Ace‑High
Ace-high is a hand with no pair or better whose highest card is an ace.
The simple explanation
Ace-high is a hand with no pair or better whose highest card is an ace. It is the strongest hand you can have without making a pair. Your best five cards hold an ace and nothing that forms a pair, straight, flush or any better hand.
A closer look
Two ace-high hands are compared card by card, from the highest down: a stronger second card wins, and so on through the fifth. Suits never break ties, and five identical ranks split the pot. At showdown, ace-high is rarely good enough, but it often wins when everyone has missed. It also has some value as a bluff-catcher on dry boards.
A practical example
On a board of K♣ 8♦ 5♠ 3♥ 2♣, one player holds A♠ 9♦ and another holds A♥ 7♣. Both have ace-high. The first plays A-K-9-8-5 and the second A-K-8-7-5. The first two cards match, but the nine beats the eight in third place, so the first player wins.
Full explanation
Ace-high is a hand with no pair or better whose highest card is an ace.
Ace-high is a hand whose highest card is an ace and which has no pair or better.
It beats every other high-card hand, and loses to any pair.
Ace-high hands are compared card by card from the second-highest down.
Because it wins only when others miss, it is best used as a bluff-catcher.
Alternative spelling: ace high
Ace high versus king high
No-limit Hold’em · Blinds 1/2 chips · No rake
A has ace high: A-J-9-6-2, with no pair. B has king high. Compare the highest cards first: A’s ace-high hand currently beats B’s king-high hand.
Read the example transcript
Player A has the button (BTN) and posts the 1-chip small blind (SB). Player B posts the 2-chip big blind (BB).
- Flop · Pot: 12 chips
A has ace high: A-J-9-6-2, with no pair. B has king high. Compare the highest cards first: A’s ace-high hand currently beats B’s king-high hand.
Board: 99 of clubs (9c)66 of spades (6s)22 of diamonds (2d)
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of clubs (Ac)JJack of diamonds (Jd) · Stack 194 · In this round 0
- Player B BB KKing of hearts (Kh)QQueen of diamonds (Qd) · Stack 194 · In this round 0
Cards are shown for learning; totals are displayed before pot collection.