rank when quad vs. quad.

The full House, or full boat, requires three cards of one rank and another paired rank.  For example, A-A-A-J-J is referred to as aces full of jacks.

The flush is made of five cards of the same suit.  They do not have to be in rank order.  If a both players have a flush, the player with the highest ranked flush card wins the pot.

A straight requires five cards of sequential rank.  In the event of straight vs. straight, the higher cards win.

A three of a kind, also commonly referred to as a set, hands are made up of three cards of the same rank.

 Two pair occurs when a player makes two sets of matching ranked cards.  A single pair is a single math.

If no player makes a hand, the highest card takes the pot.

H.O.R.S.E. is a poker game that incorporates six different variants of the game.

The first round of H.O.R.S.E. is Texas Hold’em.  The dealer deals each player two hole cards and five community cards.  Players make their best five-card hand out of any combination of the seven cards. 

Next is Omaha Hi/Lo.  This game is dealt in a similar fashion to Texas Hold’em with one exception: players are dealt four hole cards.  Players then make their best five-card hand out of two cards from their hand and three cards from the five-card community flop.

Razz, next, is a variant of seven card stud.  Players are dealt two hole cards, four cards up and then one more remaining card down.  The twist in this game is that the lowest hand takes the pot.

Seven Card Stud comes fourth during H.O.R.S.E.  Each player is dealt two cards face-down followed by four cards up and then the river card is dealt down.  Unlike razz, normal poker rules apply here and the best hand made with five cards wins.

The “E” in H.O.R.S.E. stands for Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo.  In this variant of Seven Card Stud, half the pot goes for the highest made hand and half goes to the player with the lowest hand.  The ideal situation is to have cards that could possibly take both the high and low to scoop the entire pot.

When playing a cash table, the H.O.R.S.E. rounds repeat.  During H.O.R.S.E. tournaments, however, final table play is decided over no-limit Hold’em.  H.O.R.S.E. is a popular variant for people who want to test their poker skill in its entirety.