Meaning & use
high card
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Meanings
nouncountable
In poker, a hand with no pair, straight, or flush, ranked by its single highest card.
Grammar: Countable: one high card, two high cards; often written as two words.
Patterns
- have a high card
- win with a high card
- a high card beats something
Neither player had a pair, so the pot went to the high card.
My best hand was a high card, so I folded early.
He won with a high card after everyone else folded.
nouncountable
The single highest-ranking card a player holds in a particular hand.
Grammar: Countable and often used with a possessive: my high card, your high card.
Patterns
- someone's high card
- play one's high card
Her high card was an ace, which decided the hand.
He kept his high card hidden until the last round.
Word forms
| plural | high cards |
|---|
Common combinations
- high card wins
- When no one has a pair, the high card wins.
- play a high card
- She decided to play a high card and raise the bet.
- a hand of high card
- It was a hand of high card, nothing more.
- high card hand
- A high card hand is the weakest in standard poker.
Word family
- high-card adjective
- Used before a noun, as in a high-card hand, meaning a hand decided by its highest card.
Commonly confused: high card or highcard?
high card vs highcard
Some people write it as one word, but the standard spelling is two words: high card.
Practice
In poker, which hand is described as a high card?
Choose one answer.
A high card hand has no pair, straight, or flush, so it is judged by its highest card. The other options describe a pair, a straight, and a flush, which all rank higher.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “high card”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.