August, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Basic Poker Rules – Poker Hand Ranking

For those that do not know the basics, here are the ways the hands and cards are ranked in poker.

Number of cards in the deck: 52.

Number of suits: 4 (Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, Clubs)

Number of cards in each suit: 13 (In order of rank; Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2)

Number of cards in a poker hand: 5 (even in games where you are dealt more than 5 cards, only 5 cards count as your poker hand.)

Rank of poker hands from highest to lowest:

1. Royal Flush; (ace, king, queen, jack, ten, all the same suit.)

2. Straight Flush; (5 cards in sequence of the same suit. see “straight” below for explanation of in sequence) (The lowest ranking straight flush is the wheel-flush, ace, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5 is considered the top card, not the ace.) (if two players have a straight flush, the one with the higher top card wins.)

3. Four of a kind; 4 Kings, Queens or other cards. (Of course the higher ranked 4 of a kind wins, such as 4 kings beats 4 queens)

4. Full House; This consists of 3 of a kind, (see below) and a pair all in one hand. (example; you have 3 fours and 2 kings. That would be fours over kings, while having 3 kings and 2 fours would be kings over fours.) (If 2 players each have a full house, the better three-of-a-kind part of the hand wins. example; you have 3 eights and two aces, your opponent has 3 nines and 2 twos. Your opponent wins. Their nines beat your eights.)

5. Flush; 5 cards of any rank, but all the same suit. (If 2 players each have a flush, the flush with the highest top card wins, if that is a tie, then whoever has the highest second card wins, if that is a tie, you compare the third, fourth, fifth card, etc.)

6. Straight; 5 cards in sequence. (example; 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 is a 7-high straight. If you opponent has 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, they have an 8-high straight and they win.)

7. Three of a Kind; (Trips) 3 cards of the same rank. (example; 3 sevens, 3 eights, 3 kings. if 2 players have 3-of-a-kind, the highest ranking cards wins the hand)

8. Two Pairs; A Pair is 2 cards of the same rank. 2 pair means you have 2 sets of 2 cards of the same rank. (If 2 players each have 2 pair, the player with the highest top pair wins. Kings and twos would beat queens and jacks.)

9. Pair; 2 cards of equal rank. (If 2 players each have a pair, the highest ranking pair wins. If 2 players each have the exact same pair, then out of the 3 remaining cards in your hand the highest card is your “kicker”. The highest kicker wins. If still tied, you go to the next highest kicker, etc.)

10. High Card; Where no one has a pair or above, you compare hands like this. The highest card in your hand vs the highest card in opponents hands. If that is a tie, then you compare the next highest card, then the next if still tied and so on. (King, Queen, 10, 6, 2, would beat King, Queen, 10, 5, 4. It would have been a tie until the fourth card compared and the first hand has a 6 to their opponent’s 5.)

Tiz the Law Drills Five-Furlong Bullet in Penultimate Derby Breeze

Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law (Constitution), a looming prohibitive favorite in the GI Kentucky Derby, recorded his second-to-last breeze before the Sept. 5 Run for the Roses when covering five furlongs in a bullet :59.47 (1/39) over the Saratoga main track Sunday morning. The Barclay Tagg trainee was scheduled to breeze Saturday at the Spa, but had his work pushed back a day after a sudden downpour drastically changed the track conditions.

Working under cover of darkness at 5:30 a.m. Sunday under exercise rider Heather Smullen, Tiz the Law clicked off his three-furlong split in :35 3/5 before galloping out six panels in 1:12 4/5 and up in 1:26 flat (XBTV video).

“It went fast enough, but not too fast,” Tagg told the NYRA notes team. “It was a little quicker than usual, but it wasn’t too quick for him. He’s a pretty fast horse. I told Heather I wanted a good work in him. I didn’t want to set any records out there. I wanted her to keep a good snug hold on him. I wanted a good work.”

The breeze was Tiz the Law’s first since romping with a career-best 109 Beyer in the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 8. He is scheduled to breeze once more next weekend before shipping to Churchill Downs.

“This is an important workout. In one way, I don’t have any way to make up for it,” Tagg said. “It’s the first thing he has done in the last two or three weeks. That’s why I needed a good work today. If he goes a little too slow going on top of the race, I wouldn’t want that, but I don’t want it too fast either. It’s going to have to be almost perfect. If it’s just like today, that would be fine. I can only work him two times before this race. To me, this work was more important.”

Smullen added that the darkness affected Tiz the Law’s focus in the early part of the work before the colt buckled down for the stretch run.

“It was a little dark and he wasn’t quite as focused going down the backside,” she said. “He was playing around. At the three-eighths pole, I took my stick out. He stayed nice and straight. I never had to ask him. At the eighth pole, he saw a horse. I didn’t have to do anything. He finished up his work. Galloping out, he just kept going. He’s good at what he does.”

Elsewhere on the Derby contender worktab Sunday, John C. Oxley’s Enforceable (Tapit) drilled six furlongs in 1:12.20 (1/2) Sunday morning at Churchill. Last seen running fourth in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S., the gray worked in the fog under Adam Beschizza in company with stablemate Ghost Fighter (Tapit) and got his final five-eighths in :59.20.

“He’s doing extremely well,” said trainer Mark Casse. “This was his last big breeze. They caught him in 12 and 1, but he probably went a little faster because we broke him off at the five and a half and we worked him a sixteenth past the wire, but it was so foggy. The time isn’t as important as how well he did it. Adam said he couldn’t get him pulled up until the three-eighths pole. He’s doing very well and is holding his weight good. I told Mr. Oxley that I don’t know where he fits with this group, but we couldn’t ask him to be any better than he is right now.”

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Fifth Risk is Fifth Winner for Outwork

3rd-Saratoga, $66,960, Msw, 8-23, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:12.36, ft.
FIFTH RISK (f, 2, Outwork–Blue Orleans, by Bluegrass Cat) was the even-money favorite to become the fifth winner for her freshman sire (by Uncle Mo). The dark bay filly prompted the pace through an opening quarter in :22.54 and a half in :46.13. The pacesetter began to tire into the stretch, but Fifth Risk was challenged by Jade Empress (Shanghai Bobby) and gamely outbattled that foe to the wire to win by a half-length. Fifth Risk, a $160,000 FTKJUL yearling, is a half-sister to Go On Mary (Broken Vow), SW, $225,303. Blue Orleans, a half-sister to multiple Grade I winner and Brazilian champion Pico Central (Brz) (Spend a Buck), produced a full-brother to the winner last year and a filly by Bolt d’Oro this year. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $39,600.
O-Paul P. Pompa, Jr.; B-DocAtty Stables, LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher.

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Enable on Course for Kempton

Dual G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) is pleasing connections ahead of a start in the G3 September S. over the Kempton synthetic on Sept. 5. The 6-year-old Juddmonte silksbearer took the 2018 September S. in advance of her second Arc crown. Second in that ParisLongchamp showpiece in 2019, the John Gosden trainee was also runner-up in the G1 Coral-Eclipse S. to Godolphin’s Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) this July, but was back in top form in the G1 King George Vi & Queen Elizabeth S. on July 25.

Enable’s Arc opposition is arguably the stiffest yet, as since the Coral-Eclipse Ghaiyyath rolled by three lengths in the G1 Juddmonte International S. at York on Aug. 19 after taking the G1 Coronation Cup S. in June, his third Group 1 on the bounce. Standout Aidan O’Brien filly Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was also boosting her reputation recently with a victory in the Aug. 20 G1 Darley Yorkshire Oaks and looms a formidable rival in the Arc. Racing for the Coolmore partners, the sophomore miss claimed that Knavesmire contest by five lengths. In the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas, the blaze-faced chestnut had drawn off by 4 1/4 lengths and her margin of victory in Epsom’s G1 Investec Oas was nine lengths.

“What we saw from both was no great surprise, really,” said Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for Prince Khalid Abdullah. “Both of them had very strong form going into their races–they were both favourites and both won well. Really they just proved what very good horses they are, but I think we already knew that–it wasn’t a surprise.

“Enable is in good form, anyway, and still on course for Kempton. Come the Arc, what will be will be. It won’t be just those two we’ll have to worry about. The Arc is so well revered for a reason-all the opposition merits respect. No Arc is ever easy.”

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