Non-standard poker hands are hands which are not recognized by official poker rules but are made by house rules. Non-standard hands usually appear in games using wild cards or bugs. Other terms for nonstandard hands are special hands or freak hands. Because the hands are defined by house rules, the composition and ranking of these hands is subject to variation. Any player participating in a game with non-standard hands should be sure to determine the exact rules of the game before play begins.

Types

The usual hierarchy of poker hands from highest to lowest runs as follows (standard poker hands are in italics):

  • Flush Five: Five cards of the same rank and suit.
  • Royal Flush: The highest straight flush, A-K-Q-J-10 suited.
  • Skeet flush: The same cards as a skeet (see below) but all in the same suit.
  • Flush House: A Full House (see below) where all the cards are of the same suit.
  • Five of a kind
  • Straight flush: When wild cards are used, a wild card becomes whichever card is necessary to complete the straight flush, or the higher of the two cards that can complete an open-ended straight flush. For example, in the hand 10♠ 9♠ <span style="color:green;">(Wild)</span> 7♠ 6♠, it becomes the 8♠, and in the hand <span style="color:green;">(Wild) </span><span style="color:red;">Q♦ J♦ 10♦ 9♦</span>, it plays as the <span style="color:red;">K♦</span> (even though the <span style="color:red;">8♦</span> would also make a straight flush).
  • Straight Flush House: A Straight (see below) containing cards of only two suits, where three cards in order are one suit and the next two in order are the other.
  • Three of a kind
  • Little bobtail: A three-card straight flush (three cards of the same suit in consecutive order). According to Penn Jillette and Mickey D. Lynn, a Kelter is "a nonstandard hand given value in home games."