I'm trying to learn how to play and I understand what community cards are, what they do, who goes first/last, etc, but how do the cards in your hand effect the game? I can't find the answer anywhere and it's getting confusing.
When I learned poker playing Red Dead Redemption I copied the list of possible Texas hold em hands into a text file for reference. Each hand beats all of the ones below it. You pray that you get the right cards for something good, and hope your opponent doesn't.
Once you know the best hands it's a matter of learning to predict what your hand might become as the pot goes on. Both the community cards (the river) and your personal hand can work together to make any of these hands. If you're talking individual card face value it starts high at ace and ends low at 1. Here it is:
Have the highest hand per round to win the pot.
Royal Flush- You would need an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten in the same suit
Straight Flush- A sequence of five cards in the same suit
Four of a Kind- Four cards of the same value
Full House- Three cards of the same value with a pair of cards.
Flush- Five cards of the same suit
Straight- A sequence of five cards
Three of a Kind- Three cards of the same value
Two Pair- Two sets of two cards of the same value
One Pair- One set of two cards of the same value
High Card- The highest card in your hand
If you and your opponent have the same overall hand, the higher value wins, so with an ace pair and a 5 pair the ace pair wins.