Solution to Project Euler Problem 54: Poker hands - In the card game poker, a hand consists of five cards and are ranked, from lowest to highest, in the following way:


Updated: June 4, 2023 — Training Time: 108 minutes
Overseen by: Archangel Macsika
All Training Resources

Scroll for more menu list

Topic: Project Euler Problem 54: Poker hands.

Difficulty: Easy.

Objective: In the card game poker, a hand consists of five cards and are ranked, from lowest to highest, in the following way:

  • High Card: Highest value card.

  • One Pair: Two cards of the same value.

  • Two Pairs: Two different pairs.

  • Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same value.

  • Straight: All cards are consecutive values.

  • Flush: All cards of the same suit.

  • Full House: Three of a kind and a pair.

  • Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same value.

  • Straight Flush: All cards are consecutive values of same suit.

  • Royal Flush: Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, in same suit.

The cards are valued in the order:
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.
If two players have the same ranked hands then the rank made up of the highest value wins; for example, a pair of eights beats a pair of fives (see example 1 below). But if two ranks tie, for example, both players have a pair of queens, then highest cards in each hand are compared (see example 4 below); if the highest cards tie then the next highest cards are compared, and so on.
Consider the following five hands dealt to two players:

HandPlayer 1Player 2Winner
15H 5C 6S 7S KD
Pair of Fives
2C 3S 8S 8D TD
Pair of Eights
Player 2
25D 8C 9S JS AC
Highest card Ace
2C 5C 7D 8S QH
Highest card Queen
Player 1
32D 9C AS AH AC
Three Aces
3D 6D 7D TD QD
Flush with Diamonds
Player 2
44D 6S 9H QH QC
Pair of Queens
Highest card Nine
3D 6D 7H QD QS
Player 1
52H 2D 4C 4D 4S
Full House
With Three Fours
3C 3D 3S 9S 9D
Player 1

The file, poker.txt, contains one-thousand random hands dealt to two players. Each line of the file contains ten cards (separated by a single space): the first five are Player 1's cards and the last five are Player 2's cards. You can assume that all hands are valid (no invalid characters or repeated cards), each player's hand is in no specific order, and in each hand there is a clear winner.
How many hands does Player 1 win?

Input: None.

Expected Output: 376.

Sikademy Solution in Java Programming Language

Sikademy Solution in Python Programming Language

Was this training resource helpful?