No pair
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A no pair hand is a poker hand such as K♥ J♣ 8♣ 7♦ 3♠, in which no two cards have the same rank, the five cards are not in sequence, and the five cards are not all the same suit. It is sometimes simply referred to as "high card", as its highest value card determines its rank compared with other no pair hands. It is also known as "nothing" or "garbage", and many other derogatory terms. It ranks below all other poker hands. There are 991,644 possible no pair hands, so the odds of getting no pair given a five card hand are 7879:4861, or about 1.62:1. It is more likely that you will get one pair than no pair with a five card hand.
Two such hands are ranked by comparing the highest ranking card; if those are equal, then the next highest ranking card; if those are equal, then the third highest ranking card, etc.
No-pair hands are often described by the one or two highest cards in the hand, such as "king high" or "ace-queen high", or by as many cards as are necessary to break a tie.
Examples:
- A♦ 10♦ 9♠ 5♣ 4♣ ("ace high") defeats K♣ Q♦ J♣ 8♥ 7♥ ("king high")
- A♣ Q♣ 7♦ 5♥ 2♣ ("ace-queen") defeats A♦ 10♦ 9♠ 5♣ 4♣ ("ace-ten")
- 7♠ 6♣ 5♣ 4♦ 2♥ ("seven-six-five-four") defeats 7♣ 6♦ 5♦ 3♥ 2♣ ("seven-six-five-three")