A hand in poker is a set of cards held by or assigned to a player, used to determine the outcome of a round. The term has two related meanings: the specific cards a player holds (as in “she was dealt a strong hand”) and a complete round of play from deal to showdown (as in “let’s play another hand”).
Poker hands are ranked by a hierarchy that reflects the probability of being dealt each combination from a standard deck. The rarest combinations rank highest: a royal flush (the five highest cards in one suit) is the strongest hand in most variants, while a high card (no matching ranks or connected suits) is the weakest. Between these extremes, the standard ranking runs through pairs, two pair, three of a kind, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kind, and straight flushes. Some poker variants modify this hierarchy or introduce additional categories.
The strength of a hand is always relative to what opponents hold, which is unknown until showdown. This incomplete information is what makes poker a game of skill rather than a pure lottery: players must infer the likely strength of opposing hands from betting patterns, position, and revealed community cards. A hand that is statistically strong can still lose, and a weak hand can win the pot if opponents fold to a well-timed bet. The interplay between hand strength and betting strategy is the central dynamic of poker.