The showdown - Do you have the best hand?

At the showdown all the players still in the hand reveal their cards, to find out who has the best holdings and wins the pot. This raises the question: how is a poker hand constituted?

A poker hand is always made of five cards. Not four, not seven, but exactly five. You only hold two cards, which you combine with the community cards. You won't always need both of your holecards to form you poker hand. Indeed, you can use four of the community cards, or even all five, it doesn't matter. The only requirement is that there be five cards.

There are a number of different combinations that can form a hand in poker. For example if you have five clubs, then you have a flush. All the possible hands are explained on the next page.