Telesina Hand Ranking

Telesina is a variant of Five-Card Stud with an added community card. Telesina is a strip poker game played with a short deck of 32 cards. The short deck is the major reason Telesina has a different hand ranking. The community card which is referred to as the Vela community card, it but foremost a different tradition affects the hand ranking when it comes to tie breaks within some types of hands. The suits are an important factor in deciding the winning hand in Telesina.

Suits are used in all stud games to decide who starts the betting on the first betting round. In Telesina the suits also a factor to decide who wins the pot if two or several players hold the same hand. This is done with a different ordering of the suits. The highest suit in Telesina is hearts , progressing downwards it is followed by diamonds , clubs , and spades .

This is a presentation of the hand ranking for the Telesina poker game, from the highest ranking to the lowest. Most hands are part of the regular hand ranking chart and are presented in greater in detail in a seperate article. Please refer to this for information and tie breakers within these hands.

All Teresina hands consist of five cards. Just as in other short deck games the one instance where hands have shifted places within the hand ranking chart is that a flush beats a full house due to changed odds compared to a full 52 card deck. Also there is no Royal Straight Flush in Telesina.

Straight Flush

Five cards in a sequence and all in the same suit.

In the far-fetched scenario that two players have a straight flush the player with the highest ranked card included in the five card hand wins just as in the regular hand ranking system. In Telesina an additional tie breaker is present. If two players have the same highest ranking card the pot is not split but the player with the highest suit wins. Suits in Telesina are ordered as specified earlier from best to worst: hearts , diamonds , clubs , and spades .

There is also a special rule regarding straight flushes in Telesina. If there is only two players left in the pot at showdown the lowest straight flush beats the highest straight flush. That is A K Q J T is beaten by T 9 8 7 A with this exception from the general rule. Consider yourself to be of a select company if you get real life experience with this rule!

Four of a Kind

Any hand containing four cards of the same rank.

Flush

All five card of the same suit.

Note that a flush is ranked higher than a full house. With a 32 card deck there are only 204 possible five card combinations that make a flush.

If two players have a flush the highest ranking card is NOT used to determine a winner. Instead the Telesina suit order is used to resolve the situation. That is Q J 9 8 7 beats A K Q 9 8.

Full House

A three of a kind and a pair in the same hand.

Note that a full house is ranked lower than a flush. With a 32 card deck there are 1344 possible five card combinations that make a full house. Compare this with the number of possible flushes. This is why a full house is worth less than a flush.

Straight

Five cards in a sequence make a straight.

The depictured hand is the highest possible straight. The ace can also be used as the lowest ranking card for straight making purposes. With the lowest ranked cards removed the lowest straight becomes T 9 8 7 A. As expected, in case two players are holding straights, the one with the highest card wins. And as could be anticipated in Telesina: if two players have straights with the same highest ranking card, the player with the highest suit of the highest card wins. That is a Q J T 9 8 takes home the whole pot if it is up against Q J T 9 8.

Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank plus two unrelated cards.

Two Pair

Two cards of a matching rank and another two cards of a different matching rank, and one unrelated side card.

To break a tie, the player with highest ranked highest pair wins. If the highest pairs are equal the player with the highest second pair wins. If two players have the same two pair then the highest kicker, highest fifth card, wins. If the numerical values of the cards can not be used to separate two hands, then suits are used. First it is the suit of the side card. If both players use the Vela community card as a kicker – and thereby have the same suit on the same ranked kicker to the same two pair – then the player with the highest suit in the highest pair wins. As all four suits are out in case of a couple of two pairs, the player holding the heart of the highest pair wins. That is, suits are not used until the kicker can not decide so a Q Q 7 7 J is beaten by a Q Q 7 7 A.

One Pair

Two cards of a matching rank and three unrelated side cards.

If two players have the same pair, the one with the highest kicker wins. If the highest side card of both players is equally ranked then the highest suit of the kickers wins the pot. For example, K K A J T is beaten by K K A J 8 since the ranks of the top kicker are the same and the highest side card is the ace where hearts are higher than clubs.

High Card

A hand that does not qualify to any of the categories listed above.

The single highest card determines the winning hand if no player qualifies to any of the categories listed above. Highest card is first decide by rank, ace to seven, and then by suit, red heart to black spade. For example, A J T 8 7 is better than A K J T 7 as only the single highest card is considered.