Poker cards and suits are the raw material of every hand in this series: a 52-card deck with no jokers, divided into four suits and thirteen ranks. Examples are written in a compact code, a rank character and then a suit letter, so 4h means the four of hearts and Qs means the queen of spades. The suits are all equal in strength, so ranks decide almost every contest, and a suit has a role only when five cards share it. On this page you will find the code for each rank, the code for each suit, the way hands are written in a row and the two-card shorthand for Hold’em starting hands. A table then shows how many hands the deck can produce, and four exercises ask you to turn written codes into hands and name the winner.
Key Takeaways: Poker Cards and Suits
- Deck Structure: A standard 52-card deck has four equal suits and thirteen ranks without jokers, meaning ranks settle almost every contest unless five cards make a flush.
- Card Notation: Every card uses two characters (rank plus lowercase suit), using T for ten. Hold’em starting hands use s for suited, o for offsuit, and pair letters like QQ.
- Hole Card Shapes: Two hole cards produce 1,326 combinations across 169 shapes; offsuit hands dominate at 70.59%, suited hands take 23.53%, and pocket pairs arrive 5.88% of the time.
- Hand Combinations: A deck creates 2,598,960 five-card hands, but setting suits aside reduces them to just 7,462 distinct strengths, leading to frequent ties between similar ranks.
What Is in the Deck
A standard deck has 52 different cards. Every rank appears once in each suit, which means four cards of each rank and thirteen cards of each suit. Jokers are left out, and every count in the series assumes this one deck.
Two facts follow. A hand never holds more than four cards of a rank, and a flush needs five cards from a suit that has only thirteen.
Codes for the Thirteen Ranks
Each rank is a single character, and the ten is written T so that every card code is two characters long, never three.
| Group | Codes | Notes |
| Ace | A | The top card, which also plays below the two in a wheel |
| Face cards | K, Q, J | Ranked king, queen, jack from the top |
| Ten | T | Written T, not 10 |
| Number cards | 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 | Ranked by number, so a nine is above an eight and the two is lowest |
Codes for the Four Suits
Suit letters are lowercase, which prevents any mix-up with a rank, and no suit is worth more than another.
- Spades: s, printed in black.
- Hearts: h, printed in red.
- Diamonds: d, printed in red.
- Clubs: c, printed in black.
A suit matters in one situation only. Five cards of one suit make a flush, and between two flushes it is the ranks that settle the matter, which the hand rankings guide illustrates.
Writing a Hand in a Row
Cards are written one after another with a space between them, and the order does not matter. Qh Jd and Jd Qh are the same two cards. For example:
- Ac stands for the ace of clubs, 6s for the six of spades and Tc for the ten of clubs.
- 5h 5s 9c 9d 9h reads as three nines and a pair of fives, a full house.
- Texas Hold’em hole cards are often written without suits, with QQ for a pair and the letters s and o for suited and offsuit hands, so KJs is king and jack of one suit and KJo is king and jack of two different suits.
The Shapes of Two Hole Cards
Dealt two cards, you receive one of 1,326 combinations. Ignoring the actual suits and looking only at the shape, the combinations fall into the groups below.
| Type of start | Sample | Different starts | Ways to deal each | Total ways | Probability |
| Pocket pair | 13 | 6 | 78 | 5.88% | |
| Suited | AKs | 78 | 4 | 312 | 23.53% |
| Offsuit | AKo | 78 | 12 | 936 | 70.59% |
That is 169 shapes altogether: 13 pairs, 78 suited and 78 offsuit. Offsuit shapes make up 70.59% of the deals, and a pocket pair arrives 1 in 17.
How Many Hands the Deck Can Make
The number of different hands rises sharply with the number of cards held.
| Size of hand | Game | Possible hands |
| 2 | Hold’em, the private cards | 1,326 |
| 3 | Three Card Poker, the whole hand | 22,100 |
| 5 | Five Card Draw, also the size of every final hand | 2,598,960 |
| 7 | Seven Card Stud, also Hold’em’s seven cards before five are chosen | 133,784,560 |
Many of those hands are equal in strength. Once suits are set aside, the 2,598,960 five-card hands reduce to 7,462 different strengths, so two players with similar ranks often finish level.
Exercises: Turn Codes Into Hands
Each exercise lists the five shared cards of a Texas Hold’em deal and the hole cards of two players. Decode the cards, find each best five and name the winner.
❓ Practice: Read the Cards
On a board of 6c 6d Qs Qh 3c, Maya holds Ah Ad and Jean holds 6h 3d. Who wins?
The board reads Jh 9h 4d 2h Kc. Maya has Ah 3h in her hand, and Jean has Kh Kd. Who wins?
With 7s 6d 5c Ah 2d on the table, Maya holds 4h 3h and Jean holds 9c 8c. Who wins?
Td Tc 8h 8s 4d are the shared cards. Maya’s hole cards are Ac 2c, and Jean’s are As 7d. Who wins?
More Guides in the Series
Once the deck and its codes are clear, the online poker series goes on to a hand in play, from the deal to the showdown. Good places to continue:
- Poker hand rankings: the ladder of nine kinds, and how often each turns up.
- Poker betting rounds: four windows for betting in one online hand.
- Texas Hold’em hands: picking five cards from the seven available.
- Poker kicker rules: the side cards that separate hands of one kind.
- Omaha poker rules: a variation that insists on two hole cards.
Setting Limits
Knowing the deck changes nothing about what is dealt. Decide beforehand how much you can afford to spend and how long you wish to play, and stop at the first of the two. Gambling Support BC answers at 1-888-795-6111 at any hour for people in British Columbia, and our responsible gambling page covers more tools and support services.
❓ Poker Cards and Suits Questions: Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the ten written as T?
Does a poker deck include jokers?
What do the letters s and o mean after two ranks?
How many starting-hand shapes does Hold’em have?
Author:
Lucas Portela
Owner, BoldGambler • Avanhandava/SP
Oddsmaker, affiliate and content creator in the iGaming industry.