While most people think that the suits in Poker are just there to tell them apart, there is actually a poker suit order that needs to be followed in certain poker variants.

We’ll be looking at what those situations are and what order the suits are in.

POKER SUIT EXPLAINED

A suit in poker is the term to describe the symbols on each card (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs), and differentiate cards of the same rank (2, 3, 4, etc.). When do they matter during any poker game? The suits are used when making certain poker hands.

For example, if you have five cards of the same suit but of random ranks (e.g. 2♥, 5♥, 9♥, J♥, A♥), then that is called a flush.

If you have five cards of the same suit and in rank order (e.g. 6♥, 7♥, 8♥, 9♥, T♥), then that is called a straight flush. This is the second-best possible hand in poker.

If you have the best five cards all of the same suit (e.g. T♥, J♥, Q♥, K♥, A♥), then that is called a royal flush and is the best hand possible in the game. The probability of getting this hand in any game is 1 in 649,740, making it the rarest combination of cards.

When playing flop games such as Hold’em, Omaha, a 6+, the suit you have has no impact on the strength of your starting hand as there can only ever be one flush available per hand.

WHEN THE POKER SUIT ORDER MATTERS

However, there are times when the suits in your hand do matter and for those occasions, there is a set order where specific suits in your hand beat the rest. The order of the suits from strongest to weakest is Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs. An easy way to remember the order is that it’s in reverse alphabetical order.

There are games where it’s possible for the suit of your hand to matter are the Stud games such as Razz, 7 Card Stud, and Stud Hi-Lo, as well as games such as a five-card draw. This is because in these games it’s possible for two players to have the exact same hand ranking with different suits.

For example, in 7 Card Stud, two players can have the same flush/straight flush hand, as each player plays five cards from their personal seven-card board. In these situations, the winner of the pot is the player who has the best suit. So if Player A has 7♦ 8♦ 9♦ T♦ J♦ and Player B has 7♠ 8♠ 9♠ T♠ J♠, then Player B will win the pot as they have the highest suit.

Another time where suits matter is determining the action in stud games. Stud games are unique in the way they’re played as there is no button/blind system and some of the players’ cards are face up for everyone to see.

At the start of a stud/razz hand, each player is dealt two cards face down and one face up (called an up-card). The person with the lowest up-card in Stud (highest up-card in Razz), is forced to “bring in” for the amount of the lowest table bet and will be last to act on that street.

On each street, the player with the best “showing” hand (the strength of the hand comprised of only their up-cards) is first to act. In the event that two players have the exact same up-cards, the suits are used to decide who is first to act, with the player who has the strongest suit with their highest card being the one to act first.