The term ‘one pair’ in poker refers to you having a hand that contains a matching pair. For example, if you hold 3 and 5, then comes 7, 9, 5 on the flop, the two 5’s make one pair.
What is one pair in poker?
In poker, a “one pair” is a hand consisting of two cards of the same rank, along with three other unrelated cards. One pair ranks higher than a high card but lower than most other poker hands like two pair, three of a kind, and so on. The rank of the pair is determined by the highest pair in the hand. For example, a pair of Kings beats a pair of Tens.
Here’s an example of a one pair hand:
- Ace of Spades
- Ace of Hearts
- 5 of Diamonds
- 8 of Clubs
- Jack of Spades
In this hand, there’s a pair of Aces (Ace of Spades and Ace of Hearts), which makes it a one pair hand. The other three cards (5 of Diamonds, 8 of Clubs, and Jack of Spades) are irrelevant to the hand’s ranking because they don’t form any other meaningful combinations.
If two players both have one pair, the player with the higher pair wins. If both players have the same pair, then the hand with the highest-ranking side card (known as the “kicker”) wins. If the kicker is also tied, the pot is split between the players with the identical hands.